Summary: TLDR
The Social Services Information System that MN caseworkers use to create Out of Home Placement Plans is outdated and inefficient. Research revealed that key pain points for caseworkers included inflexible navigation/data retrieval and insufficient guidance & error prevention. My recommended solutions increase usability for caseworkers in terms of flexibility, user control and freedom, error prevention and recognition over recall. These solutions will impact the caseworker’s ability to complete the plans quickly and accurately by minimizing repeated data entry, showing them what needs to be completed & where the information can be found, and giving them the ability to access/edit that information when needed.
Role: UX Research & Designer
Methods: Cognitive Walkthrough, Contextual Analysis
Client: Minnesota Department of Human Services
Tools: Figma, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Zoom
Deliverables: Cognitive Walkthrough Analysis, Figma File, Prototype Video Walkthrough
Ensuring the safety of children in MN
Caseworkers for the Minnesota Department of Human Services play a vital role in assessing and monitoring the well being of children under their care. In instances when children need to be temporarily removed from their homes, DHS case workers have many responsibilities, including the creation of an Out of Home Placement Plan (OHPP). By law, this plan must be completed within 30 days of the child being placed in foster care.
An inneficient and unintuitive system
The current SSIS (Social Services Information System) tool that MN caseworkers use to create the OHPP is outdated, inefficient and unintuitive. This means that caseworkers spend more time navigating the system & creating the plan, and have less time to spend in the field connecting with the families they serve.
Putting myself in the users’ shoes
By conducting a cognitive walkthrough we began to get a better sense of the opportunity space and problem. Through conducting two contextual inquiries, we validated (and invalidated) our findings from our cognitive walkthroughs and gained further valuable insights from real caseworkers who use these tools frequently.
Sessions
Hour long remote sessions on Zoom
Two MN DHS county caseworkers
1 moderator
7 notetakers
Participants walked through the process of creating an OHPP
Goals
Better understand how the users enter necessary information for the OHPP
Learn more about how users navigate the system to create an Out-of-Home Placement Plan (OHPP)
Gain insight into users’ understanding of what information is necessary to input and verify
Uncover the degree to which the software meets the users’ needs and what workarounds they use
Valuable Insights from MN Caseworkers
Caseworkers cannot enter information efficiently due to poor usability, and spend a lot of time retrieving information from other documents and repetitively entering duplicate information.
Caseworkers have to know and critically think about all the steps involved in creating the OHPP, making it difficult for less experienced workers to get comfortable using the system.
Iterating Solutions within the current SSIS system
With new insights and user goals in mind, I set off to brainstorm & prototype solutions within the current SSIS. In recommending changes within the current SSIS system, the goal would be for MNDHS to be able to implement these changes on a quicker timeline, thus impacting the caseworkers in a near future.
User Goals
Goal #1: As a caseworker, I want to be able to enter data only once and easily retrieve data from elsewhere in the SSIS system, so I can complete an OHPP quickly and spend more time in the field with families.
User Flow, Wireframe Sketches, Digitized Wireframes
Goal #2: As a caseworker, I want to be clearly guided through each part of the setup process, knowing exactly what information is required and pertinent for each child, and where to find any missing information, so the OHPP will be accurate and useful for families and all parties involved.
A solution that provides caseworkers a more intuitive, efficient and flexible experience
Recommendation #1: “Missing Information” screen
This screen appears to a caseworker if they attempt to begin an OHPP without previously completing other required forms. It tells them what forms need to be completed and provides links to open the forms as pop ups.
Recommendation # 2: “Edit Locked Fields” button
This button gives users the ability to edit all fields directly on the setup screen, rather than having to navigate to other forms. Changes apply throughout all documents in SSIS.
Recommendation #3: Accessing info in other documents
This feature allows users to access information in other documents while staying on the setup screen, with the other document opening as a pop up window after selecting it from the left sidebar.
Takeaways
Caseworkers for the Minnesota DHS work hard to connect with and support the families they serve. Creating Out of Home Placement Plans are just one of their many responsibilities, and they can be time consuming to create with the current system. Time is precious for caseworkers, as they need and want to be spending their time out in the field, connecting and talking with the families in their caseload. Improvements to the SSIS system noted in the solutions above could have a big impact on caseworkers, allowing them to complete OHPPs much more quickly and have more valuable time with families.
Next Steps
The solutions noted above aim to provide changes that can be implemented on a quicker timeline and have a more immediate impact, working within the SSIS that is currently being used.
However, the CCWIS (Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems) was recently passed, with the goal of stimulating the modernization of child and family services agencies across the country. This will likely cause the MN DHS to begin looking at modernization options to meet these new federal CCWIS requirements.
Looking a few years down the road, this potential future version of the OOHP creation process could further improve experiences for caseworkers and aids. With system wide information syncing and a clear step by step guided process, workers of all experience levels can complete the plan quickly and have confidence that the final document will be accurate.
