I. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Client:
Pharmaceutical Oncology Pipeline
Teams:
UX team – Director of UX (that was me!), Senior UX Designer and Junior UX Designer
Visual Designer, iOS Developer, Copywriter, Account Manager, Project Manager, Quality Assurance
Duration of Project:
6 months
Problem 1: Statement and Goal
The client wanted to improve the effectiveness of how their Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) share information with HCPs about the Oncology Pipeline. The MSLs currently have no efficient way of sharing information with HCPs locally on the iPad, which is causing difficult communication about the compounds and clinical trials that Bayer wants to promote.
Problem 2: Statement and Goal
The client wanted to improve the effectiveness of how their MSLs share information with their teams about the Oncology Congresses they visit. Bayer Oncology currently has no standard method for MSLs to take and share notes with the field, which is causing waste and loss with the pipeline teams.
To solve these problems and create better cross-team communication, we created the MSL app. The MSL app allows the user to take notes and share information without connecting to Wifi.
Platform:
iOS iPad Application
II. DISCOVERY (DEFINING THE PROBLEM)
Understand the Problem:
A. Who are the main users of the product?
MSLs: Medical Science Liaison is a healthcare consulting professional who is employed by pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and managed care companies. MSLs are highly educated and have PHDs, providing answers to HCP questions on Pipeline Compounds, Clinical Trials, and Areas of Research. MSLs attend congress events, and take notes on the latest oncology information, and share their notes on Congresses with the sales representatives.
HCPs (indirectly): Healthcare Providers may view content through conversation and interactions with MSLs.
B. How does the client solve the problem right now?
The client has an app with PowerPoint presentations.
C. Where is the product being used?
Oncology clinics and hospitals across America in all 50 States.
D. How will the product be used?
The MSL will use this app while visiting HCPs via an iPad. The app will be used as a means for conversation and reference point when discussing the Bayer Pipeline.
Understand the Users
To understand the User Needs and goals, we did a whiteboard session with our stakeholder medical expert. We learned:
User Needs
1. Summarized information for the Oncology Pipeline and specific to HCP-MSL interactions.
2. Need a way to quickly jump between content relevant to their HCP
3. Take notes at a Congress/Event
4. Share notes/learnings from Oncology Congresses.
User Goals
1. Talk to community oncologists and podiatric oncologists about new treatments.
2. Persuade Oncologists that Bayer is/has become a major player in Oncology.
3. Provide a more intentional conversation with HCPs.
Assumptions
1. The digital agency has the latest NCCN Guidelines
2. The client’s Oncology Pipeline MSL iPad app depends on the availability of a properly configured TeamSite environment provided by their in-house technology department. Deployments to the Oncology Pipeline App production require in-house technology department intervention and participation.
3. The client has no system in place to export/import Congress meeting agendas.
4. All iPads in the field have working Cameras.
5. Bayer will provide the user with the username/password.
6. We have to rebuild the oncology pipeline in native language (Swift or Objective-C).
Constraints
1. The application has to work locally.
2. Client wants to reference other internal apps for note taking.
3. MSLs are legally not allowed to share presentations or notes outside company.
III. SOLUTIONS
A. Functional Specifications
The UX team was tasked to draft the functional specification document for this app. We outlined the Minimal Viable Product and characterized the features to improve project efficiency. These features require the following conceptual architecture.
B. Information Architecture
We digitized the sitemap based on approved features.
To make it easy for our MSLs to complete their tasks, we divided the information architecture into 3 main tasks: Resources, Note Taking, and Favorites.
Resources – holds all presentations and content for the MSL, allowing them to quickly find information and favorite the content to show at their meetings with HCPs. In Resources, the MSL can scan through list of presentations with the presentation view. If the MSL wants to present granular material such as info on a specific Compound, they can use view the Pipeline. They can also favorite content for easy access.
Event Notes – allow the MSL to take notes at an event, favorite and share their notes with their team. To get started, MSLs create an event-specific note, using the event name and date. Then, they can add their note to the body, any pictures they’ve taken, and even any documents related to that event. After they’ve saved, the Event Note goes into their Event Note list, which is organized by the most recently edited at the top for easy access.
Favorites – helps the MSL be prepared for their meetings with HCPs by having a list of quick links to content, accessed in a spoke-and-wheel hierarchy (meaning when they tap the “Back” Button, they go back to the list of favorites). This allows the MSL to quickly navigate between content they prepared, providing a more intentional meeting with the HCP.
C. Navigation Design:
We wanted to streamline how MSLs find presentations and granular content quickly, so we included standard iOS iPad navigation (Navbars, Segmented Controls, Toolbars, Popovers, etc.), a search feature, and 2 types of filters: a SingleSelect Filter, and a MultiSelect filter.
