I co-led a project to understand current user experience of the GHS ServiceNow space in anticipation of a significant structural redesign.
ServiceNow is the online hub for employee requests for technology, building access, and other needs. Tickets are submitted, then routed to the appropriate team to help the employee resolve their issue.
It is well known that staff see ServiceNow as a challenge to use.
A bit of context: My organization is currently undergoing a merger of two healthcare systems. While our focus was on one region’s instance of ServiceNow, our work also factors into future state after the merger is complete.
Methods
Interviews: we talked to nearly 20 employees who (1) submit tickets and (2) receive and take action on tickets.
Card sort: we asked dozens of users to organize tickets within the current catalog structure to understand how well the catalog categories matched user expectations.
Live usability testing: we met with 10 users to watch how they find tickets and troubleshoot when they have problems with their work.
Data analysis: we used metadata gathered in ServiceNow to understand common work flows and success rates for ticket submission.
What we learned
Finding 1: Our ticket catalog structure was confusing, leading to inability to find tickets. Ticket titles also were confusing, and descriptive text about them often was redundant.
As a result, users created their own shortcut documents to help them find tickets they needed. Users also found personal contacts to help them to avoid the ServiceNow platform.
Finding 2: Confusing ticket and category titles leads to misdirected tickets that need to be shuffled from response team to response team.
As a result, users had decreased trust in ServiceNow and the ITDS staff who are supposed to help them.
Users who submitted many tickets struggled to monitor multiple progress reports in ServiceNow, leading to uncertainty and frustration in determining when or if tickets were completed.
Implemented changes
Change 1
Problem: Users were frustrated when they could not see tickets they did not have the credentials to submit. They wanted to see those tickets so they could provide needed information to their managers who could submit.
Solution: We worked with the ServiceNow team to create visual and text explanations for users who see a ticket they cannot submit.
Change 2
Problem: Users struggled to find names in the ticket box linked to the employee directory. They were required to search by first name. There was a way to search by last name, but it was not well known or explained on tickets.
Solution: We worked with the ServiceNow team to provide simple instructions to search by last name. These instructions can be found on all tickets with the name field.
What else we recommended
Longer term recommendations were offered in two categories. First were recommendations that could be accomplished before the full merger of our two health systems.
Localized recommendations
We advised the team on how to prioritize user experience rather than the technical structure of ServiceNow and the organizational structure.
- Create a style guide for creating new tickets that ensures increased user-centered language and structure.
- Increase simple help text on tickets to help novice users navigate the process.
- Improve descriptive text on tickets to ensure users know what a ticket is for.
Post-merger recommendations
- Recreate a catalog category structure that focuses on user understanding rather than organizational structure that users may not understand.
- Create a more robust search feature that allows user-centered language as well as more technical jargon.
- Improve ability for users to find and understand progress reports on their ticket submission, including increased searchability for tickets and more clarity in ticket numbering systems.
Where things stand
As the Bellin/Gundersen merger proceeds, we remain involved with the ServiceNow team as they implement our recommended changes to the ServiceNow structure.
- We expect ongoing consultation with the team to measure whether a new catalog structure increases usability and searchability for users submitting tickets.
- We expect reduced calls to the Help Desk regarding ServiceNow ticket submission and management. We will test this at a future date.
These improvements will result in higher completion rates and better navigation of support services.