HR Technology · ADP · 2015 – 2017
Workforce Analytics
Dashboard
Redesigning ADP DataCloud's analytics homepage from a generic folder-based layout into a role-aware, personalised dashboard — grounded in user research and adopted as the company-wide template.
Role
Senior UX Designer
Platform
ADP DataCloud (DC3)
Tools
Sketch · Axure RP
Company-wide
Template adoption across ADP analytics
WCAG 2.1
Accessibility compliance on every component
6 → 2
Steps to reach a key workforce insight
The Context
A platform built for data.
Not for the people using it.
One layout, every user
HR managers, payroll teams, and analytics users all landed on the same generic folder-based homepage — regardless of how differently they worked.
Reports were unfindable
Folders and tabs were being mistaken for navigation. Users called support to locate reports they'd accessed the week before.
Deep capability, buried surface
DC3 had powerful analytics underneath. The homepage was hiding all of it behind a structure that didn't match any user's mental model.
The real problem
DC3 had the data and the reports. What it lacked was a surface that understood who was looking at it. Every user treated identically — in a platform where roles were fundamentally different.
The Research
Talk to users first.
Design second.
14
Interviews with WFN reporting users and call centre reps
10
Usability tests across reporting and hybrid user types
3
Distinct user types shaping three different design defaults
12-week research-to-delivery rhythm
Wk 1–2
Stakeholder & User Interviews
Wk 3–4
Usability Testing & Synthesis
Wk 5–6
Ideation & Low-fi Wireframes
Wk 7–9
High-Fidelity & Internal Demos
Wk 10–12
Validation & Dev Handover
01 · Who we talked to
Not a formal lab study — structured conversations with HR managers, payroll professionals, and call centre reps living inside DC3 daily. 14 interviews for the mental models. 10 usability tests for the behavioural evidence.
Three user types emerged — each with fundamentally different expectations on login. One homepage was failing all of them.
User Research / Usability Testing Session
Photo or screenshot from a usability test or user interview session.
02 · Making sense of what we heard
Affinity Mapping Artifact
Photo or screenshot of affinity mapping — observations clustered into the four key findings.
Affinity mapping turned a large volume of observations into a clear direction — letting patterns emerge from the data rather than confirming what we already suspected.
Four distinct findings surfaced. Each with a behavioural pattern, a usability failure, and a concrete design recommendation. Those four became the blueprint for everything that followed.
Four findings. Four decisions. All traceable to user evidence.
User interviews · Usability sessions · Affinity mapping
User interviews 1
User interviews 2
User interviews 3
User interviews 4
User interviews 5
User interviews 1
User interviews 2
User interviews 3
User interviews 4
User interviews 5
User interviews 1
User interviews 2
User interviews 3
User interviews 4
User interviews 5
Four Findings
What users showed us.
What we did about it.
Folders didn't resonate
Terminology & Mental ModelWhat users did
Users consistently referred to content areas as "dashboards" — never as folders. When asked to navigate to a folder, several paused and looked for something else entirely.
What it revealed
The folder metaphor created a mental model mismatch. Analytics users in particular expected dashboards — a standard pattern in every competing tool they used daily.
Design decision
Renamed 'folders' to 'dashboards' across the platform. A terminology change with zero engineering cost that immediately aligned the interface with how users already thought.
Tabs were mistaken for navigation
Information ArchitectureWhat users did
In 7 of 10 usability sessions, participants clicked the content tabs expecting page-level navigation — then were confused when the page didn't change. Several abandoned the task.
What it revealed
The tab pattern — standard for navigation in enterprise tools — was being applied to content switching. Two different conventions sharing the same visual treatment.
Design decision
Moved to a true one-page design. Eliminated tabs as a content pattern and surfaced key information in a single scrollable surface — removing the ambiguity entirely.
Recency didn't work for analytics users
Role-Aware DefaultsWhat users did
Analytics users ignored the 'recently accessed' default sort entirely. Most immediately searched or scrolled to find reports alphabetically or by subject area — never by recency.
What it revealed
Recency is a useful default for task-driven users returning to specific items. For analytics users doing exploratory work, it's actively misleading — it surfaces the wrong things.
