Update Compliance redesign

Monitor Windows Updates with Update Compliance
UX Design
Overview

Update Compliance is powerful report that help IT administrators to monitor Windows updates through different update categories, also can troubleshoot devices which not successfully installed the latest updates.

Duration

6 Months (Feb14 2022 - Aug 14 2022)

Platform

Azure portal

Project timeline
Understand
Challenges
  • The complex data structure, updated data schema, which integrates the Windows Update for Business (WUfB) data
  • Update compliance has more than four different update categories
  • The workbook does not have clear design guidelines
  • PMs' timelines do not give too much space for user engagement and only expect some low-hanging fruit suggestions
Goals
  • More understandable and easily interactive report to let users see the status of windows devices, and more information to make sure their devices are safe and work properly
  • Provide the different focuses and granular data to different update categories
  • Promote Windows 11 eligibility, and encourage more customers to update their devices to Windows 11
  • Building a consistent report model that can fit all categories, save time for the design and coding process
  • Users are 100% updated and secure, and 95% should be on the latest quality updates
Initial Research
Research plan &Interview script
Goals
  • Explore current experience to understand current user expectations, challenges, and pain points
  • Repurposing current design based on user feedback
  • Validate the design feedback I provided and look forward points I was not expected
Method
  • Interviewed 4 IT administrators and work on Update compliance
  • 60 minutes split as two-part:
  • Ask questions related to Update Compliance
  • Participants share their screen walk through the current design
Customer feedback on UCv2

Here on the left side is the customer feedback list that I created, it combines the feedback I get from the update compliance teams channel, the Twitter posts, and the debrief of the interview. I organized similar requests and highlighted how many people have similar requests.

On the right side is the excel spreadsheet we made to debrief after the interview, we will list the most interesting, Biggest surprise, Key takeaways, and Anything we want to explore further to the sheet to help us find insights and improve the script for the next interview.

First round interview with customers

Key findings

  • Customers use lots of visual graphics in their workbooks, Power BI dashboards, and excel reports to monitor Update compliance
  • Customers were confused about the four colors in the progress bar
  • Customers cannot find the device list when they click the error row
  • Instead of the different update states, customers are more focused on alerts
  • The second tab ‘WUfB deployment services’ confused customers who are not using WUfB data. Also, return no data
  • Customers want to easily find the problem and fix it, not expect multiple clicks and drill down deep to find it
  • Customers expect to see all devices, not only the devices affect by alerts
  • The customers deal with update compliance more as a team, and different members deal with different categories
  • Customers expect to see the deployed KBs that can easily see if a CVE patch has been applied or not

Recommendation

  • [P0] Improve the experience which most customer get confused:
  • Explore ways let customers know what the means for the four colors
  • Add more visual graphic, more general overview charts
  • Explore ways to put the device list easy to reach and notice, avoid multiple clicks, also add entry for the device list that not affected by alerts
  • Remove the unnecessary filter and add more helpful filter
  • Explore ways to rearrange the WUfB data
  • Explore ways that customers don't need to drill down deep to troubleshoot the alerts
  • [P0] Explore the integration of all update categories
  • [P1] Explore ways to show the KB links that help customers patch compliance
  • [P1] Explore ways to group single devices, more effective for customers to track devices
  • [P2] Explore ways to show the history aggregate data
Ideation & Design
Different ideas as low fidelity mockup

Try different solutions based on the research findings, present these to the team, and discuss which one is better. The final wireframe is combine some parts of each solution, and more close to the workbook style and possibility.

Initial different attempts
Final wireframes
Brainstorming/card sorting/design workshop

After I finalized the wireframe, we move to the brainstorming session, first I hosted card-sorting with PMs, and before the session, I list all the content I see from the schema that I think we can put in quality updates and other things that our customers mentioned in there search.

Also, put the wireframe below the cards to give PMs more inspiration when they think about where to put the content. When we start the session, the participants can directly move the stick notes into each group or write on their own stick notes to the group. For the groups who have the number limit that only need five KPI cards or three infographics, I will also have a little session let them to use stickers to vote on the different content ideas.

Card sorting session

Here is another method I learned from a colleague who is a researcher, she use this design workshop and feel it was very effective and I feel that really fits my project. I use this when I design the update compliance hub which integrates all different update categories.

Design workshop

All I want to say is the brainstorming session is really great way to build trust with PMs, after I did that, the principal PM manager send this sweet message to my manager to thank my work.

Principal PM wrote a thank you letter after the brainstorming session
Before & After
Before: previous interface
After: final UI iteration
Redesign the flow when customers troubleshoot the one update alert

Before

After

The flow for checking device info and device alerts (Added feature)

After

Usability Test
Second round customers engagement
Method
  • Interviewed 4 customers, 2 return customers and 2 first time engaged customer
  • 60 minutes split as two-part:
  • Warm up questions for Update Compliance
  • Participants share their screen walk through the prototype
Feedback
  • The second time customer engagement was incredibly successful!
  • Some content requests, like see past three months’ success rate
  • More filters to help group devices
Customers’ reaction
Iteration/Release
Work closely with engineers/content designer
Reflection
What worked well
  • Prepared notes and question lists before syncing with the different roles of the team‍
  • Built trust with PMs:
  • Learned the knowledge related toUpdate Compliance fast
  • Hosted card-sorting and design workshops many times
  • Quick response for every thought that teams mentioned, always send an update message after making the change
  • Built a successful design model that fit different update scenario, also give other designers some inspiration
  • Had strong ownership feeling especially before the release phase
If I am still work on Update Compliance…
  • Prepared notes and questiIterate design based on the third round of customer engagement feedbackIterate design based on the third round of customer engagement feedback‍
  • Continue work on other update categories workbook design
  • Make a list of the UI request and send it to the workbook team
yumeng.yang001@gmail.com
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