How we uploaded Susan’s brain

Representing 95,000 members, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) had developed a number of complex analog processes to deal with stakeholder requests and communication protocols. But many of these relied entirely on the experience, time and knowledge of specific staff members. The result was a lot of negative pressure on people’s workloads and on service response timelines.

Work

We worked with AUPE staff and members to clearly map out the bottlenecks and blockages involved in their legacy systems. Yellow Pencil’s service design approach means we’re not just looking to build a web solution, but to thoroughly examine the end-to-end service experience across all channels and touchpoints from an end-user perspective.

Solution

We didn’t just build AUPE a more functional, usable and attractive website, we developed new ways for stakeholders to work, communicate and solve problems. Important first-hand knowledge that had previously resided solely with staff members (like Susan) was leveraged to inform simple, repeatable, automated service practices.

Results

AUPE is now able to work in ways that make more sense, processing a higher volume of service requests, supported by real-time data. More importantly, they’ve reduced undue demands on staff and increased trust and affinity with their membership.