Next Generation Project   

(Personas)

PROJECT SCOPE

Role: Team Lead, UX Research
Timeline: 2024 - Ongoing
Client: Canada Revenue Agency

Tools: Miro, Teams

Next Generation Contact Engagement Platform (NGCEP) is the current contact centre platform for call center agents which allows them to connect to taxpayers through the phone to help them with their inquiries

Project Overview 

CLIENT KICK OFF

Our client's NGCEP project was established in order to procure a new contact centre platform that will replace the current solution, which will be expiring in 2027. 

The NGCEP is working towards procuring a new solution with a third-party vendor that will answer the needs of both agents, taxpayers, and other involved stakeholders

OBJECTIVES

Understand how to ensure that the new release is better than the current version and help agents

in their experience contacting taxpayers and answering their enquiries. 

Other systems that are included in the scope of the replacement of the current system are:

•Speechminer

•Workforce Management (WFM)

•Pulse

 

RESEARCH GOALS 

Find information what agents primary tasks and daily routines of each user group. What software are they using to complete their daily tasks? What are they personally motivated by and what are their goals? Both professionally and personally. What pain points and challenges do they encounter when using all of their available tools, focusing on:

  • Hosted Contact Centre Service (HCCS)

  • Workforce Management (WFM)

  • Speech Miner

  • Pulse

 

RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND PROCESS

  • Conducted 60 user interviews across different regions and roles.

  • Mapped workflows, task frequency, and tool usage patterns.

  • Collected qualitative data (quotes, pain points, observed frustrations).

  • Synthesized findings in Miro using tagging, filtering, and affinity mapping.

 

 

We then brainstormed user archetypes based on common patterns in needs, goals, and frustrations.

MIRO

Affinity Mapping

 

I took all the notes from the Usability sessions, and grouped them together under themes, and extracted the essential usable pieces of information collected that we can build off of for the next steps

Personas

A persona is a:

  • Fictional, yet realistic, description of a typical or target user of a product

  • Archetype instead of an actual living human, but personas should be described as if they were real people

Personas are a great tool to use throughout the project lifecycle to ensure the project team:

  • Remains focused on the perspective of the users

  • Be able to empathize with the users

  • Identify how changes and decisions can impact the real people who use the product day-to-day

  • Persona 1

  • Persona 2

  • Persona 3

  • Persona 4

  • Persona 5

  • Persona 6

  • Persona 7

  • Persona 8

  • Persona 9

  • Persona 10

Key Insights

From the interviews, we identified three primary user personas:

The Multitasker

Senior agents who juggle multiple tools at once, thrive on efficiency, and need fewer clicks to perform high-frequency tasks.

The Guided Problem-Solver

Newer agents who rely heavily on clear navigation and prompts to resolve taxpayer inquiries accurately.

The Specialized Analyst

Agents who handle niche cases, requiring deep search functionality and flexibility in data entry.

Pain Points Across Personas:

  • Too many disconnected systems requiring duplicate data entry.

  • Slow system performance during high call volumes.

  • Lack of search standardization, leading to inconsistent results.

  • Training gaps for newer agents on lesser-used features.

Impact

  • The personas became a shared reference point for designers, developers, and business analysts.

  • Helped prioritize streamlined navigation and system integrations in early vendor discussions.

  • Informed feature prioritization for the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) by aligning with real user goals rather than assumptions.

  • Provided a human lens to technical decision-making, increasing stakeholder alignment.

Next Steps

  • Validate personas with a survey of 300+ agents to confirm accuracy and coverage.

  • Use personas in journey mapping workshops to uncover detailed task flows and opportunities for improvement.

  • Apply personas in usability testing scripts once the vendor prototype is available.

  • Keep personas living documents, updated as new insights emerge during implementation.

Thank you for reading!