MyRoster improvements
Transport for NSW
MyRoster is a part of the TCSS (Train Crew Self-Service) App. This app is used by the Sydney Trains Drivers and Guards to keep up to date with assigned shifts, swap shifts, receive electronic documents and alerts and multiple other functions crucial to their everyday work.
Problem statement
Currently, MyRoster within the Train Crew Self Service (TCSS) application leaves many crew members confused and uncertain about their assigned shifts. Due to the lack of all required information in MyRoster, crew members prefer to use the TCQL PDF file, which is cumbersome and not user-friendly. Additionally, at present, the TCSS iPad app syncs only 2 times a day which prevents crew members from accessing the latest updates via the app.
Current iPad app and TCQL PDF file
“Know my Roster” workshop
We believed that the crew did not understand the colours and abbreviations used on the TCQL roster PDF. We wanted to see how well the users understand the current PDF document. After running this workshop, our hypothesis was confirmed.
Learnings:
• Not one user answered all of the questions correctly
• Shades of the same colour are hard to distinguish
• Too many colours and abbreviations used throughout the roster
• The only way to truly understand the current roster is for the Crew to study all different variations - colour codes and abbreviations.
• Relies heavily on memory to remember all cell variations
• Accessibility - Poor colour choice for text and backgrounds - visually impaired users will find it difficult to read
• Some Crew are manually entering their entire Roster for 6-12 months in advance into their personal digital calendar. They do this to not only share with their family but also to improve their life planning.
• Reliance purely on colour to convey information, renders people with colourblindness (monochromacy or achromatopsia) unable to correctly perform their jobs
Opportunities:
• Reduce cognitive load by minimising visual clutter
• Implement labels, tags and text instead of borders, colours and abbreviations
• Build on existing mental models
• Limit top-level information to the most essential points
• Implement modal views to display further information
• Provide clear information hierarchy
Proposed solution:
Leveraging the existing TCSS App concept, re-design the MyRoster tab. Allow MyRoster to provide all of the information that is currently only available to the TCQL PDF roster. We need to improve the UI, so the Crew can easily scan and understand the provided information.
Tech: Sync times to be increased from the current 2 to 4 times a day
Design:
Utilising out newly discovered findings, I mocked a few options exploring how the current use of ambiguous colours and shades can be transformed into more precise and accessible user interface. I considered how we could highlight the most relevant to crew information and how to improve overall scannability. By migrating extra data to the modal view, I was able to minimise the UI clutter.
Each calendar day displays only a minimal overview of key information, more detailed shift information is migrated to the modal view.
