Felena Chau - AccelerateON Portal

Introduction

AccelerateON is the portal page for the Digital Solution & Innovation Unit (DSIU). The DSIU is responsible for automating processes across the Ontario Public Service (OPS) using the Microsoft Power Platform. Due to governance procedures, staff are required to use internal tools and cannot adopt open-source alternatives. As a result, it is our team’s responsibility to design, build, and maintain these tools internally.

Problem Space

Projects often require navigating various processes such as consultations, budgeting, and licensing costs, which can be time-consuming and fragmented. Our goal is to make this information easily accessible to OPS staff by providing a single, comprehensive hub on the AccelerateON page.

Research

Round 1: Card Sorting
We had a large amount of information that needed to be organized and categorized, particularly for the navigation bar, and we needed guidance on how to structure the content and establish a clear information hierarchy.

Round 2: Tree Testing
Organized the information based on insights gathered from the previous research phase, developed a preliminary navigation structure, and evaluated the intuitiveness of the content grouping through a low-fidelity prototype.

Round 3: Usability Testing
Refined the information architecture and tested the navigation within a high-fidelity mockup. Next steps: work to simplify terminology to ensure understandability for a broader group of users who may not be familiar with AI or technical concepts.

Personas

Regular Audits

"To know good design is to know bad design"

Conducted regular audits to identify inconsistencies in content, layout, and overall user experience, and communicated findings to the development team to ensure consistency and quality throughout ongoing updates.