OVERVIEW

Helping managers approve time quickly and accurately

Role: User Experience DesignerTeam Build: 3 Developers, 1 QA, 1 UX, 1 PM, 1 PO

Timeline: July 13, 2020 — June 2021

About MyTime

MyTime is a mobile application for internal managers and employees to utilize for time management with Peoplesoft as the backend passing data through several APIs.Project ScopeOur client had previously been using Peoplesoft for their time tracking system. Peoplesoft is very robust, and overcomplicated. We had to redesign the experience for time management, so we opted for a mobile application.

OUTCOMES

• Material weakness score+2%

• Time on task-75%

• Employee time entry-33%

Created a seamless time management experience

I designed the end-to-end experience for managers and employees to utilize a mobile application to manage their time. This involved creating a way for Peoplesoft to work efficiently on the back end, and managers to pick it up quickly on the front end.​​

Ensuring fewer inaccuracies in the time approval process

I created a way for managers to quickly enter and approve timesheets while also ensuring the time they are approving matches the time that was designated for the employees that week, so there are fewer errors. Allowing enhanced delegation processes for managers who are out of town, so fewer timesheets trigger auto-approvals.​​

Shifting left with the team to ensure the technological barriers are at the forefront

I streamlined processes with the whole team by ensuring they are at the initial meetings on this product to ensure they are all on the same page.

PROCESS

Discovery

Business Challenge

Managers and employees are not entering in or approving accurate timesheets in a timely manner, which is effecting a score of material weakness that could have a potential outcome of driving a stock price down.

User Challenge

Managers need a quicker and easier way to approve employee time because Peoplesoft takes too long, and therefore they rush through it, so it becomes inaccurate.

Discovery

We sat down and watched 6 managers go through their process of approving employee time to understand what problems they faced.“I have 115 shift workers I need to approve time for. So, I have to sit at my desk on the VPN and approve time, which takes about 6 hours. To do all that. It takes me about a whole work day, and I am not able to get anything else done” — Employee manager with non-exempt employees“I get so many notifications to my email about time approving, and auto approvals that I don’t even look at those emails anymore.” — Manager“There are thousands of charge codes and when you have shift workers you have no idea if it is correct or not, that leads to a lot of inaccuracies” — Shift manager

Opportunities Uncovered

For managers with non-exempt employees, create a better flow to acknowledge employee time throughout the week not just one dayFor managers and employees who are unsure of accuracy with charge codes — create job and charge code validationsFor all managers, lessen the number of clicks to approval to timesheet and make time of approval and entry more efficient

Define

MVP

After speaking with the managers and synthesizing the data from our contextual inquiry, we decided the best way forward was starting on the managements time approval process. This was a process done with the whole team; QA, engineers, product owner.

Technical Constraints

The mobile application was being built on Xamarin with Peoplesoft on the backend and data being passed through API’s, so this lead to a few constraints:

• API’s had to be built out and the data from there was all we could utilize

• Xamarin had limitations as far as what it could produce on iPhone vs. Android

• MyTime would not replace Peoplesoft

Design

Design Principles

• To follow and test the Mobile Center of Excellence Playbook and use the design system

• To be heuristically sound

• To abide by a level of ADA compliance

• Create a path of least resistance

Connecting the application to processes consistent in Peoplesoft

The goal was to allow the user to seamlessly enter in time through the mobile application anywhere, at anytime. To ensure our users knew exactly what they had to do for approving time when they log into the app, they have a section for notifications. This gives the users some context into what they need to do next, and when they need to do it.

Time approvals

Creating an easier time approval process by allowing the user to see which dates have time approvals pending and an easy one tap all solution to approve.Time adding and editingA very traditional time punch had to be used due to the complexity of time as well as the technical constraints of the data in Peoplesoft.

Auto-approvals and exception handling

Employees can now remove auto approvals and approve in 2-steps. They can also view all the exceptions related to time, but due to scope, managers can only view that information.

Delegations

Delegations are now made easy. Managers can send delegation requests as well as approve or deny

FINAL THOUGHTS

Quotes post-production release

“I went hiking this weekend and I approved my employee’s time within seconds on the top of the mountain. This app is amazing and makes me more efficient with my time.” — Kim, non-exempt employee manager“

This seems so easy to use compared to Peoplesoft. The ability to multi-select entries is a game changer” — John, exempt manager

Lessons Learned

Document every single business decision that effects designUtilize boards such as Miro for all the information, so it is organized and captured in an organized manner to share with stakeholders during important meetings