Improving an application process for a UK regulator
Home Office
April - June 2023
Redesigning a licensing application enabled applicants to submit all the information needed the first time around.
Mapping out the workflow of a licence application Background
I worked on a live service dealing with licence applications for the UK biosciences. The applications are rigorously assessed by a UK regulator in order to successfully grant or amend a licence.
The problem
The system that enables applicants to submit amendments to their licence applications does not attract the right information required for the UK regulator to consider. There is currently a free text comments box to capture additional information. Applicants are not provided with any assistance as to what information is required by the UK regulator and hence many applications get returned. This leads to frustration in the regulated community and an inefficient application process.
Our approach
Working closely with a researcher, we:
- accessed the live system to review failed applications
- carried out a workshop with stakeholders to share the research findings, highlight the pain points and discuss how might we remedy them
- mapped the current workflows and reviewed the end-to-end journey of other workflows in the system which helped improve the one we're redesigning
- redesigned the new workflow, shared it with stakeholders for any additional feedback and prototyped it for research
The outcome
Instead of solutionising straight away, we wanted to properly understand what went wrong in the application process, what the user needs are and work closely with stakeholders to better understand the business requirements. Balancing both needs and requirements resulted in us developing a strong working prototype ready for research.
- Mapping user journey, process design, system workflow