UX/UI
User Management
Overview
In 2022, we began building our next generation of benefits screening software at Benefits Data Trust. One of our initiatives was to provide a tool that allows internal users to configure our direct service applications and tools. The first feature we addressed to achieve this goal was user management.
Role
As UI Design Lead, my role was to…
Lead the experience and interface design of new pages, UI components, and changes that needed to be made to the design system.
Collaborate with Product Managers to define requirements and user stories.
Collaborate with UX research to organize and synthesize user feedback sessions.
Pair with engineering to define and build the desired functionality of new features and UI components.
Requirements
To create a highly user-configurable next generation of direct service applications and tools, our new user management aims to provide call center administrators with as much autonomy, within reason, over user structure and access. To achieve this, admins should be able to:
View, manage, and add users, including their assigned organization, teams, and roles.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory (or Azure AD) populates the list of available new users.
View, manage, and add organizations, including their associated teams.
View, manage, and add roles, including their assigned permissions.
View and manage permissions.
The list of available permissions is not user-configurable.
Admins should do all of the above quickly and efficiently.
Users
Each user has a collection of assigned attributes:
Name & email
Organization
Team(s), of which users can belong to multiple
Role(s), of which users can be assigned to multiple, and also provides permissions.
Organizations
Organizations are the foundational groups of users within the system. They can include:
Community-Based Organizations (CBO) that screen clients using any benefit assistance tool supported by BDT.
Technology Partners that license the use of one or more BDT support platform
As an example, Benefits Data Trust is an organization made up of multiple teams and user roles.
Teams
Teams function as user groups. Traditionally groups represent users that perform similar tasks. In our case, teams represent particular campaigns within organizations and can limit access to specific benefit screenings or client data. Users can belong to multiple teams.
Benefits Data Trust runs multiple campaigns, representing multiple application/benefit/call centers (e.g. BenePhilly, PACE, and MI Benefits Center). Each of these requires a team to restrict user data access and campaign settings.
Roles
Our user roles are defined organizationally, meaning they are based on the specific employee's job (e.g., Benefits Outreach Specialist, Universal Outreach Specialist, etc.)
Benefits Outreach Specialists are assigned to a single team.
Universal Outreach Specialists can act under multiple campaigns. They can be easily interchanged according to capacity.
Permissions
Permissions allow users to access particular sections of our tools and client data. In addition, permissions are attached to users to enable admins to manage user access in large numbers.
User List
Our User Management tool begins with the most basic of features, a clear and concise list of users.
User list, displaying users’ name, email, organization, team, role and last updated date.
Editing Existing Users
Admins can reassign users to an organization, team(s), or role through the 'Edit User' modal. Names & emails are pulled from Azure AD and cannot be changed here:
‘Edit user’ modal where user’s organization, team and role can be managed.
Editing Multiple Users
Admins can make batch edits by selecting rows one at a time or all at once:
User list batch selection.
‘Select all’ function.
After selection, a batch action button appears in the table's top right corner, next to 'Add New User'. This button will again open an 'Edit User' modal:
The ‘Edit selected users’ modal, showing the ability to assign multiple users to a team at the same time.
Adding a New User
Admins can add new users with the primary action button in the top right corner of the user list table. In the 'New User' modal, admins can select from a menu of available Azure AD users and assign an organization, team(s), and role.
‘New user’ modal, showing the list of available users from Azure AD
Search
A powerful modern search feature enables admins to locate and manage users quickly. Our search features include the following:
Search-as-you-type to quickly display results
Search result snippet highlighting
Search results showcasing search-as-you-type and snippet highlighting features.
Filtering
Along with search, a practical filtering feature gives admins the tools to parse through hundreds of users.
Option One - Consolidated Filter Menu
This UI option presents all the filterable fields in a single menu. While this approach keeps the interface minimal, but there is only a subtle indication of the active filter(s):
Consolidated filter menu
Results and active filter example
Option Two - Multiple Filter Menus
This UI option presents each filterable field as a separate menu. However, this approach can get busy, especially when making multiple selections across different categories:
Organization filter menu
Results and active filter example
Neither version is perfect and requires more refinement for our MVP. However, we want a solution that provides the desired functionality with the most negligible component library overhead.
Inactive Users
Hidden by default, admins can toggle the visibility of inactive users in the user list:
Inactive users are hidden by default to limit visual clutter but can be toggled on if necessary.
Truncation
In most cases, we allow text to wrap within the table cell, but in the event, we'd like to limit the content to a single line or the table cell becomes too narrow in a smaller window, we use a tooltip to display the full content:
Two example of cell content truncation. One with additional list items, another with text that is too long.
Organizations & Teams
Organizations are our highest-level category of users. For example, an organization could be our own, Benefits Data Trust, or a state technology partner, such as MI United Healthcare.
Within some organizations, we use the secondary category of teams. For example, Benefits Data Trust has benefit centers in multiple states, each requiring a team (e.g., MI Benefits Center, NC Benefits Center, CO Benefits Center). This further limits access to client data, providing a second layer of security.
Organization list with the ability to create a new one or edit an existing one.
Editing & Adding an Organization
Admins can add new organizations through the primary action button or edit existing organizations by selecting one from the table. Within the modal, admins can edit the name and manage teams:
‘Edit organization’ modal, for managing organizations’ name and teams.
Editing & Adding Teams
Teams are managed through an input list:
Team names can be edited.
Teams can be added to organizations.
Roles & Permissions
Roles allow admins to control access to parts of our support center tool. Roles also enable admins to create groups of permissions. Users may have multiple roles.
Role list with the ability to create a new one or edit an existing one.
Editing & Adding Roles
Admins can create roles through the primary action button or edit existing roles by selecting one from the table. Within the modal, admins can edit the name and description of each role, as well as assign permissions:
‘Edit role’ modal for managing name, description and permissions assignment.
Managing Permissions
While admins cannot create permissions, they can manage the name and description from the permissions table:
Permissions list with the ability to edit existing ones.
‘Edit permission’ modal for managing name and description.
Results
Our new user management system will go live in Michigan with our MVP benefits screening software later this year. Autonomous user management provides one of many critical layers to deliver the highly configurable experience we're striving towards with our next generation of direct service applications and tools.