DXP LG

 

Synthesising the Research

Following the discovery phase, I participated in a synthesis workshop with the Customer Experience team using affinity mapping in Miro. We grouped insights into themes around navigation, task completion, trust, and accessibility — surfacing clear patterns in how residents were failing to self-serve.

Key Insights

Three core problems emerged from the research synthesis: Visibility gap: Residents had no way to see the status of submitted requests, leading to repeated follow-up calls. The top call driver — "What's happening with my request?" — accounted for nearly 6.7% of avoidable inbound calls. Discovery friction: The existing site's information architecture buried common services under multiple layers of navigation. Over 60% of users in testing couldn't find their desired service within 30 seconds. Accessibility barriers: The legacy platform failed WCAG 2.2 AA at multiple checkpoints, excluding residents relying on screen readers, keyboard navigation, or high-contrast modes.

Problem Statement

Newcastle residents need a single, intuitive digital portal that allows them to find, submit, and track council service requests — on any device — without requiring phone-based assistance, while ensuring no resident is excluded due to accessibility barriers.

How Might We…

From the problem statement, we generated a set of HMW questions to guide ideation: How might we make service request status transparent and proactive? How might we reduce the number of steps to complete a common request? How might we ensure every interaction meets WCAG 2.2 AA from launch?

Information Architecture & User Flows

I mapped a new information architecture for the My Services portal in Figma, rationalising the service catalogue from over 80 disparate pages into a structured taxonomy of 12 service categories. Card sorting sessions with residents validated the groupings before any wireframing began.

Wireframing & Prototyping

Working within TechnologyOne's DXP LG no-code configuration framework, I designed wireframes for the key resident journeys: submitting a service request, tracking request status, booking a council facility, and paying rates online. Each flow was designed to be completable in under 3 steps. Interactive prototypes were built in Figma and tested with a representative group of residents recruited through Askable. Three rounds of usability testing were conducted, with findings fed back into iterative design improvements after each round.

Design System & Accessibility

I configured the DXP LG platform's design system to align with the City of Newcastle's brand standards — typography, colour palette, iconography — while embedding accessibility at the component level. Every interactive element was tested against WCAG 2.2 AA checkpoints using Stark (within Figma) before sign-off. I also created comprehensive web standards documentation — a style guide covering component usage, colour contrast ratios, heading hierarchy, and form labelling — which was adopted by 80% of the council's digital teams, creating lasting design consistency beyond this single project.

CRM Integration Design

A significant design challenge was connecting the resident-facing portal to TechnologyOne CRM forms on the back end. I designed the article templates and field mapping to ensure content owners have single source of truth to look into when answering a phone call from a customer

Launch & Outcomes

The DXP LG My Services portal launched across the City of Newcastle's digital channels, becoming the primary digital touchpoint for resident service requests. The designed experience focused on three outcomes: reduced call volume, improved accessibility compliance, and faster task completion. View our project sponsor's post on LinkedIn for more stats

Measurable Results

1600+ registered users: In just over a month Streamlined service requests: The CRM-integrated form design eliminated manual data re-entry for customer service staff, directly reducing average handling time and freeing the team to focus on complex enquiries. 9700+ Requests lodged: One step portal makes it easy for customers to find the correct form and the form and the article layout is consistent across the system which makes it easy to learn the new system and quickly lodge forms.

What I Learned

This project reinforced how powerful the intersection of UX rigour and technical constraint can be. Working within TechnologyOne's no-code platform required creative problem-solving — designing experiences that pushed the platform's capabilities while remaining maintainable by non-developers. It also deepened my belief that accessibility isn't a post-launch retrofit; it's a design input from day one.