SingleSelect Filters – There’s two types of SingleSelect Filters: a “Filter By” and “Sort By” filter. The “Filter By” filter helps the MSL quickly switch between content categories. The sort by filter helps the MSL sort content alphabetically or by most recently added. These filters are available in search, favorites, and presentations views.
MultiSelect Filters – MultiSelect Filter allows MSLs to filter and view granular exact pieces of content (eg, all compounds with Phase II trials and Breast Cancer). This is accessible in the Compounds and Clinical Trial views.
D. Wireframes
Using Omnigraffle, we created annotated wires. These wires went through 3 rounds of revisions. The following are a few examples of how the app helps MSLs when presenting to HCPs and take notes at Events.
Presentations – If the user selects ”Presentations” from “Resources” they will view all presentations available. Screen has been divided into PDFs and PPTs for easy scan of content. Presentations can also be accessed on each individual Compound, Clinical Trial, and Area of Research.
Specific Compound – When MSLs tap into a specific compound, they can view a compound overview, the MOA, Related Trials, and Related Presentations to that Compound.
Event Notes – Gives the user the ability to add notes and other information regarding Congresses or other events attended. Tapping on the “Add” symbol gives MSL the ability to add a new note. Tapping on the arrow allows the user to view the note where the user can further edit. Edit and Delete are accessed by a swipe left gesture on the respective event note card.
Add Event – Once the user has decided to add an event this screen will pop-up. MSL must input a name and start date in order to move to the next screen. Once the user has inputted the necessary information, the ”Next” button become active and allows then to add notes on the next screen.
Edit Note – On this screen, the user can use the keyboard to add notes about the event attended. On the toolbar, the user can add images and attachments, change style of fonts, and create a list. Once the content has been filled out, they can save the note which will be displayed on the “Event Notes” home screen. Notes can be shared with Bayer colleagues if MSL has connectivity.
View Notes – MSLs can view their notes, review/delete any photos or docs attached, favorite the note, and share notes with their teams. The Asset Bar allows the user to see all their assets at a bird’s eye view. Share Button allows the MSL to share via email, if they have connectivity.
Favorites – MSLs can favorite any piece of content on the Pipeline, and it will be displayed here. This is especially useful for content that will be presented several times and needs to be easily accessible. The user can unfavorite any content, which will then be removed from this master list.
Search – MSLs can filter content on the Search Results. Sorting is available. Filter allows the user to refine the selection of content on the app. Filter Popover displays relevant options dynamically. Irrelevant options become inactive. Content is divided into categories of PDFs, PPTs, Compounds, Clinical Trials, Event Notes, and Areas of Research. “Sort By” Popover gives the option to see content in alphabetical or chronological order.
E. INTERACTION DESIGN
Interaction #1: Card Tap Animation
When the user taps a compound or media card (full screen modal), the card does a diagonal flip transitioning into the next view.
See url reference here.
Interaction #2: Swipe Left/Right to Change Tabs
To make it easier to navigate content, the user can swipe left or right on views with tabs that take them to the next/ previous view.
See url reference here.
Interaction #3: Pulsing Announcements Icon
When the user logs in and there’s new content, the Announcements icon pulses twice then stops. This only happens once per session.
See url reference here.
Interaction #4: Note Thumbnails Scale In
Thumbnails have a scale In animation on tap, transitioning to the Quicklook modal.
See url reference here.
Interaction #5: Filtered Content Shuffle
After the user filters content, the content reshuffles to the appropriate order to signify a change to the MSL.
See url reference here.
V. TAKEAWAYS
Some of the major challenges were:
1. Creating an entirely local experience for the MSLs. The client's MSLs rarely have connectivity while visiting HCPs, so the app had to be built entirely local. This affected how we approached adding Oncology Pipeline content to the app, and how we update the applications. We solved these challenges by:
a) Rebuilding the website in native iOS. To make it similar to navigating the website we used Segmented Controls to split the content into chunks the MSLs are familiar with. Within those views, we added a popover filtering experience that mirrors the Faceted Search Navigation, making it easy to find content at a granular level.
b) Creating a new Updates page that shows only when the client updates the content of the application.
2. Finding a happy medium between account team stakeholder goals and the user goals. After our UX team had our discovery brainstorm, we created a Note taking experience that was very targeted towards the MSLs journey at a congress. MSLs go to congress and visit several events within that congress. There are one-on-ones, speaker forums, and poster forums events. To help the MSLs make granular notes, we designed a flow where MSL adds their congress, and any events associated with it. They would then have notes for each event they attended.
Account management thought this overcomplicated the experience. So, to meet the goals of our stakeholders and our users, we redesigned the experience by allowing notes to be added per event.
Account management thought this overcomplicated the experience. So, to meet the goals of our stakeholders and our users, we redesigned the experience by allowing notes to be added per event.