Overview
The critical role of child support case managers
Child support case managers handle complex, high-stakes work that directly impacts families. They must establish paternity, set up support orders, and ensure compliance while managing large caseloads. My team was brought in to study case managers' experiences and identify opportunities to improve a statewide case management system.
Our client's case managers were using a system unchanged since 1998 that lacked basic web functionality. This 25-year tech gap created barriers to efficient case processing and limited their ability to serve families effectively.
To understand the daily experience, we conducted 8 weeks of discovery research, gathering insights from 600+ case workers through surveys and interviews. I also performed a content audit to evaluate the quality of the system's content and uncover any gaps.
My contribution
Content strategy
User research
Product design
The team
1 content designer
2 product designers
2 UX researchers
Year
2021
Process
Leading with strategic principles
After analyzing survey and interview responses with UX researchers, I categorized case managers' core needs and worked with product designers to build prototypes for our state client. The key user needs that shaped our solution became the foundation for these strategic principles.
"Guide me as I work"
I added a "case tasks" section to case summaries, allowing case managers to document important notes and links previously kept in personal notebooks.
"Give me a relevant summary"
I proposed a consolidated summary view that brings together previously separate screens, prioritizing the fields case managers search for most.
"Help me collaborate"
I prioritized case participant names over case numbers throughout the interface. Research showed that using names helps case managers remember that they're serving real people, not just processing cases.
Outcomes and reflection
We built a clickable prototype and conducted usability testing to validate our solution. 26 out of 29 case managers (90%) reported feeling confident navigating the redesigned platform.
The project taught me to design for evolving user mindsets rather than fixed personas. By focusing on how case managers' needs change throughout a case's lifecycle, I was able to more effectively design key moments that help them adapt to their evolving case needs.