Report Library User Interface Redesign

We are a healthcare focused data services company, and while we have a good number of very talented web programmers and database analysts, we do not have a top flight graphical designer who can create knock-your-socks-off site design mockups and user interface (UI) schemes.

We are looking for a redesign of an existing online report library interface. We need a fresh, new, modern, intuitive interface design for our library. This is a UI design project only – we will take care of hooking up the winning interface design to our datasets and building the underlying website application. You create the look and functionality, we’ll handle the application.

The key needs are ease-of-use, logical functionality and intuitive process flow for users, and modern, clean design. Solutions for HTML/CSS/scripting/Flash/Adobe Flex sites are all equally OK and encouraged for the design, we can code around all of these. Other design solutions may also be OK, but check with us first.

Treo Services Report Library

Detailed Description:

To get an understanding of the current state of our report library, we HIGHLY recommend you view our online video at

http://www.treosolutions.com/report…ntest.html

The basic operation of our report library is as follows:

1. User enters the report library via a link in another of our online applications.

2. User chooses from a variety of parameters to define their desired report(s) (for example: pick a report category, then pick a report from within that category, then pick a year, then a hospital, then a physician). Some reports can be run in batch mode, where users can select multiple versions of a report to be run at once (for example, user wants the same overview report for 50 different physicians at a selected hospital).

3. After all parameters have been chosen, user runs the report(s).

4. If the user wants a single report, the report is generated on the fly, and once generation is complete, the user is given a link to click on to open their report (all reports are delivered in .pdf format). If the user runs a batch for multiple reports, the user gets nothing immediately, but rather is told via a message on screen that the reports will be delivered to them via e-mail (in this scenario user must enter an e-mail address - up to three addresses - where the reports will be sent).

Some other features of the report library, while not essential to the basic operation of picking and running a report, but adding significant user value, include:

1. A report archive area where each user’s recently run reports can be retrieved again in the future.

2. The option to schedule reports to be run at a later time (most often, to be run when the underlying report data is refreshed by us) and sent to one or more user-entered e-mail addresses.

3. A report preview area where users can learn about and see sample snapshots of all our reports before running a report.

Again, to get a better idea of how the library works now, watch our video.

Who is the target audience for the new report library?

There are a few assumptions we make for the target audience: our users are smart people in terms of understanding the information we present in our reports, but they are not necessarily web-savvy.

The report library should be intuitive and able to be usable to first time visitors who are very distracted, busy, limited-attention span type folks in general. If a user has to go read instructions on how to run a report, they will leave. We do not want that, obviously.

So what do we need?

We are looking for entries to design a one or multiple screen solution – if you can build it on one screen, go for it, if you think more than one screen is best, go for it. We are not beholden to any specific approach, such as a requirement for traditional HTML dropdown lists and buttons, or a complete iconic/graphical approach. We aren’t designers, you are. Wow us.

How we will pick the winning design?

All ideas are fair game...knock us over with your creativity and ability to create something intuitive and usable. We’ll be judging entries on three key areas:

1. Usability – Can a new visitor come to the report library, and without having to read a tutorial or FAQ, or any directions at all, be able to preview, run and retrieve reports the first time and every time? That’s what we expect from this UI design.

2. Visual appearance – We’re looking for something clean, slick and polished. We think interactive icons and buttons and dynamic Flash interfaces are cool, but ultimately we won’t sacrifice usability and functionality for coolness. If good old fashioned web graphics and HTML does the job best vs. all other entries, we’ll go with it.

3. Creativity and completeness of solution – Can users easily preview and access descriptions of all our sample reports? Are users able to easily understand all options available to them (such as a report being able to be batched or scheduled to be run later)? What’s the best way for users to select report parameters – from text lists or by clicking on well-designed icons, or a combination of both? We’d like users to be able to start selecting another report without having to wait for the first one to finish being generated – what can you design that makes this self-evident to the user? Should users have the option of a novice mode (wizard, query-based functionality) and an expert mode (just pick the parameters and go)? The more you can help us work through the best approach, the better.

We hope we won’t have to, but we reserve the right to end the contest at any time without declaring a winner if no designs meet our requirements and needs.

Other helpful info:

If you’ve watched our video, you’ve noticed we make extensive use of dropdown lists to select report parameters. To aid in your design, here are the report categories that are used now, and will be used in the report library in the future:

Report Categories:

- Physician
- Market
- Financial
- Quality
- Exception Reports – Monthly
- Other Reports – Monthly
- PPA Reports (PPA = Performance and Payment Analysis)
- CRG Reports (CRG = Clinical Risk Groups)

The first four categories are our “Annual” hospital reports, and next two are our “Monthly” hospital reports. The PPA and CRG categories are report categories for separate product offerings.

Helpful Links:

Our corporate website (see our Business Intelligence page for descriptions of our products): http://www.treosolutions.com

You can download a .zip file containing images of our corporate logo, our product logos, and our current report library logo (feel free to use any and all of these images in your design entries).  The file is available here: www.treosolutions.com/contest.zip

Other sites that do things we like, and you might want to check out for inspiration:

We are NOT saying the sites below are how we want to do our report library. We are saying certain things in the sites below appeal to us for various reasons, and may help you gain insight into what we think is neat and cool.

http://www.youtube.com

we like the way users see the video screenshots next to the text descriptions of the vidios. Can this be adapted to report samples?

http://www.edmunds.com

we like how you are presented easy, intuitive choices when looking for a car report. Pick new or used, pick a car category, pick a brand, pick a year. We like obvious choices when deciding on what report you want.

http://hospital.webmd.com/

we like the step-by-step nature with where-are-you-in-the-process tabs, we also like how descriptions or the report are given once a category and procedure/diagnosis are selected.

http://www.mpggenie.com/Mpg-Genie.cfm

this is just a really cool use of Adobe Flex to pick and choose items for a comparison report

Artwork, Icons, Stock Photography:

Must be original artwork, our graphics (see link above), or with a license available from stock photo sites such as iStockPhoto.com.

Final Deliverables Required for Payment:

We will need final winning UI design mockups ready to be coded for HTML/CSS, javascript, Flash, or Adobe Flex, or any combination thereof. If you have ideas for other formats, ask us about them up front, we may be OK with them. We will use your design as the front end to our databases and web programming.

All images/icons/skins should be made available in native Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash form, as well as web-ready in .gif/.jpeg/.png

Have Questions for Us?

Good! We like questions and love giving feedback – we worry when designers don’t ask us lots of clarifying questions. Post to the site contest or send an e-mail to tcoughlin@treosolutions.com

Best of luck to all entrants!

see above detailed description

nothing, everything is fair game