Schlumberger Oilfield Services (OFS) uses its web-based InTouchSupport application to provide operational support to employees in the field. Its database contains thousands of documents covering several content types including help desk tickets, best practices, technical alerts, and product documentation. Schlumberger OFS recognizes that the tool’s effectiveness depends on the ability of users to quickly locate the right information. With this in mind, the organization asked Dynamic Diagrams to improve the Advanced Find interface for its search engine.

Users of InTouchSupport fall in two broad categories: field users who use the application as needed for documentation or help requests and engineers who use the tool daily to provide support. For field users, the Advanced Find interface seemed overly complex and most did not use it. For engineers, the interface was useful, but not as intuitive as they wished. Options for narrowing the scope of a search, such as by date range and content type, were hard to scan, while advanced filters for narrowing searches by specific database fields presented options and buttons that did not parallel other tools in the interface.

Before redesigning any page elements, we consulted with InTouchSupport managers to prioritize suggested enhancements, then interviewed users to get their feedback. Our findings revealed that field users focus mostly on the content title and description of a few content types while ITEs are often interested in an item’s status (specifically for help desk tickets), its submission and modification dates, and the number of times it was viewed.

As a result, we created two different versions of the Advanced Find interface, giving field users simpler options and reserving the full set of filters for engineers. We added a task menu that helps users select appropriate content (for example, a user can select the “troubleshooting” task to view technical alerts, “solutions” and resolved tickets). On the design side, we grouped related search options for easy scanning, clarified labels, and added a brief explanation for each set of options. As a final step, we tested the new pages with both user groups and fine-tuned our designs accordingly.

The new Advanced Find pages will be incorporated into InTouchSupport’s next release and make the task of advanced searching more approachable and intuitive.

Related case study: InTouchSupport Interface Design