Prestudy at GK

GK is the leading provider of comprehensive technical solutions in Scandinavia and works to ensure that properties, facilities, and industries operate with sustainable and smart solutions in ventilation, cooling, building automation, and piping.

INTRODUCTION

The problem

GK in Sweden reached out to me asking for help to structure the information in their Quality Management System aka intranet, a SharePoint solution containing information about their processes, routines, templates and other common information. The prestudy soon included not only Sweden but also Norway and Denmark, a total of 3 000 employees.
As many other companies, GK struggled with a fragmented technical platform without support for mobile users and due to reorganizations it wasn’t clear who was responsible for what information which resulted in outdated information.

The solution

The result of the prestudy was a recommendation to start the activities below:
  • Agree on common terms in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
  • Define what information is best suited in the new platform and what information should move to better options. For the information to be used, it should be as close to the users needing it, when they need it.
  • Configure and implement a modern technical platform for both desktop and mobile users that is easy to configure and built up on SharePoint.
  • Fill the solution with content that is helpful for the end users and not just "nice to have".
  • Define ways of working with the solution and the content after release.

My role

User Researcher/Prestudy Lead. Information architect.
My responsibility during the prestudy was to collect insights from stakeholders and end users in the different countries. I also researched different suppliers to match their solutions with our needs and to make concepts of how a new solution could fit into the current system landscape.
It was also my responsibility to continuously report to the steering committee.

THE ASSIGNMENT

How did we start?

We started with impact mapping where we defined what we wanted to achieve and tried to understand and prioritize which problems to solve for whom. 
This was really valuable because it became clear that the solution wasn't always a technical solution. It was very often related to ways of working or the quality of the information. The impact map served as an anchor throughout the whole pre-study.
We also identified problems that should be handled in other ongoing projects. 

What did we learn?

All countries used SharePoint for handling the information but the setup differed and so did how the information was maintained. One person vs business functions.
During the interviews it became clear that the terms beings used when talking about the intranet and the QMS didn’t mean the same thing depending on who I asked. It differed between countries and within countries. This forces me to stop using the terms and instead focus on the information and the jobs to be done.
There were lot of common challenges with lack of ownership including personal dependence.

"I never find anything so I save all my templates on my computer.”

Voice from the business

What did we do?

During the pre-study I used common design and research methods such as:
  • Using the double diamond as a base and went between diverge and converge multiple times both when defining problems and solutions. As we learnt more we had to go back and sometimes redefine our assumptions.
  • Impact mapping to understand what we wanted to achieve and which target groups to focus on.
  • Mixing different research methods to try to get a broad picture of the current state from different target groups. This ment sending inquiries and making site visits.
  • Card sorting and tree tests to find out what terms to use and how end users relate different information to each other. 

THE CONCLUTION

Results and impact

The biggest benefit of the pre-study was that stakeholders got a better and common understanding of the problem state which is necessary to be able to succeed with the upcoming work.

 

The recommended solution of the pre-study made it possible for the stakeholdes to decide to take the next steps and implement a new solution and new ways of working.

Main challenge and lesson learnt

Words are more important than we think. Agreeing on what we call things, is crucial when defining a goal and steps to take you there. It takes time and everyone won't reach a common understanding the same time. You need to have patience.
Using pictures is a really good way to anchor discussions on. Especially when talking about concepts and more non-tangible things.

Next steps

Start an implementation project and deliver the output of the recommended activities from the pre-study. Stay tuned!