NSW Department of Education
Led the strategic initiative for the NSW Department of Education's Assisted School Travel Program, addressing critical system inefficiencies that jeopardised student safety, resulting in streamlined operations and vastly improved child protection outcomes.
Services
User Research and Documentation
Usability Testing
Workshop Facilitation
Wireframing
Prototyping
Deliverables
Personas
Experience maps
Fully annotated, functional prototype wireframes
Outcomes
The need to navigate multiple screens, access other systems, or consult paperwork for key information was eliminated.
Common tasks were prioritised in the new design, significantly improving efficiency, in one case from to 2.5 minutes down to just 7 seconds.
Child protection was made simpler, with fewer incidents reported following the introduction of the new system.
A key program at the NSW Department of Education, the Assisted School Travel Program (ASTP) provides transport for students with disabilities. However, outdated and inefficient systems were jeopardising operations and, critically, student safety.
I led the discovery phase, which revealed that staff were struggling with fragmented information across multiple systems and relying heavily on manual workarounds. This inefficiency not only wasted time and resources but, critically, increased the risk of harm to vulnerable students. Modernising these systems was essential to streamline operations, consolidate key functions, and ensure child protection was prioritised.
To map the true complexity of the system, I developed personas and end-to-end experience maps representing key ASTP users. These artifacts were critical in highlighting the systemic bottlenecks and identifying two essential design principles that would drive the rebuild:
Accessibility: Providing immediate, effortless access to crucial information without forcing staff to navigate complex menus or search through multiple screens.
Efficiency: Tailoring workflows to the most common tasks. By streamlining these, we could drastically reduce the time and effort required for routine tasks, allowing staff to focus on complex, high-value activities.
Example ASTP staff persona
End-to-end experience map for the application process
I facilitated a co-design workshop bringing together ASTP representatives and the core development team. This ensured we validated the user journeys while simultaneously aligning on technical feasibility.
From there, I developed concept wireframes focused entirely on presenting the right information for each task at the right time. I worked on-site at the Department in regular consultation with the team to ensure rapid iteration.
Usability testing
Finally, the concept wireframes were tested with the key stakeholders.
I developed an interactive prototype and ran usability testing sessions with the staff at the ASTP who were asked to perform certain tasks using the prototype. The feedback from these sessions was then used to update and produce the final deliverable of the project, a full set of annotated wireframes that were handed over to the development team.
Applications dashboard
Easy access to priority information
I designed targeted dashboards that gave ASTP staff an immediate, centralised view of priority information, eliminating the need to navigate multiple screens or consult paperwork.
Massive efficiency gains
The new task-based workflows completely transformed daily operations. For instance, the time it took to locate a vulnerable child's scheduled pickup or drop-off location was reduced from up to 2.5 minutes across multiple screens to just 7 seconds.
Improved child protection
Ultimately, the ability to react instantly to common situations and access critical information reduced the risk of children being put in or left in dangerous situations, resulting in fewer incidents once the new system was put in place.
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