Pulse Analytics
2023
Bulk User Creation
Replaced a manual user setup process with a bulk upload flow.
Overview
A Time-Consuming & Error-Prone Task
What is Polaris
Polaris is Pulse's internal platform for client data and permission management. It is used by Pulse Consultants to create profiles for new users of our tools.
However, Polaris lacked the capability to create multiple user profiles simultaneously, posing a significant challenge when large numbers of users needed to be added at once.
Polaris is our internal platform for Pulse tools’ client data + permission management.
Inefficient User Profile + Password Creation Process
Consultants had to create each user profile individually, including generating a temporary password for each user account. They would then email the login information to the user, who would reset the password themselves.
This manual task was time-consuming, especially for clients with 50+ new users needing access to our tool. Additionally, relying Consultants to send passwords to a large number of users was prone to human error. There had been instances when Consultants made typos in the passwords they sent.
The same process must be repeated for each new user that needs to be added
Research
Understanding Our Users
What We Asked
Our process to create a better solution started with user research. We spoke with the Consultants to understand their process and identify pain points. Key questions included:
What are the main pain points for you during the current user creation process?
What do you wish to change about the current process?
What We Learned
Conversations with the Consultants revealed helpful insights that influenced our initial designs. We learned about their workflow and frustrations with it.
Learnings from user research are synthesized into the following insights that guided our design decisions:
What We Did
Based on our findings, we developed a new process that allows for the bulk creation of multiple user profiles simultaneously. This new workflow leverages an Excel upload system. Instead of repeating the same steps for each user profile, Consultants can now add all the user information into one Excel file and upload it to the platform.
Solution
A New Process to Set Up User Profiles
The new solution involves giving Consultants the ability to bulk create profiles by uploading an Excel sheet that contains all the user information.
Features Breakdown
Bulk Create Modal
The “Bulk Create Users” button is placed next to the existing button for single user creation to help Consultants locate the new feature easily.
Clicking the button opens up a modal with steps to instruct the bulk user creation process. The single user creation process follows the same interaction where a modal appears. We want to use the same pattern for both user-creation methods.
The bulk user creation process mirrors the method to create a single user
Excel Template
Consultants are provided with an Excel template, available for download from the modal, to guide them through the upload process.
The bulk user creation modal provides an Excel template for Consultants to download and follow. They need to fill out the file based on the instruction in each column. Since they are already familiar with Excel by using it to track user data, filling out the file is a simple copy and paste of information. After completing the file, they can upload it to the modal to finish creating the user profiles.
Excel template for user profile set-up
Validation & Feedback
The uploaded Excel file must be validated before any user profiles can be created. Depending on the status of the upload, different messages are displayed to communicate the results to the Consultant.
If the upload fails, Consultants are alerted with specific details to help them resolve the issues. This includes the number of errors, their locations, and the reason for each error.
Automated User Logins
The automated user login feature replaces the old workflow, where Consultants manually created temporary passwords and sent them to each user. This new system is both more streamlined and accurate for setting user passwords.
We use SendGrid to deliver welcome emails to users once their accounts are created. These emails direct users to a screen where they can create their passwords for the first time. Completing this step allows them to log in to their Pulse account.
User Status Tracking
In our internal platform, we implemented a way to track users' account statuses to determine if they have successfully received the welcome emails and completed creating their passwords.
The two main questions the status tracker aims to answer are:
Has the welcome email been sent to the user?
Has the user created a password?
We designed an icon set paired it with the user list, allowing Consultants to easily identify each user's status at a glance.
If a user has received the email, but has not created a password for a long period of time, it would signal the Consultants to re-send the email and check for any system errors.
If the email was not sent to specific users for any reason, those users would be flagged with the “failed” status. Consultants can re-send the email or send the password creation link directly to the users.
Design Process
Reviews + Iterations
Internal Design Reviews
I presented the initial designs of the feature to the Product team for internal reviews and went through several iterations before showing the designs to our users for the first time. The review + feedback loop helped getting the designs to a polished state for user testing.
Below are a few examples of the iterations on the feature.
Refining Modal UI
We updated the modal to maintain focus on the validation feedback. Later iterations gave more room to display the upload status and error messages, which are important to help Consultants resolve any issues in the file. The file upload box is de-emphasized by shrinking its width, removing the gray fill, and changing the “browse file” button to the ghost style.
Highlighting Error Messages
Messages from the validation feedback are significant to creating the user profiles successfully. Error messages in particular help Consultants identify exactly where and why the errors occurred.
In the initial design, the number of successfully created users along with the errors are shown when an upload fails. In the final version, we chose to show only the errors because they are more valuable and space in the modal is limited. We also removed other insignificant information like the previously imported files.
Clarifying Upload Process
We added a step in the file upload process to allow Consultants to preview and confirm the selected file prior to upload. In cases where the selected file is wrong, we want to provide the opportunity to catch the mistake early rather than waiting for the file to finish uploading.
User Testing
Feedback + Refinements
Goals
After several rounds of iterations, we were ready to test the solution with real users to validate the designs before development starts. The goals for the testing includes:
Validate the design and user flow for the new bulk user-creation feature
See if the instructions on the modals are clear enough
Identify any issues with the new feature
Testing Method
Using a Figma prototype, I did remote testing sessions through Microsoft Teams. During the span of two weeks, I spoke with 5 Consultants at the company for feedback. Each session was 30 minutes long, being mindful of the employees’ busy schedules.
During the session, a participant is asked to complete 5 tasks with the prototype, such as finding the bulk-create feature and uploading the file. At the end of each task, they’re asked to rank the difficulty of the task on a scale of 1-5.
Other questions I asked to gather more qualitative feedback on the feature include:
“Is there anything you’re confused by or would like to see changed?”
“When do you think you’ll be using the bulk user-creation feature?”
Results
We received positive feedback from our users. The interview results showed that everyone found the bulk-creation process through the template upload to be straightforward and easy-to-follow. The tasks to upload and re-upload the file are ranked with an average score of 1.5, indicating as easy.
Simplifying Excel Template
The step people struggled with the most is filling out the Excel template. They found the columns in the Excel template as too vague and open-ended. They were uncertain about what values to enter for specific columns.
With this feedback, we adjusted the wording in the excel template to be more descriptive and provided examples for acceptable values.
Final version of the template contains instructions for how to fill out the columns
Prioritizing Single User Creation
Another update was to prioritize single user creation over bulk user creation. User testing revealed that creating users individually would still happen more frequently than bulk create. Based on this, we want to highlight the single create user button with the primary button style and leave the bulk create button in a secondary style.
The action to create single is emphasized in the final design because it’s a more common behavior
What's Next
Results + Future Ideations
The new bulk user creation feature has since replaced the workflow to set up users and been used to successfully create new users on Pulse plateform. The number of new users created per session range from as few 3 to 10 people. We would continue to monitor the feature’s usage and any issues that arise. In the near future, we plan to conduct more in-depth testing with the consultants and refine the feature further.
The current state of the bulk-creation feature still has a lot of room for growth. The Excel upload method is a big improvement from the original process. However, the need to download, edit and upload files repeatedly to fix errors is still inconvenient. It’s worthy to explore other methods for bulk user creation in the future. For example, allowing Consultants to create and edit user details within a live table instead of rely on Excel files.
