Highlights
- Strategic Digital Assessment: The capability platform enabled informed holistic views of the organisation to allow for decisions around staff training, and resource allocation.
- Seamless integration and intuitive user experience enhanced stakeholder engagement.
- Digital Pioneering: The platform ensures that the state department is at the forefront of technological advancements in the industry.
The Problem
The state department faced a challenge in effectively assessing and defining the digital maturity of its operations and personnel.
The absence of a digital capability framework meant that the department lacked a standardised, comprehensive, and efficient means to gauge digital proficiency, hindering their ability to make informed decisions about training, resource allocation, and strategic digital transformation initiatives.
The need for a solution that could be used department-wide, and potentially across multiple domains, underscores the significance of this challenge.
The Opportunity
The broader opportunity here was not just about creating an assessment tool; it was about positioning the state department as a forward-thinking, digitally adept department.
By understanding the digital proficiency levels across the department, the department could identify areas of strength and areas requiring enhancement. This, in turn, would guide targeted training, resource allocation, and strategic digital initiatives, ensuring that the state department remained at the cutting edge of technological advancements in the transport and road sectors.
Furthermore, the potential to expand the capability platform to support multi-tenancy across multiple domains hinted at a vision beyond just the state department’s immediate needs. It suggested a tool that could be adopted by other departments or sectors, setting a new standard for digital capability assessment.
The Solution
The solution implemented was a digital assessment tool. The capability platform project encompassed various features including UX and UI design, prototyping, and infrastructure planning. The final solution was built as an end-to-end web-based application, integrating seamlessly with a pre-existing LMS solution. A noteworthy component of the platform was its analytics solution, which was incorporated to monitor and evaluate the application’s use, providing critical insights and feedback.
The benefits of this solution are as follows:
- Holistic Digital Assessment: The platform’s ability to evaluate digital maturity in the context of a comprehensive digital capability framework allowed the department to have a clear understanding of their digital proficiency levels, aiding in informed decision-making and strategic planning.
- Intuitive User Experience: With its focus on UX and UI design, the platform provided a user-friendly interface that ensured broad adoption across various user groups within the department. This enhanced engagement and maximised the utility of the tool.
- Seamless Integration: The integration with a pre-existing LMS solution ensured that the platform could be easily incorporated into the department’s existing digital ecosystem, minimising disruptions and facilitating smooth transitions.
- Data-Driven Insights: The analytics component of the platform allowed the department to monitor the application’s use and gather data-driven insights. This feedback mechanism was instrumental in refining the tool and ensuring it remained aligned with the department’s evolving needs.
Our Approach
During the platform design process, a significant emphasis was placed on usability and accessibility. The design also catered to multiple screen sizes. Initially, the design was mobile-first, but it shifted more towards desktop design due to user preference.
In the initial engagement, Mantel Group generated a proof of concept (POC) for the platform. This POC comprised UI and UX design, Design Thinking methodology, Business Analytics (BA), initial architecture, and an end-to-end web-based application. The department extensively used this application for user testing, feedback collection, and assumption validation.
Mantel Group then collaborated with the department to move the application from POC to production. This phase involved incorporating user feedback and expanding the application’s functionality.
After a brief discovery period, a more functional POC of the digital capability assessment tool was developed using design thinking principles. The prototype was extensively used by the Department for various purposes including user testing, feedback collection, and assumption validation.
Upon completing the initial build phase, the next step was to productionise the prototype and expand its accessibility across multiple devices.
The development was iterative, focusing first on high-priority features. Department members were part of the project team to ensure empowerment and knowledge sharing.
This collaboration allowed the Department to continue developing the application and carry out BAU activities even after the official engagement concluded.
