Healthcare Software Documentation

Mapping how a healthcare software program gets made.

UX/UI Design
Visual & Motion

At a glance

Company

Emmi Solutions

2007-2008

Role

Interface designer and Information graphics

Team

The departing system architect and the management team.

Responsibilities

Visual Design, Interface Design, Design System management

Goal

As Emmi Solutions was developing partnerships, one question kept coming up. How is the software produced? The lead engineer was leaving the company, and he could no longer field questions. We needed documentation.

Outcome

Among User Interface work and marketing materials, I mapped out his understanding of the process and shared the visualization across the company.

Emmi Solutions made Emmi programs, interactive videos made with Flash, that help patients understand a medical procedure before they have it. Documented the production process for Emmi programs before the system's architect left, and restructured the scheduling pages in the Emmi Manager to improve the interface.

Original documentation — I began with this map of the process from the Lead Engineer.

A process only one person knew

As the company developed partnerships, one question kept coming up: how is the software produced? The lead engineer, the system's architect, was the one person who knew the whole process, and he was leaving the company.

Mapping the production process

My goal was to capture the architect's understanding of the process before he left, in a form the whole company could read. How might we show every step, role, and handoff in producing a new Emmi program on a single page? I worked with the departing architect to map the process, then shared the visualization across the company. Management used the diagram to plan staffing and process steps and to communicate with potential investors and shareholders.

Emmi Solutions new program process diagram, with phases from prep and research through alpha, beta, testing, and deployment, and a row for each role — The new program process: phases run left to right from prep to deployment, and each role has its own row, from recruiting through review, production, and release.

Restructuring Schedule an Emmi

Alongside the documentation, I worked on the Emmi Manager interface. The Schedule an Emmi screen packed patient details, doctor details, and program search into one dense form. I reorganized it into clear groups, patient information, doctor information, and programs available, and made it easier to narrow the program list.

The original Schedule an Emmi screen, with patient, doctor, and program fields in one dense form — Before: patient, doctor, and program fields in one form.

The redesigned Schedule an Emmi screen, with sections for patient information, doctor information, and programs available — After: patient information, doctor information, and programs available each have their own group, with clearer ways to narrow the program list.

A shared picture of the process

The documentation of the production process that outlasted the architect's departure. Management used the diagram to plan staffing and process steps and to communicate with potential investors and shareholders.