Project Description
NOVUM is the innovation lab that works for the SVB (Social Insurance Bank) in the Netherlands. Their job is to innovate social security smartly. This project revolves around the 2 separate processes of registering a newly born child and applying for child support in the Netherlands. To register the birth of a child, parents must complete this process at the municipality in the city where the child was born. However, to apply for child support, the parents must wait 2 weeks to receive a letter by mail, which they can use to then apply for child support through the SVB in the Netherlands. These 2 processes are closely related to the birth of a newborn, so the questions then arise; Why must parents go through 2 separate processes with 2 separate agencies? What if these 2 processes worked under “one government”? Would it become more complicated for the end-users? Or easier? Our task as a group is to research the end-user perspectives and analyze whether the current system is worth innovating in the eyes of the users. I, along with my group members, Franklin, Jim, Niels, and Rick have conducted research and gathered insights; and in the end, created 3 validated customer journeys that will answer the questions mentioned above.
Research
In order to become more familiar with the current system of the child registration and child benefits application processes, interviews and desk research were initially conducted. Interviews were conducted within our taget audience and Desk Research was conducted to find out how other countries' systems for child registraitona nd child benefits processes work.
Research
The following interview script was created and finalized by Franklin and I after receiving feedback from our project mentor, Huub.
Introduction-
Hello! I am interviewing you as a part of my team of students in the Digital Experience Design minor at Fontys. We are conducting a project for an innovation lab which works for the SVB. The purpose of our interview is to gain insights on experiences within the Netherlands of registering a new born child as well as applying for child benefit. Everything in this interview will be confidential and your answers will be anonymously saved. Furthermore, the concepts mentioned in the interview are all hypothetical and not real.
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Can you tell us about your experience with the registration of the birth of your first child at the municipality?
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How did you feel about the registration process?
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If the answer is positive- (What was the best part of the registration process?)
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> How did this make you feel?
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If the answer is negative- (What kind of frustrations did you face during and/or after the registration process?)
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> How did this make you feel?
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Do you want to receive child support?
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(If yes) Did you face any issues during the application process?
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> How did this experience make you feel?
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(If no skip)
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Do you think the registration and/or application process needs improvement?
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(If yes) how would you improve the process?
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(If no skip)
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Do you prefer doing this process (birth registration, child support or both) online, offline or both?
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Why do you prefer it to be (online, offline or both)?
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How would you feel if there was one system in place for both the birth registration and child support application?
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Is there anything extra you have in mind that you would like to add?
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How old are you?
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How old is your child?
Interview Findings
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Some parents value the experience of going to the municipality to register their child, but also like being able to stay with their child and partner.
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Fully automated processes are currently successfully integrated into other countries.
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Our interviewees found applying for child benefits easy because most information was already filled in.
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Some parents have to visit 3 different websites to handle affairs for their child with the same government.
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Some parents forget to register for child benefits, so perhaps the letter is not a good way of notifying them.
Interview Insights
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People prefer handling government affairs for their children on one website.
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People like it when their information is automatically filled in after logging in with DigiD/
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People value the experience of registering their child at the municipality.
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Applying for child benefits is easy because most information is already filled in.
Desk Research Findings
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Belgium: has a system that has substantial differences to that of the Netherlands.
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Sweden: has a system that automatically applies for child benefits (one government implementation).
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Norway: has a similar system to Sweden.
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Germany: child benefits must be applied for in person at the municipality.
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Spain: you must register and apply for child benefits in person.
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United Kingdom: you must submit a written application for child benefits.
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For child benefits, the Nordic countries have fully computerized government systems.
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Handwritten forms are required for child benefits in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
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Parents in the United Kingdom and Spain must-visit specialized offices to hand in handwritten forms and other documents are occasionally required.
Brainstorming
A brainstorming session was conducted using the interview findings and the current as-is customer journey for these 2 processes.
Brainstorming - Interview Findings
Brainstorming - As-Is Customer Journey
Possible Solutions
The possible solutions that our team came up with are:
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The Parent Portal - a portal created by the government where parents can log in by means of their DigiD in order to find resources and information regarding their children and the government.
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The Redirect Button - redirects people to the SVB’s website where parents can apply for child benefits after they have registered their child.
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Two-in-one - combining the process of registering a child at the municipality with the process of applying for child benefits at the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) into one continuous form on the website of the municipality.
