Public Service Employee Su

Case Study

Modernizing the Public Service Employee Survey Report (PSES): From Static PDFs to a Data-Driven Culture

This project wasn’t about redesigning a report. It was about changing how an entire organization accessed and used its data.

At Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Public Service Employee Survey report existed as a static PDF—manually produced, difficult to navigate, and slow to reach employees. I helped transform it into a live, interactive Power BI experience, turning passive information into a

self-serve data platform for 5,000+ federal employees.

Details have been anonymized to respect organizational confidentiality.

Role: UX Researcher & Designer

Timeline: 6 weeks

Tools:

Power BI, Adobe Illustrator, Miro, Microsoft Office Suite etc.

Methods:

• Stakeholder listening tour • Task-based usability testing • Thematic analysis • prototyping • Wireframing

• Guerrilla testing • 5-second testing

• Accessibility design • Visual design

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Understanding the Issue

For years, the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) report at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) faced a significant hurdle. Vital departmental data was trapped in static Power BI-to-PDF exports. Distribution was manual, gatekept by leadership, and often reached the broader workforce late—if at all.

The Problem:

Manual & inefficient process: High effort, low-reward annual manual data refreshes.
Distribution Bottlenecks: "Gatekeeper" distribution led to limited circulation and missed deadlines.
Friction in UX: Employees struggled to navigate static documents and extract relevant insights.

What was meant to be a department-wide insight tool had quietly become hard to access, difficult to use, and easy to ignore.

HR leadership recognized the gap and wanted something different — something “modern, streamlined, and accessible.”

Objective: Transform the PSES report into a self-serve, interactive platform that:

Eliminates manual reporting processes
Removes distribution barriers
Improves accessibility and usability
Enables employees to explore insights independently

Process — Listening → Aligning → Building

I led the project end-to-end as both UX researcher and designer, collaborating closely with data analysts, BI specialists, and

cross-functional stakeholders.

1. Discovery: Listening First

The project began with a stakeholder listening tour—engaging HR partners, analysts, ADM offices, and employees to uncover pain points, workflows, and expectations.

Evaluating the Existing Experience: Before redesigning the report, I wanted to understand how employees interacted with the current PDF version.

Using a task-based usability testing protocol, I asked participants to complete common tasks such as:

finding detailed results for their branch
locating results within a different survey theme
comparing insights across categories

Participants navigated the existing PDF report while I observed:

task success
time on task
ease-of-use ratings

Key usability challenges emerged

Users struggled to locate relevant results quickly
Navigation within long PDF documents was confusing
Comparing information across sections required excessive scrolling and manual searching

These findings confirmed that while the report contained valuable insights, its format prevented employees from effectively accessing and exploring the data. Through thematic analysis of usability sessions and stakeholder interviews, one key insight emerged:

“Employees didn’t just want access to data—they wanted autonomy to explore what mattered to them.”

2. Defining the Opportunity

The reporting process relied on static PDFs rebuilt manually every year, making it slow and difficult to update.

At the same time, organizational needs were evolving:

Employees wanted greater transparency
Leadership wanted faster access to insights
Teams needed self-serve data exploration

This revealed the opportunity to transform the report from a static document into an interactive data experience.

3. Aligning on the Right Solution

Working within tight timelines, I adopted a lean UX approach:

I brought stakeholders together to explore multiple solutions—PDF hosting, shared drives, OneDrive links, and even PowerPoint versions. Each solved part of the problem, but none solved it fully.

After multiple ideation rounds, the team ultimately aligned on a cloud-based Power BI report, which allowed for:

interactive exploration of survey data
faster updates and scalability
secure access aligned with data governance policies

I worked closely with IT and BI teams to ensure the solution met technical and security requirements.

4. Designing Through Prototyping

I started with rough sketches and information architecture planning to structure the report.

From there, I quickly moved into building high-fidelity mockups directly in Power BI.

Working within the actual platform allowed us to test real constraints early—such as navigation patterns, interactivity, and platform limitations—ensuring the design remained both practical and scalable.

5. Rapid Validation Through Guerrilla Testing

Due to organizational constraints, formal usability testing with the original participant group was not possible.

To maintain momentum, I adopted lean validation methods:

Guerrilla testing:
Quick desk-side sessions with colleagues interacting with

the prototype.

