TL;DR:
Designed an website where teachers could apply for a background check quickly and easily. CA summer 2015.
Context:
When Indiana passed new background screening legislation, Background Investigation Bureau wanted to create an easy way to enable teachers to get screened. By law, teachers are required to be screened once every 5 years. The school may or may not pay for it, so they needed a solution that could enable the applicant to pay for the screen themselves.
BIB’s solution was to allow the teachers to submit their information and pay for their screen online. By enabling the teachers to enter their own information, they could ensure faster turnaround and more accurate checks.
Process:
BIB had distilled the data collection process down to science, so we were able to ask for the minimum amount necessary. However, getting a background check can feel like a daunting experience, so we started by breaking the process down into simple steps so that users would feel comfortable.
We opted to start with an introductory page: it gave us an opportunity to outline the necessity of the screens and help set the user at ease, knowing they have obvious concerns about privacy and validity. With a simple but uniquely branded portal, we wanted to ensure the platform felt trustworthy, as trust is critical with background screening.
Once indicating the desire to begin, the application process is 4 simple steps:
- Choose the screen type (They’re labeled plainly – i.e., “Employee” vs “Volunteer”)
- Agree to the authorization (Basically an e-signature)
- Enter contact information and DOB, SSN and gender
- Enter payment information
Once we were comfortable with the flow, we designed a simple, clean interface with those 5 pages. At the end, we provided a simple confirmation page with details so the user would know what to expect.
Specifically, I was really happy that we were able to reduce the number of required fields on the “Enter Information” page to the bare minimum required for performing a check. Generally, background check applications ask for outrageous amounts of information: different residences over the past 7 years, aliases, etc. By understanding the baseline information needed to determine one’s identity, I argued that fewer fields would improve the experience of getting screened without negatively impacting the actual screen results.
Results:
Since this site was similar to some other projects I had done with BIB, we were able to get it built quickly, ensuring the design was implemented correctly. Early reports indicated it was received well.
However, we completed this shortly before I left the organization so I did not get an opportunity to measure success. Based on their similar products, I believe the small improvements we rolled in resulted in even smoother user experience.