FIFCO USA Intranet

Creating a Unified Digital Workplace for Distributed Teams

Replaced an outdated, non-responsive SharePoint system with a user-centered intranet that serves diverse employee needs across the US, from at-home workers to in-office and factory personnel.

Role: Designer & Lead Developer
Timeline:: 8-12 months ◊ Fall 2020 -Fall 2021
Team ◊ FIFCO USA: Jenny Keller, Denise Nadal and Joe Rice
Impact: saved over $20K/yr in subscriptions
created a single source of truth
centralized content management

Research

Initial Project Requirements

Through an interview process with the Talent Team SME, we developed the following project brief:

Business goals

Need an easy way to share and update content with all FIFCO employees, including Costa Rica, that works on any device. The existing solution (sharepoint) is full of outdated content, is difficult to use, and not responsive.
Need a single source of truth for company policies and procedures and place to embody company culture and drive change.
What outcomes do you want to achieve — are they measurable?
- Improve communication between CR and USA
- Improve cross functional communication between teams
- Less duplication of resources

Product Purpose

Build a content management system for a company-wide intranet system. It should be a one-stop destination for information about company policies, procedures and news.

Target audience

FIFCOUSA Employees. They will be looking for company policies, procedures, information, and news. We want then to view the newsletter and engage with timely content

this includes employees who are not tech savvy, do not have FIFCO accounts, may not have smart phones
some do not speak english (costa rica)
disabilities/accessibility issues.

User Research

We used a combination of interviews and surveys to uncover the common needs of employees at FIFCO USA. Based on the responses we received we were able to determine what content needed to be added to the site and what links needed highest visibility and ease of access. We were able to use these insights to design our site navigation and information architecture.

Survey Questions

How satisfied are you with the resources and support available to you in your role?
What is the one thing that would make the biggest difference for you?
What productivity or administrative tools or websites do you use during a normal workday?
What administrative tasks do you complete online?
What information do you need to look up regularly?
What information about our company or other teams at our company, do you wish you knew?
What would you like to see on a website designed for FIFCO USA employees?

Design Process

Once we had the site map and information architecture planned, I focused on researching and planning out the development process while Joe Rice focused on the visual design. Jenny Keller and myself offered feedback and helped refine the design.

We turned the designs into Frigma prototypes and tested them against several stakeholders in the organization. We used their feedback to further refine the designs.

Mobile Prototype Desktop Prototype

Development

For development, I started by building a static site containing examples of all the page templates I would need to create. For the styling, I used the Material Design Boostrap library to set us up and running faster. I then set up a local copy of WordPress using the Local by Flywheel app, and the Understrap theme. From there I was able to put my static site's code into the Understrap theme and start to customize it as needed.

From there, I just had to build and test all the page templates, widgets, custon plugins, and set up all the sites and plugins.

Results & Impact

User Experience Improvements

Enhanced accessibility: Responsive design serving employees across device types
Improved information findability: Research-based navigation reducing search time
Streamlined workflows: Single source of truth eliminating information hunting

Organizational Benefits

Reduced resource duplication: Centralized content management
Improved policy compliance: Clear, accessible procedures and guidelines
Enhanced company culture: Platform supporting organizational change initiatives
Cost-effective solution: WordPress providing scalable, maintainable platform

Technical Success Metrics

Full responsive functionality across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
Accessible design meeting diverse user needs and abilities
Scalable architecture supporting organizational growth
Maintainable codebase enabling sustainable long-term operation

Key Learnings

Inclusive Design Research

Working with such a diverse user base (varying tech skills, languages, device access, and abilities) reinforced the importance of comprehensive user research that accounts for real-world constraints, not just ideal user scenarios.

Cross-Cultural UX Considerations

Designing for international teams requires understanding not just language differences, but varying work patterns, technology access, and communication preferences across cultures.

Stakeholder Collaboration in Enterprise UX

Successfully managing multiple stakeholders (IT, Talent Team, various departments) while maintaining user-centered design principles required clear communication of research findings and design rationale.

Resource-Constrained Innovation

Building a comprehensive intranet alongside regular duties demonstrated how strategic planning and phased development can achieve significant UX improvements within limited resources.

Content Strategy as UX Foundation

The project reinforced that information architecture based on actual user research creates more successful experiences than assumptions about what users "should" want.

Design Process Innovation

Research-Driven Information Architecture

The combination of surveys and interviews provided both quantitative priority data and qualitative insights into user mental models, creating a more nuanced understanding than either method alone.

Collaborative Design Validation

Using Figma prototypes for stakeholder testing enabled rapid iteration and ensured the final design met both user needs and organizational requirements.

Technical UX Integration

Leading both design and development provided unique insights into how technical decisions impact user experience, enabling more informed trade-offs between functionality and usability.

Future Opportunities

Based on the project's success, identified opportunities for continued improvement:

Analytics integration for data-driven content optimization
Personalization features based on user roles and departments
Enhanced collaboration tools for cross-team project coordination
Advanced search functionality for large content repositories
Mobile app development for field worker accessibility

This project demonstrated how thorough user research, inclusive design thinking, and strategic technical implementation can transform organizational communication and create meaningful impact for diverse user groups.

Screens of the final production site

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