To complement this, I incorporated 5-second testing:

Participants briefly viewed the dashboard and were asked:

what they believed the page represented
where they would click first

These tests helped evaluate:

clarity of the dashboard structure
discoverability of navigation
intuitiveness of key actions such as filtering and exploring results

Feedback-informed refinements to:

navigation structure
labelling and tooltips
overall layout simplicity

This helped evaluate whether the report’s structure and key entry points were immediately understandable.

6. Keeping accessibility at the core

Accessibility remained a core design principle throughout the project. Enhancements included:

improving colour contrast and text readability
structuring content to support screen readers
designing clear tooltips and labels
optimizing keyboard navigation within platform constraints

These improvements ensured the final report remained usable and inclusive for employees across the organization.

Key Design Decisions

Structured navigation
I replaced long, overwhelming pages with clearly organized sections and guided navigation, making the report easier to scan and explore.

Clear information architecture
The content was structured to guide users from high-level insights to more detailed results, creating a logical and intuitive flow.

Self-serve data exploration
Dynamic filters allowed employees and managers to quickly view results relevant to their teams without needing custom reports.

Contextual clarity
Tooltips were introduced to explain survey terminology and metrics, helping users understand the data without adding visual clutter.

Centralized access
The report was delivered through a single internal link, ensuring consistent access and that users always viewed the most up-to-date data.

User onboarding support
A user guide and FAQ section were added to help first-time users navigate the dashboard with confidence.

Accessibility considerations
Accessible color palettes were used to ensure the dashboard remained clear and usable for a wide range of users

A Live, Interactive Experience

Instead of improving a PDF, I redesigned the entire reporting experience.

The new report was built on Power BI Service, transforming it into a live, interactive dashboard with automatic data refresh. Employees now access the report through a single internal web link, eliminating manual distribution and delays. The report was restructured using clear information architecture and guided navigation, turning complex datasets into an intuitive experience.

For the first time, employees could:

filter data by team
compare results across the organization
explore insights independently

Accessibility improvements ensured the dashboard remained usable for employees with varying levels of technical familiarity. Behind the scenes, I also implemented a secure and scalable workspace to balance accessibility with governance. To support continuous improvement, I embedded a live feedback mechanism directly into the dashboard, allowing employees to share suggestions while analytics tracked usage patterns.

Results that Matter

The transformation significantly changed how the report was used across the department.

100% Department access: Employees can now access insights through a single link — no distribution barriers.
80% Reduction in Manual Effort: Analysts spend less time exporting reports and more time analyzing data.
Faster Decision Making: Real-time insights help teams identify trends quickly.
Interactive Data Exploration: Users can filter and explore information relevant to their work.
Data-driven improvements: Usage analytics and feedback now guide future enhancements.

The report is now Fast, Accessible, Intuitive, Always available, Easy to update, Future-ready.

Driving UX from Insight to Impact

Owned the end-to-end UX—transforming complex data into clear, actionable experiences. Led research to uncover user needs, defined UX requirements, and aligned cross-functional teams around a shared vision.

Designed and iterated on low- and high-fidelity prototypes, improving usability, navigation, and accessibility within Power BI. Navigated platform constraints with practical, scalable solutions.

As the sole UX voice, drove alignment, rapid decision-making, and continuous iteration—delivering a user-centered solution under tight timelines.

Constraints I Navigated

Platform strategy & adaptability: Explored multiple tools and identified an opportunity within Power BI’s cloud capabilities, upskilling myself to understand its limitations and guide the team toward a scalable solution.
Stakeholder collaboration & time management: With stakeholders managing busy schedules, I prepared clear objectives and targeted questions to ensure productive conversations and keep the project moving forward.
UX advocacy: As the sole UX practitioner, I helped the team understand the value of UX by outlining each activity’s purpose, timeline, resources, and impact, gradually integrating UX thinking into the workflow.

Lean research methods: With limited access to users, I used guerrilla testing and quick feedback loops to keep design decisions grounded in real user needs.

Reflection & Learnings

Design within constraints: Learned that impactful design depends less on perfect tools and more on clarity, structure, and usability. Power BI’s limitations pushed me to prioritize simplicity over visual complexity.

Adaptability & continuous learning: Quickly stepped out of my comfort zone to learn Power BI, adopting a solution-first mindset to navigate evolving project needs.

Strategic decision-making: Tight timelines required fast yet thoughtful decisions, balancing immediate progress with the long-term vision of the product.

Stakeholder collaboration: Working with senior stakeholders strengthened my ability to ask the right questions, align quickly, and maintain project momentum.