Editorial Ticket System

Internal Dashboard tool for PMs and Publishing staff

Leveraging online ticketing and kanban system to increase visibility and wait time for document processing.

View designs

Why a brand new ticketing system?

Documents need to undergo multiple rounds of editorial editing and translation before standards can be published and recognized nationally. The project focuses on the handoff and processing of tickets within the Editorial department. The current system and process creates headaches and conflict between both Project Managers and the Editorial department.

Satisfying polarizing personas - Editorial vs Project Management

Ensuring both Editorial staff and Project Managers who had opposing needs was critical to successful adoption. The following were 3 main pain points and opposing needs for the two personas.

Friction to unfamiliarity

How users wanted the system to look

  • Existing layouts made Editorial staff effective
  • PMs wanted simple layouts that could be skimmed
  • Editorial staff had internal comments and notes that were only relevant within the department
  • PMs needed time estimates and visibility on document handoffs

Level of detail

The level of detail needed within information overload

  • Editorial staff needed to track various detailed tasks throughout the project
  • PMs only wanted final end dates and relative processing time
  • Editorial staff tracked tickets by ticket numbers
  • PMs tracked by designation or standard name

Non-value add work

Additional work that needed to be done to complete the ticket

  • Editorial staff much time tracking questions sent to PMs
  • PMs spent time deciphering ticket notation and current status
  • PMs had to find their tickets among sea of tickets
  • Editorial staff couldn't update estimated times every handoff

Final solution highlights

Here are some of the key highlights for the ticketing system

For PMs

One-stop shop on all conversations

No more lost emails or crawling through email chains in the inbox

For Editors

A new spin on what worked well

Leveraging a new Kanban board while keeping fields, formats and the overall look the same. Editors can focus on doing their main jobs without worrying about new layouts.

New deadline alerts also make it clear to move documents along

For PMs

Live document status and scheduling

No more guessing when edits are done and with live scheduling, the newest estimated dates are automatically cascaded

For Editors

No more chasing after PMs

Questions sent to PMs have reminders and become visible tasks on the PM accounts. Allowing editors to focus less on managing and more time editing.

For PMs

Direct document upload for shared folders

No more sending multiple emails with images, word files or long shared folder links that may break. Both Editors and PMs can now access the same files while the ticket move through the flow.

For Editors

Say goodbye to the old excel calculator

With the new Gantt chart scheduler with drag- and-drop capabilities, templates - editors can schedule and customize tasks that fit every scenario without implementing complex programming logic.

Pilot testing with a MVP

A pilot test was conducted to test the key functionality of moving tickets, assigning due dates using a custom build solution within MS PowerApps.

  • 30 tickets were tracked through the pipeline
  • Average queue times and processing times were evaluated
  • Surveys to both Editors and PMs were sent during and post pilot
  • Select few Editors and PMs were interviewed for findings
" I didn't want to move on to other online systems because this system works with our processes"

- Scheduler within the Editorial Department

Future Roadmap Features

Here are a list of features to be implemented next on a V2 of the MVP once a toolkit other than MS PowerApps could be sourced.

Advanced analytics to further automate scheduling

  • New ongoing data will allow the organization to become data driven
  • New templates and flows can be evaluated if necessary
  • Leading to more accurate time estimates

Data driven prediction and early warning for delays

  • What causes delays in editing can be analyzed and understood
  • With early warning and prediction, PMs have better ability to pivot and change

System integration into PMO

  • Integrations into existing PMO software shared folders for easier accesss and document control

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