Streamlining Complex Legacy Workflows & Improving Feature Adoption by 100%
Overview
Since 1987, CARO has been a leader in the sample and testing industry within British Columbia, Alberta and the Yukon where they strive to provide accurate testing results for a large variety of clients all within an online management platform.
I joined the team as v1.0 was rolling out, providing me with the context and metrics to design more intricate user features such as an advanced filtering system as well as request forms.
Timeline
2023 - 2024
Responsibilities
Product Design, Usability Testing, Stakeholder Management,
Collaborators
Project Management, Quality Assurance, CARO IT & Communications Team
Analogue Issues and the Need for Efficiency
With over thousands of samples to test, the analog CARO infrastructure just was not able to keep up
CARO, a leader in providing quick and accurate testing results results approached us to revamp their current system of operations.
From a user perspective, I discovered that the core need of the revamp stemmed from a desire to reduce friction in their current analogous workflows.
Problem
CARO's legacy systems of filtering and reporting cause unwanted friction as operations increase in scale.
Goal
Request & Report
Design a new reporting system with a strong focus on transparency and niche user goals.
Goal
Meticulousness
Implement an advanced filter for reports to improve overall user navigation.
Understanding that, brought on to the project midway where I worked on 2 features ( 1 core - 1 supporting) that would alleviate these challenges caused by CARO's legacy systems.
And as of 2025 and the release of v1.1, we are pleased to see
100%
Adoption in the new web-based CARO tool - Streamlining initial complex workflows into an intuitive web-based platform.
Request & Report Feature
Communication made seamless
File Changes
File Access
General Requests
The Request feature was one of the core features that I worked on during my time on this project.
As a core function of the CARO platform, it served to provide a means of communication between the team and their clients. This meant that while I designed it to be approachable, it also captured the nuances of different client requests.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of what the feature would look like, I led workshops with the CARO IT and Communications team to uncover further user goals and jobs-to-be-done (JTBD).
CARO Team
JTBD
Add Additional Notes
Provide and Assign Projects
Respond to Miscellaneous Requests
Implement Information Changes
CARO Clients
JTBD
Send General Requests
Request for Project Access
Request Project Changes
Request Information Changes
I also took a closer look at the specific user journey of the CARO clients, identifying key stages in which the user experienced increasing levels of friction. This eventually led to discovering an ideal points of entry for the feature so as to design it to be more integrated with the existing user actions.
After iterating on mid-fi wireframes on top of the existing product, I was able to conduct usability workshops with the client team to further enhance this feature.
Switching our feature focus from a one-to-many to a many-to-many structure, we were able to provide our users with more control and as a result, more value.
Report Access Feature Design Process
Advanced Filtering
Do Less - See More
Project ID
Project Manager
Lab Location
Sample Name
and more
I was able to also work on a supporting feature that enabled easier discovery of project files for both the CARO staff as well as their clients. With many components that make up a project report, the main challenge of this feature lied in understanding the user journey to discover the most important filters.
Through concept testing both internally and with the project stakeholders, I was able to iterate and contribute to an advanced filter that would cater to both casual and power users of the software to find results.
Compressing it to fit within the project log section of the page, this allowed users to also seamlessly switch between the different views with little interference to their initial goals and maintaining full user control.
Reflections & Learnings
Tackling a legacy system that had established workflows was one of the many challenges in navigating the project. However, by understanding the nuances of user goals and clarifying requirements through client workshops, we were able to curate for even the most intricate parts of the project to deliver value.
Leading the design of a core feature of the project was a highlight for me as it not only challenged many aspects of my design process but also provided me with the opportunity to design for growth and scalability.