Customer Journeys
Our team created 3 separate customer journeys for the 3 possible solutions which we came up with. They are displayed below.
I created the customer journey for the two-in-one solution.
Prototypes
In order to visualize our solutions, we created prototypes using Figma and AdobeXD. I created the prototype for the Desktop version of the two-in-one solution which is linked below.
1st Iteration -
2nd Iteration -
The colors were adjusted for the 2nd iteration because the contrast of the SVB's logo color and white wasn't well enough to stand out. Therefore the text color was changed to black and the Gemeente Haarlem logo was kept as it helped users distinguish that the 2 processes were from 2 different entities. Furthermore, a beginning page for the child registration process was created in order to provide the users with an introduction to the process and avoid confusion.
User Testing
I conducted user testing with 3 recent newborn parents in the Netherlands. Below I have linked the test plan and test report which I created before and after conducting these tests. We wanted to conduct another round of testing, but due to limited time, it did not end up happening.
User testing was done based on the following 3 assumptions:
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Parents understand that the different processes are from different entities
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The design of the prototype is clear and helps the parents reach their goals
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Parents value the service of registering their child or applying for child benefits higher when they can apply for child benefit directly than when they can't
Test Plan -
Test Report -
Final Advice for Novum
Based on the results of all user tests conducted by my group members and myself, we have come up with the following advice:
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The Two-in-One solution is the best solution, as it combines both the goal of “acting like one government” and it speeds up the child benefit application process, making the process easier for parents.
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The Parent Portal has a lot of potential when it comes to achieving the goal of “acting as one government”. However, it needs more research and requires a lot of cooperation between government entities. It is best suited as a long-term solution.
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We also recommend the SVB to conduct more research into speeding up the process of applying for child benefits and into making the application and communication between the SVB and parents more personal. This can be done by thinking of gifts and making the letters more personal, the customer journeys we created can help to support this research.
For more details, the full advisory report for Novum can be viewed here.
Reflection
Overall, I was really impressed with the level of communication we had with Novum. We had weekly meetings every Wednesday with Jeroen, Niels, and Matthijs from the Novum team, and they were always helpful in every way we needed. I enjoyed our collaboration together as they were also really nice and friendly in general when communicating with us. With regards to the actual assignment, however, I did find that the assignment wasn't as interesting as it could have been because all they really asked for was a new customer journey. They did not require any more end products and this made my group feel like the project was lacking something. There was also limited space for creativity within prototyping with the Two-in-One solution as the prototype had to match the website of the municipality of Haarlem. This definitely did cause some initial setbacks within our project as we kept going back and forth about what had to be done. However, once we came up with our 3 solutions we found our way back on track. It was also nice of Huub to be a great mentor as he often asked me how I was feeling about the Novum project and he assured me that our group would get on track soon enough. This was very helpful for my motivation. Furthermore, with regards to motivation, the Novum team also complimented our work almost every time we met. This contributed to my motivation as well because they seemed very happy with the level of our work and our solutions as well. Personally, within my own group, I sometimes felt excluded because 3/4 of my other group members are dutch and the 4th one isn't from the Netherlands but understands and speaks the language fluently. Often they would have conversations in Dutch even when I was around and it made me feel excluded because I can't understand the language completely. Sometimes when I would try as well to initiate conversations with them, they never really looked interested and would continue speaking dutch amongst themselves. I also feel like this had something to do with my gender as well. I did mention this to them at one point and I saw some improvement, which I am happy about. I sometimes also felt that there were a lot of expectations from one group member, and this might have to do with him maybe being a part of the minimization stage in the DMIS model. With regards to Media Theory, our solutions for Novum enhance the time parents can spend with their newborn child as they wouldn't have to leave home to register their child. However, they make human interaction and the nostalgia and proud feeling of registering a child obsolete. The Two in One solution retrieves a postcard-like infographic image being sent to friends and family to announce the birth of their newborn child. Lastly, when pushed to extremes our solutions can cause threats to social interactions and the security of identities. In conclusion, I learned to use and apply many research methods during this client project. Some of these include; ideation, concepting, conducting interviews, creating personas, prototyping, and user testing. We were able to create 3 meaningful solutions for Novum using these research methods while also iterating within the process. I am very happy that our clients were pleased with the outcome of our project, and I wish them much success with their further endeavors with this project.
