Employee Management System Web Application

Case Study

  • Study Group Members:
  • Shima F.
  • Fransiskus A.
  • Haitham B.

Introduction

The objective of this case study is to outline the design process for an Employee Management System web application with a focus on UI UX. The application is backed by a relational database, allows for user interaction / input and is created using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP and mySQLi.

The case study

Application description and Design Process

We decided to create an Employee Management System application that allows the users to add, update and search employees' information in the database.

We started the design process by creating the initial sitemap:
We then followed up with the design of a low-fi wireframe, just to get a sense of how the application will look like.
A simple moodboard was created to showcase the different colors, fonts, images or icons that will be used when creating the application. The moodboard is just a rough sketch and can be modified as needed.
We then created a mockup of the application using Figma. This is a good representation of what the application will look like.

The Tech plan

This is a schema of the relational database we used for our application
Here is the PHP and JavaScript pseudocode used to help create the application.
This is the file structure for the web application including folder and file names
Web application Figma prototype

User personas

To better understand our target audience, we looked at three quick user personas and described their interaction with the application and their pain points.

    HR Administrator - Olivia Martinez
  • Background:
    • Olivia Martinez is a 34-year-old HR Administrator with 6 years of experience.
    • She holds a bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management.
    • Olivia works at a mid-sized technology company located in a metropolitan area.
  • Goals:
    • Efficiently add and update employee information in the system.
    • Easily retrieve employee data for reporting and compliance purposes.
    • Ensure data accuracy and compliance with HR policies.
  • Challenges:
    • Handling a high volume of data entry tasks.
    • Managing employee records securely and in compliance with privacy regulations.
    • Generating reports for management and regulatory purposes.
    Supervisor - Michael Turner
  • Background:
    • Michael Turner is a 40-year-old team supervisor with 8 years of experience.
    • He has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.
    • Michael works at a manufacturing company in a suburban location.
  • Goals:
    • Easily search for employee information based on projects, skills, or performance metrics.
    • Streamline the process of assigning tasks and projects to team members.
    • Monitor the performance and progress of team members.
  • Challenges:
    • Identifying the right employees with the required skills for specific projects.
    • Ensuring fair and balanced workload distribution among team members.
    • Providing timely feedback and recognition to team members.
    Employee - Jessica Miller
  • Background:
    • Jessica Miller is a 28-year-old software developer with 4 years of experience.
    • She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.
    • Jessica works at a startup in a vibrant urban environment.
  • Goals:
    • Quickly find and update personal information, such as contact details and skills.
    • Submit leave requests and track their approval status.
    • Receive timely feedback and performance evaluations.
  • Challenges:
    • Keeping her personal information up-to-date without unnecessary administrative hurdles.
    • Having a clear understanding of her remaining leave balances.
    • Receiving constructive feedback for professional development.

Usability testing

This is where we asked different users to test the web application for usability and user satisfaction. We asked different users to perform different tasks using the application and then give their feedback or suggest improvements. This allowed us to uncover problems, identify areas of improvement and learn about user behavior and preferences.

Conclusion

This case study showcases the design and creation process of our employee management system application. During this process we learned how to build and design a web application focusing on making it user friendly and intuitive. We learned the importance of usability testing and user feedback and based on that we redesigned the application multiple times and implemented additional features and new patterns to enhance the user experience (UX) and improve the user interface (UI). We learned that having a good UI/UX design is as important as the application itself.