Streamlining admin workflows for efficient user and license management
Background
The project aimed to create a platform that simplifies customer and license management for both internal admins and external customer admins:
Internal admins:
Needed a consolidated overview of all companies using the e-learning platform.
Required tools to manage customer accounts, configure licenses, and update organizational data efficiently.
Company admins (customer accounts):
Typically HR managers or training department leads responsible for managing users access and activity on the e-learning platform within their organization.
Faced challenges tracking managing user data, and handling administrative tasks on top of their busy work schedules.
My role
Company
Lead Product Designer
Problem statement
The existing solutions were cumbersome, with long task completion times and minimal scalability. I was tasked with designing a platform to address these inefficiencies and make admin workflows more intuitive and efficient.
Research
I conducted in depth interviews with both internal admins and customer admins to find out key challenges and pain points in current user and license management workflows:
Complex workflows and big amount of user data made it time-consuming for admins to manage licenses and users.
Lack of visibility into user activity, branch structures, and license allocation.
Existing solutions were fragmented and unintuitive, leading to frustration and inefficiencies.
Company admins want to manage their own users and licenses with the platform without spending too much time and effort.
Additionally, I looked at quantitative data from the existing admin tool revealing that admins spend considerable time to complete administrative tasks:
Adding new users: Averaged 5–7 minutes per user due to manual entry and unclear workflows.
License assignment: Required multiple steps, taking an average of 4 minutes per action.
Bulk user management: Non-existent, forcing admins to repeat actions individually, leading to frustration.
Simplifying complexity through design
After gathering deeper insights into the workflows of administators, I mapped out user journeys to pinpoint inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. I focused on simplifying navigation and ensuring key information was readily and easily accessible. I designed intuitive dashboards with clear visual hierarchies and actionable insights.
Coherent overview of important data:
At the top of the company dashboard, cards present most important information for the company admin: Total number of users (trainers and trainees) as well as licenses available and allocated, displayed with a progress bar for quick insights. This design prioritizes visual hierarchy, ensuring the most important information is immediately accessible, reducing the time spent searching for key data.
Finding and managing users with ease
I designed filtering and search functionalities to help admins quickly locate specific users or groups within large datasets. Filters include parameters such as user role (trainer or trainee), profession, branch, activity status, last login and more. These features help to minimize time spent on manual user data browsing, supporting admins to manage users efficiently in their busy schedules without wasting much time.
Simplifying user management tasks:
The new design enables admins to manage users effortlessly with an intuitive interaction flow. Clicking on a user card opens an options menu with clear actions like Edit or Delete. For editing, a pop-up with a stepper UI component guides admins through different editable user details (e.g., role, branch, profession license assignment) in a smooth, step-by-step manner. This design reduces cognitive load and ensures user updates are completed quickly and accurately.
Simple and fast user import
I introduced a CSV upload feature to streamline the process of adding users in bulk allowing admins to easily upload Excel or CSV files containing user lists and metadata (e.g., roles, branches, license assignments). The system validates the uploaded data, ensuring errors are flagged and corrected before import. This feature eliminates the need for manual user entry, significantly reducing time and effort for admins managing large user groups.
Validation and moving forward
I built a high-fidelity interactive prototype and conducted usability testing with both user groups to test workflows and validate designs. I iterated based on feedback, focusing on reducing steps for key workflows:
Find users easily and intuitively
Add and manage users and branches
Assign licenses
Configure permissions
Send communications
Key insight:
The need to m
anage multiple users at once
One key insight from the user tests was that admins often needed to perform the same actions on multiple users at once, such as sending email invitations for account activation or deleting past trainee from previous traineeship years. Based on this feedback, I introduced a bulk action feature that allows admins to select multiple users simultaneously and perform actions like send email, delete, or assign licenses for professions or specific learning content with just one-two clicks.
Bulk action also made simple on mobile devices
Dialog to confirm user deletion of multiple users (left), dialog to assign content licenses to users simultaneously (right)
Final results
Organization Dashboard:
Monitor license usage and user activity.
Add and manage users and branches.
Configure permissions and send communications.
Minimize time spent on manual user data browsing.
Intuitive and efficient user management:
Guided User Management: Stepper UI component breaks down editing user details into manageable steps.
Error Prevention: Real-time validation ensures accuracy when updating user information.
Bulk Action Feature: Streamlined repetitive tasks
New admin dashboard: centralized place for internal admins to manage customer companies and licenses efficiently
Measuring impact
Efficient and streamlined workflows reduced the time required for administrative tasks by 40%, allowing admins to focus on other work responsibilities.
The percentage of tasks (e.g. bulk uploading user data) completed without errors increased by 30%.
Improved User Satisfaction:
Positive feedback from customer admins highlighted the platform’s ease of use and time-saving features.
Admins particularly appreciated features like:
Quick access to user activity and license usage.
Bulk actions for managing multiple users simultaneously, saving time and effort.
Scalability:
The platform’s modular design supports future enhancements and integrations. For instance, an LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) integration was seamlessly added following the redesign, enabling smoother connectivity with external learning tools that customers use.
Learnings
Combining user research with data insights was key to create designs that drive measurable outcomes.
Designing for scalability ensures the platform can grow alongside organizational and customer needs.
Collaboration with cross-functional teams is key to delivering impactful and feasible designs.