Demerit Points Service Online
| VicRoads
Role
UX/UI designer
Team
Product owner, Business analyst,
Solution architecture,
Scrum team
Tools
Adobe XD, InVision,
Pen & paper
Client
VicRoads
Project Goals
VicRoads wanted to provide customers with the abilty to check demerit points online. Our goals were not only to improve the visibility of demerit points but also to let customers know what demerit points mean to them.
Previously, customers could only check their demerit points via Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and they can only find out their demerit point history through ordering a driver history report, and calling customer service or visiting the customer centre.
Current traffic infringment and demerit points register flow.
Discover
Research Plan
Our research plan started from two directions - First, find out why customers call VicRoads to ask questions about demerit points. The second direction is running an internal stakeholder workshop to understand what information and knowledge will help customers to check demerit points more efficiently and understand the demerit points system.
At the same time, I worked with the business analyst and researched relevant policy questions around demerit points, and meeting SMEs to understand the demerit points system and processes between infringement (Fine Victoria) and registering demerit points(VicRoads.)
Customer Calls Findings
We listened to 22 calls regarding demerit points questions, and we disovered some interesting findings.
50%
Half of the customers asked for demerit points balance because of the worries of reaching demerit points limits and their license might get suspended.
45%
Some customers are not familiar with the system, especially points limits for different licenses, and group and ungrouped points falling etc.
20%
Some customers are not aware of option notice and how that works.
20%
0% of calls are relative to delayed information and licence status updates between Fines Vic and VicRoads, especially since the nomination process has been through, but the points are not removed in the VicRoads system.
15%
Some customers are P licence holders that are asking for their demerit points balance.
"I'm organising my points licence so I pick up the telephone and it says 3 points. What does this mean? "
"I was just looking up my demerit points, I just wanted to double check the point value."
Personas & Customer Journey Map
From our findings, we targeted two types of persona - customers who are not familiar with the demerit points system, and customers who want to check if they had reached their limit.
Demerit points personas. (Click the images to see details.)
Stakeholders Workshop
We invited stakeholders from different departments(customers service centre, policy, digital service, etc.) to collect all aspects of feedback. We walkthrough the customer's journey with stakeholders and asked them to provide more feedback and insights. In the end, we asked the stakeholders to prioritised the opportunities - what do they think is important for the customers?
Define
Opportunities
I worked with the product owner and consolidated all the opportunities and feedback from research and workshop, and it started to shape our product features and we defined what our MVP and future stages are.
Finding information
MVP features
Create an online myVicRoads dashboard presenting:
-
Current point balance associated with their licence status
-
Last demerit point offence date
-
Indication of ‘available points’ based on licence type (e.g. full vs probationary vs learners) (More complex for Ps and Ls licence)
-
Cross-sell into Driver History Reports for more detailed info
Understand information
Improvements to:
-
Update demerit points website content (clear and concise landing pages)
-
Easy to interpret the visual representation of how the points system works (i.e. 0-12, good to bad)
-
Helpful supporting information on the dashboard where relevant to
-
Demerit point information architecture (i.e. navigation)
-
Consolidation of web pages
Constraints
From the tech team and solutions architecture perspectives, we also tried to understand what we could deliver and what the constraints are. The customer's demerit point numbers are existing in the system, however, there is no last offence date information in the system.
The product owner and I discussed providing information that the demerit point balance may not up to date, due to whether a fine has been paid. We were interested to see how effective the user testing would be.
On the other hand, the system is not able to show what accumulated periods they are in. Because the limits for learner permits probationary licence drivers, their demerit point limits are 5 points in 12 months or 11 points in 3 years, which is difficult to show the correct accumulated period and tell them to have them reach limits or not.
User types analysis
I wanted to figure out how much risk would impact learner permit and probationary licence holders if we are not able to get the correct accumulated period. Also, considering the insufficient information, it might cause more customer calls volume.
I collected the statistics on the number of customers with demerit points. I noticed the majority of licence holders are full licence holders and most have zero or just a few points. Additionally, learner permit and probationary licences holders are just 10% of the total licence holders.
I discussed with my product owner and decided to use content to tell learner permits and probationary licence holders if their demerit points are 5, they might reach the limits if they are in their 12 months period, and they can call CSC to ask for further information.
Licence holders distribution.
Licence status distribution.
Demerit points distribution - Full licence.
Design
User flows to wireframes
From our MVP definitions, I arranged the different scenario types of user flows, which are divided by the different point ranges and licence suspended status. I also made sure the MVP opportunities were addressed.
Relevant information in different demerit point ranges. (Click to see more)
Demerit points user flows
Because the demerit points sections will be displayed on myVicRoads account dashboard. There are some challenges that I have to think about how to design them.
1. How to control the information I want to put on the dashboard?
2. How to tell fewer demerit points are good, more points are bad?
3. How to prioritise information with positions, colours, font size, etc?
Bar graph demerit points design
I first used a bar graph to show the demerit points limits. However, some feedback has said it seems like progress bar that might lead users want to reach the maximum.
Controlling the copy volume
The tricky thing about designing demerit points on the dashboard is that we don't want the copy to end up too long and confuse customers more, especially on mobile. If the copy is too long, it will irritate the experience of checking demerit points.
MVP design on myVicRoads account dashboard.
Conceptual design for myVicRoads account dashboard with demerit points. Know more
User Testing Feedback
We engaged U1 to conduct moderated user testing to gather feedback on a prototype version of the myVicRoads account (Know more), which included my demerit points section. They recruited 8 participants who have recently used myVicRoads account.
“it’s pretty clear. It’s telling you exactly what it’s going to do, the more driving offenses you commit the more demerit points you get”
”Well, if I wouldn’t have paid the fine they don’t actually get added to your licence unless you pay the fine or contest to what you lost”
Here are the findings from the user feedback
1. What user understanding of the demerit point status?
Most articulated their understanding to be that the current figure, “3/12” represented they had lost 3 points with 9 remaining.
However, some participants interpreted this information to represent that they have 3 demerit points remaining.
2. When asked whether the demerit point balance is up to date
Some participants were able to articulate that the demerit points shown may not be an accurate reflection of their demerit point status if they had not paid an infringement notice.
3. When asked to locate their demerit point history
Most participants did so via “you can order a breakdown of your demerit points here.”
They expected the history to be accessible and did not expect to have to pay for this information
Delivery
Results
I addressed the feedback based on the last testing. I emphasised 0 point is a good visual and added an icon with a message more relative to user status. Also, the 11 points are the limit and dispalyed with more information, instead of giving overwhelming copy, I added read more button for customers that want to find out more information.
