Bolton TRDx

Creating a Data Exchange Proof of Concept

OVERVIEW

Problem

Bolton Rewards was relying on traditional email surveys to collect benchmarking data and recognized an opportunity to significantly enhance client engagement and elevate overall value by exploring innovative approaches beyond the limitations of conventional surveys.

Outcome

We designed a web-based data exchange platform proof of concept (POC) that offers clients convenient access to benchmarking data concerning employee compensation, benefits, and other rewards-related information.

CLIENT

Bolton Rewards

The total rewards division of Bolton, a mid-sized consulting firm, that helps clients build and optimize their people resources through their reward strategy, compensation program design, and rewards communication.

INFO

Role

UX/UI Designer

Team

Practice Lead
Myself

Responsibilities

I was the UX/UI designer, working with the leader of Bolton’s Total Rewards practice to translate his ideas for the platform into a POC in Figma.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

Why are we doing this?

Bolton Rewards, a provider of compensation studies for private and public sector organizations, sought to introduce an innovative web-based data exchange platform to enhance client engagement beyond traditional email surveys.

This initiative also aimed to expand Bolton's client base by partnering with public sector associations to attract prospective clients.

DEFINING PROJECT GOALS

We established clear project objectives through insights gathered from the practice leader and his client discussions, resulting in five core functions:

1

Aggregated Total Rewards Data

Gather comprehensive data from member organizations

2

Benchmark Reporting

Enable data-driven decision-making for member organizations

3

Task Status and Reminders

Support efficient total rewards process management

4

Collaboration Hub

Enhance knowledge sharing among association members

5

Information Dissemination

Keep members informed and engaged with relevant news

CONSTRAINTS

Several key constraints influenced the design process:

1

Tight Timeline

Our design had to be ready for a demo within a short timeframe, aligned with a pre-scheduled client meeting. This compressed schedule limited our ability to conduct thorough user research.

2

Limited Resources

This project was regarded as a low-stakes R&D initiative and, as it lay beyond my usual responsibilities, I had limited time to allocate to it.

3

Learning Curves

This marked Bolton's inaugural UX project, making it the first collaboration for my colleague and me on such a project. Additionally, my introduction to Figma for prototyping introduced a learning curve due to its novelty.

THE PROCESS*

Define
Research
Wireframe
Test & Iterate

*Note: This section is currently under construction.

Creating the Style Guide

I created a (very) basic style guide, pulling in elements from Bolton’s branding while also defining it as a product specific to the prospective client. Since the platform is essentially a collection of forms with a lot of text throughout, I kept the visual design clean and simple, using icons and subtle interactions to provide user feedback wherever possible.

THE SOLUTION

I’ve included a few representative screens from the POC along with access to the full interactive design, which can be viewed by clicking the button below.

VIEW PROTOTYPE

Home Page

Users (typically from an organization’s HR and/or finance department) can view the status of their tasks and access all the essential functions from here.

Data Retrieval

Users have access to an extensive library of best practice, plan design, compensation element, and compensation level information. Users can also generate ad hoc benchmark reports to see where their organization stands in the marketplace.

Data Input

Users are guided through a simple series of forms to enter their organization’s data, providing Bolton with valuable marketplace data to be used in creating client reports and facilitating users’ access to these reports.

Challenges & Lessons Learned

My biggest challenge was lacking the time and resources to perform sufficient user testing. I also had some differences of opinion with my collaborator around a lot of the labeling, which I didn’t think was the cleanest or most intuitive. While I deferred to his preferences for the initial design due to his knowledge as the subject matter expert, involving representative users to determine the most effective labeling and gain general feedback on the design would have been invaluable.
I watched hours of YouTube videos to learn how to use Figma while using it to prototype. While I made a lot of mistakes and did some things the hard way, I did my best to learn and apply best practices throughout the process.
While time and experience were not on my side, I believe I could have given the screens a more elegant design if I had done more research on tabular data and form UI. While my proficiency with Figma wasn’t advanced enough to achieve the level of sophistication and polish I desired, I could have achieved a cleaner and more user-friendly design for the data exchange screen by incorporating some best practices for hyperlinks into the basic two-column list of links.