The Crown Prosecution Service
Defining the problem
Through as series of stakeholder interviews and workshops along with user needs research (Prosecutors, Judges, Administrators, Support staff and Defendants) it was established that Prosecutors at the CPS needed an easier way of accurately and efficiently recording what happens in court while carrying out their prosecution duties.
Case information was being delivered via a time consuming ftp server and case information captured in note form. Research insight also indicated the potential cost savings though the removal of manual processing and ideally the ability to finalise guilty at first plea hearings automatically.
My role
As Experience Design Director I worked with the senior CPS stakeholders to shape the user research and design strategy, building a multidisciplinary practice team. I undertook both a governance / design/UX management role and worked within the practitioner team.
We conducted extensive stakeholder and user interviews, observational research in court, co-design sessions, workshops and usability testing.
We developed personas, user flows, undertook (complex) task & interaction analysis. We generated paper prototypes to define the problem and shape potential solutions.
We identified development partners and worked closely in a multidisciplinary team to design, test and iterate releases and set the application live into a working courts in the UK.
The existing workflow: prosecutors were sending completed forms to administrators via email
Discovery objectives
Identify the pain points and challenges that prosecutors face
Understand how prosecutors work and the complex context in which they operate
Understand the judiciary system
Close study of physical working environments and context in courts across the UK.
Discovery methods
Task modelling and user journey mapping
Shadowing and interviewing prosecutors
Prototyping: rapid iteration and testing
Participatory design sessions: Paper prototypes iterated with prosecutors during co-design workshops
Early prototypes focused on enabling prosecutors to enter hearing outcomes as structured data
Lean UX - build, measure, learn - enhancements were rapidly implemented before testing again
Functional testing was also carried out in live mock courtroom scenarios to validate the solution
Outcome
Prosecutor App went to pilot in August 2015 and has subsequently been rolled out across the UK. The Prosecutor app has met the difficult interaction needs of Prosecutors in-court (fast paced finding and reading of information, whilst sitting and standing!), it has greatly reduced preparation along with reducing errors and effort for back-office administration. The use of a single consistent solution, where previously there was huge variation in process, has introduced the ability to create UK wide standards in Prosecution process that will in turn improve justice in the UK.
Tomorrow I prosecute with the App in Middlesbrough. by the end of the month I should have done so in all 13 CPS Areas! The best testament is that is seems to have slipped in to business as usual rather effortlessly! last week we hit the 3,000 auto-finalised cases mark!! Respect for the App creators.
UK Chief Prosecutor
