Customer Tuning Project
ROLE
UX Research & Design Intern
DESCRIPTION
This is a pre-development project I worked on at Siemens Healthineers.
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Provided users with clear guidance to install all the components and complete CT calibration.
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Enabled users to timely upgrade their CT on their own under the pandemic traveling restrictions.
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Saved SH tremendous traveling costs for the service engineers.
DURATION
20 weeks (2020 Aug - 2020 Dec)
OUTCOMES
Reduced the average phantom installation time from 25 mins to 15 mins;
Increased the one-time success rate to over 90%.
TEAM
Shanghai Siemens Healthineers, CTC R&D
TOOLS
Miro, Adobe XD, Adobe Pr, Procreate
The Problem and Situation
CT tuning is a procedure to calibrate a CT scanner and its system to ensure the quality and accuracy of its images. Tuning usually follows a system upgrade or replacement of CT components such as the CT tube, and the frequency varies from approximately six months to two years.
Tuning requires a corresponding quality-checking instrument called SH Phantom. Currently, the whole process is operated by Siemens customer service engineer who travels to the customer's site.
Siemens Healthineers
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It is difficult for service engineers to travel to customers and help tune their CTs during the pandemic.
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Traveling and quarantine expenses have raised the cost of customer engineers’ business travel.
The Customers
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As one of the important diagnostic bases for COVID, CT has assumed a greater workload during the pandemic.
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It is hard for customers to obtain visits from customer service engineers for timely calibration and updates.
We came up with the solution of developing a product that enables the users to tune their own CTs after rigorous discussions with advisors and stakeholders.
It turns out that our work could be very impactful in making sure all the customers can have their CT upgraded and tuned timely during the pandemic, thus cutting down the cost of business travel tremendously for SH.
Tackling the Problem
To get a holistic perspective of the problem, we interviewed with
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Project Managers
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CT Technicians
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CT Research Scientist
Simplify the installation of all the components tuning needs and make the process clear to the customers, providing them with intelligible instructions.
Collaborate with industry designers to iterate the Phantom holder design, making it easier for users to comprehend and install.
Collaborate with the algorithm engineers and developers, design the interface for the upgrade program. Conduct usability tests and iterate the UI design.
My tasks as UX researcher and designer:
Research
Competitive Analysis: Collected tuning information of our competitors: GE, Philips, and United Imaging
Contextual Inquiries: Deeply observed the technologists’ day-to-day work environment and tasks
User Interviews: Conducted 5 interviews with in-house technologists to understand the process of tuning
Industry Site Visit: Visited collaborative hospitals in Shanghai & Changshu, observed the SH CTs’ perform environment and the equipment storing situation
Insights
What we learned from the current tuning process and interface:
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How the technologists perform the CT tuning
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The current tuning interface was designed for the SH engineers, it is not straightforward enough for our customers to understand
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The engineers are familiar with the tuning process so there is no instruction
What our users face when they conduct tuning on their own:
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They might not know the whole process and how tuning works before start
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The components may not be placed in the same room together with the CT
What we need to provide:
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A detailed and understandable assembly manual, like what IKEA provide with their furniture
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Instruction designed for a mobile device, so users can operate the tuning process on the CT while reading the instructions on mobile
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Clear indication how many steps are required and what is user's current stage
Solution Details
Pain Points
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Heavy memory load when memorizing the number of Phantom and Holder
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Phantom is too heavy to hold, so there is no spare hand for the tablet
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Hard to estimate the time tuning needs in advance
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Each tuning is a re-learning process, as the interval can be several months
User Goals
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Gather the right components in one go
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Teach themselves to correctly install the Phantom without the Siemens Healthineers customer engineer’s help
Storyboard
User Flow
Prototypes and Iterations
Usability Test & Feedback
After finishing the first version of the prototype, we conducted usability tests with four groups of both inner and real users, from our own CT researchers in SH to CT technologists in cooperative hospitals.
Participants are required to perform the whole tuning process in front of us. The tasks include collecting all the required components, installing the Phantom, and running the automatic Phantom check.
All the behavior of the participants are recorded, as well as the time they take to accomplish the tuning. We asked them to think aloud as they moved through the flows.
For More Details of Usability Tests:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_LC7UFeXRydiGvu55hdGjyD0PJ5Wv1RA/view?usp=sharing
Design Iteration
01
The memory load when looking for the correct part is high.
Some users may assume that the phantom number and the holder should be the same, thus only pay attention to the Phantom number.
“It's hard for me to remember the Phantom and Holder numbers“
“I didn't even notice that the two numbers were different. I thought the matching Phantom and Holder would have the same number“
So we refined the components page:
Before
After
02
The winged screw needs to be fastened only when the Phantom tilted, otherwise it should be left loose. Users find it hard to understand how the winged screws work. The required loosening operation is counterintuitive.
“I thought I should fasten the winged screw. I have no idea how it works but I assume that every component should be fastened to its tightest.”
So we added a page to emphasize do not fasten the winged screw:
Before
03
It is hard to observe whether the tab successfully falls into the hole of the patient table. Due to the tolerance space of the holder, the user needs to manually adjust it to align with the bed plate after insertion, but the first version of the instruction was complicated.
“I am kinda confused by the inner structure of the holder. Does it mean I need to place the tab inside the holder into the hole on the patient table? But I can't see the hole clearly.”
So we redesigned the graphic to make the structure clear enough to understand and simplified the instructions. We also applied new auxiliary lines on the patient table and holder to help with alignment:
Mid
After
04
There are so many things to check on the page after completing the installation, that it decreased the user‘s confidence.
“I am kinda confused by the inner structure of the holder. Does it mean I need to place the tab inside the holder into the hole on the patient bed?”
So we simplified the final check page, and reduced the items to be checked while ensuring the accuracy of user final checks:
Before
Mid
After
Final Prototype
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Reflection
How to dictate the endpoint of design when there is no specific due date:
After constant usability testing and feedback gathering, I found that there is no "endpoint" to a design project, especially when we are not given a specific due date as it’s a pre-R&D project. Participants would constantly tell us what they wanted the product to be. It seemed like we still had tremendous space for the product to improve and iterate.
After this project, however, I realized that there was no end to design, but we do have an end to the project. Once the product could solve the core problem, meet user needs, have a high success rate in tests, and the problems exposed were not fatal, we could call it the "final version". If the results or visuals satisfy the stakeholders and participants, we can deliver them to launch.
How to provide best user experience when working on business-driven design:
Before this project, I always thought that all UX design should be based on providing users with a better experience. However, in a real business world, various business and commercial strategies are very likely to harm the product experience. How to balance the needs between teams, sort out all the complicated and confusing things, and integrate them into something that can both make users happy and promote business development, that is the fascination of UX design.
After going through this project, I realized that a good designer should have excellent coordination ability, expand the vision to the whole product and business, help the team to solve the problem as a whole and weigh the best solution under various constraints.