BYOD purchase assistant

Many schools now adopt a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) approach to digital education. Parents are typically supplied with a list of device specifications and requirements, and tasked with choosing a computer or tablet for their child to take to school. With so many device options available on the market, and a lack of user-friendly, cost-effective purchase options, this choice can be a difficult one. Officeworks wanted to create a new purchase assistant that would make it easier to find available devices to match their school’s specifications, and make the right choice based on price and functionality.

Using an augmented squad approach, we worked as part of the extended Officeworks CX team to develop a web app that helps parents find the best device for their child’s school needs. This was a highly collaborative project, spanning multiple teams and stakeholders at Officeworks.

Creating a high fidelity prototype

Officeworks had already spent time prototyping an initial concept for the BYOD purchase assistant. The prototype had been designed as a validation tool for user testing rather than as an artefact for development, and was therefore limited in its functionality. Using our expertise in technical user experience design, we were able to extend this initial prototype design into high fidelity wireframes that demonstrated all possible states and conditions of the tool to aid with development. The result was a fully functional, high-fidelity prototype of the web app, which provided Officeworks’ business analysts with a comprehensive understanding of the intended solution, allowing for more effective planning of development stages.

Because there were some elements of the tool we needed to wireframe that had not been included in the original prototype, Officeworks undertook additional validation tests to ensure that the final design would meet both business and user goals.

A collaborative design process

At the time of development, Officeworks was undergoing a brand refresh that would impact the way their offerings were communicated to the market. We worked closely with the Officeworks CX design lead to ensure that our ongoing work was aligned to the emerging direction of the new Officeworks branding, communicating daily with key design stakeholders and undertaking regular showcases of our work.

To facilitate the visual design of the tool, we leveraged existing component design styles from the Officeworks brand, and also created a number of bespoke components to be used exclusively within the BYOD purchase assistant. We worked alongside the Officeworks design teams to create unique design treatments for these components to give the BYOD tool its own unique look and feel, while maintaining a strong connection and adherence to Officeworks’ existing brand guidelines.

Given the importance of the project to Officeworks, and its connection to the ongoing brand refresh, we took care to undertake deep stakeholder engagement across all relevant business units. We created regular showcase presentations of our work, which were used by the Project Sponsor to socialise the project’s progress to the wider business and gain approval for the rollout of additional design concepts.

An augmented development team

Our team worked as part of an augmented development squad to contribute to the implementation of the tool. We spent time understanding and immersing ourselves in the Officeworks approach to development, taking on their ways of working to ensure seamless development processes between our team and the Officeworks team.

As an integrated part of the Officeworks team, we participated in daily standups and regular backlog grooming sessions. These allowed us to maintain a holistic view of the project and facilitated closer relationships with broader project stakeholders. To ensure the highest levels of quality assurance, we worked with the Officeworks team to write unit tests, API tests, and acceptance tests for every feature, which helped to ensure consistency in development standards across the team.

Our UI designer also remained on hand throughout the development phase to provide design support to the development squad, functioning as part of the Agile team and responding quickly to stakeholder requests.

The new BYOD purchase assistant provides parents with an easy way to find the most appropriate device for their child’s school needs, translating the expertise of Officeworks store teams into an easily accessible online experience.

The BYOD purchase assistant is proving to be a valuable online experience for parents, providing families with value and choice.