Design decision
Implemented role-aware default sorting. Reporting users get recency. Analytics users get A–Z by subject. Each user type now opens to a sort order that matches their actual workflow.
Users needed to pin their daily metrics
PersonalisationWhat users did
Multiple users described checking the same 3–5 metrics every morning — and having to navigate to them each time. Several had bookmarked specific report URLs as a workaround.
What it revealed
The homepage had no concept of personal relevance. Users were doing manual workarounds to compensate for a surface that couldn't remember what mattered to them.
Design decision
Designed a customisable homepage area — users drag dashboards into pinned slots on login. A personalisation layer on top of role defaults, validated through Axure prototype demos before a line of code was written.
The Design
From findings
to form.
01 · Role-aware defaults
The single biggest design decision — each user type gets a different default homepage. Same platform, three distinct first-login experiences built around how each role actually works.
Reporting Users
Sorted by recency
Arrives to a list of recently accessed reports — straight to what they used last.
Analytics Users
Sorted A–Z by subject
Arrives to an alphabetical view by subject — built for exploration, not retrieval.
Hybrid Users
Flexible layout
Gets a split surface — recent items on the left, analytics view on the right. Adapts to the day.
02 · Drag-and-drop personalisation
Role defaults answered what users saw on first login. Personalisation answered what they'd see after that. Users could drag dashboards into pinned slots — a customisable layer on top of their role defaults.
Before a single line of code, the interaction was prototyped and validated in Axure RP — a fully interactive prototype used in internal demos and stakeholder reviews. Axure's fidelity allowed us to simulate the drag-and-drop behaviour exactly, surface edge cases early, and get genuine reactions from users rather than responses to static mockups.
Sketch + Axure RP
High-fidelity visuals in Sketch. Interactive behaviour prototyped in Axure RP. Two tools for two different conversations — one with stakeholders about the look, one with users about how it felt to use.
Axure RP Prototype — Drag & Drop Dashboard
Screenshot of the Axure prototype showing the drag-and-drop customisation interaction or wireframe screens from Sketch.
Design reviews · Prototype testing · Stakeholder walkthroughs
Design reviews 1
Design reviews 2
Design reviews 3
Design reviews 4
Design reviews 5
Design reviews 1
Design reviews 2
Design reviews 3
Design reviews 4
Design reviews 5
Design reviews 1
Design reviews 2
Design reviews 3
Design reviews 4
Design reviews 5
Final Screens
What shipped.
High-fidelity screens across the personalised dashboard, role-based onboarding, analytics views, and the drag-and-drop customisation flow. Hover to pause.
Dashboard Home
Personalised homepage
Turnover Risk
Analytics dashboard
Reports & Insights
Main analytics view
Onboarding — Reporting
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Analytics
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Hybrid
Flexible layout
Drag & Drop
Dashboard customisation
Report Detail
Deep-dive view
Dashboard Home
Personalised homepage
Turnover Risk
Analytics dashboard
Reports & Insights
Main analytics view
Onboarding — Reporting
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Analytics
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Hybrid
Flexible layout
Drag & Drop
Dashboard customisation
Report Detail
Deep-dive view
Dashboard Home
Personalised homepage
Turnover Risk
Analytics dashboard
Reports & Insights
Main analytics view
Onboarding — Reporting
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Analytics
Role-aware defaults
Onboarding — Hybrid
Flexible layout
Drag & Drop
Dashboard customisation
Report Detail
Deep-dive view
Outcome
What it became.
Company-wide
Adopted as ADP's template for all subsequent analytics products
WCAG 2.1
Accessibility compliance delivered across every shipped component
6 → 2
Steps reduced to reach a key workforce insight from login
The redesigned DC3 dashboard was adopted as ADP's company-wide template for all subsequent analytics products — a direct signal that the design decisions held up beyond the original brief. WCAG 2.1 compliance was delivered across every component, setting the accessibility baseline for ADP's analytics product line going forward.
The most lasting outcome wasn't a screen or a metric. It was the process — demonstrating that talking to users before designing, synthesising what they revealed, and making traceable design decisions produced work that the wider organisation trusted enough to build on.