Client Problem

Consumers had no holistic view of care services for the elderly and had no idea where to look for services or how to evaluate them.

The Federal Government Department was funded to develop a web portal to help consumers to more easily find and compare accommodation facilities for the elderly. The Department decided to use this opportunity to broaden the scope of the site to cover its entire range of care. The broader vision was for the site to become the public ‘shopfront’ for the entire government-funded care system for the elderly. This had never been attempted before.

SMS was engaged to drive the concept of this web-based shopfront. 
 

SMS Approach

The focus was highly strategic and highly user-centred, commencing with detailed research to determine end user needs, understandings and preferences, and testing results with users along the way.

The SMS team came to a decision to make the solution highly market research driven. Requirements included:

• catering for users with little to no previous knowledge of care for the elderly without alienating more knowledgeable users
• providing a holistic picture of the care system in place for the elderly while also satisfying users' immediate, local and specific needs
• best practice web design making the site engaging, supportive, caring and useful, both for inexperienced users and for persons with disabilities
• providing plain English content without altering the meanings for the Department or for health and aged care professionals

The SMS Information Architect worked in parallel with market researchers for a number of months during a multi-stage research program. The initial, broad-based research amongst existing carers and recipients of care led to the development of a wide range of high fidelity screen prototypes. These were used in later research with users to concept test a range of visual design options, interactive features and the high level information structure.

SMS discovered that consumers typically look for care services for the elderly when there is a crisis. Also, they tended to look for solutions local to them. By concentrating on solving these problems, SMS aimed to empower them to inform themselves and make their own decisions. SMS also sought to support the carers by developing interactive features to enable them to become part of an online community. 

 

Recommendation

SMS recommended that the solution should be market driven, capturing the key market research findings.

SMS recommended particular principles for the look, feel and interactivity of the website, and managed a team of copywriters and graphic designers in their development of website prototypes to these specifications. By the end of this process, the prototypes balanced the Department’s business needs with the needs of consumers.

SMS used these prototypes as the basis for presentations throughout the Division, to senior management and to the Minister. The prototypes and the Information Architecture solution surrounding them formed the basis for the subsequent web portal development and implementation. 
 

Outcome

An Australian-first consumer focussed view of care services for the elderly.

This website represents the first ever consumer focussed view of care services for the elderly in Australia. It has gained universal consensus and acclaim amongst its stakeholders and is seen as a model for future outward-looking aged care information services to be provided by the Department.