FILE Uploader Experience FLOW

Role Sr. User Experience Designer

PROBLEM

The problem with the existing/legacy version file uploader experience flow is that it requires the user to wait until the file upload operation completes. Only then it allows the user to proceed working on other infrastructure management tasks. 

In reality, a file upload activity may take awhile, e.g., 10-30 mins to complete. Not only does the user have to wait until the upload activity finishes, the user cannot work on other infrastructure management tasks. From a productivity standpoint this is not an optimal solution and experience. Our customers highlighted this experiences and have requested for a more efficient and modern solution.

Below is one of our partners legacy design with an active file upload experience. The wait, and wait, causes and creates a sort of anxiety for our users. Most users joked that they will go get coffee or something, because this view locks up their time from being productive. Most users have a to-do list of other tasks when managing the appliance. And if a contractor is instructed to work on this task, the company who hired them will probably need to pay for this extra wait time.

solution

As a solution, I created a simple but elegant experience for the file upload experience flow. With this solution, it enables the user to easily monitor the progress of the activity anywhere on the application while they work on attending to other tasks.

When the upload activity is complete, the 'Upload' tab and 'Info bar' slides away from the page (see screen below), the activity tab will then be updated and a sound is triggered, signifying that a task has completed. The user then can begin to use the uploaded file and continue to complete the task. This solution proves to be the answer to our customers pain point.

Impact

The new file uploader task flow solution remains a mainstay experience on the application and is a reusable UI component.