Australian Securities & Investments Commission

PROJECT: Microsoft 365 Dynamics deployment
ARTEFACT: User personas
PURPOSE: To build a shared understanding of key user groups and inform design decisions around their needs, behaviours and goals
RESEARCH APPROACH: Segmented users into key groups, conducted interviews to understand their goals, behaviours and pain points, and synthesised findings into representative personas
TOOLS: Figma and Microsoft Excel

Design process

Where the personas sit

Discover User Segmentation
Discover User Interviews
Define User Scenarios
Define Task Analysis Matrix
Define Personas
Define Research Synthesis & Recommendations
Develop Collaborative CRM Interface Design
Deliver Interface Content & Implementation Guidance

Research Participants

Research sessions

Actionable Pain-points Identified

Background

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is Australia’s integrated corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit regulator. As an independent government body, their primary mission is to maintain and improve the performance of Australia’s financial system and protect consumers by enforcing corporate laws.

Problem

As part of a major modernisation initiative, ASIC was upgrading its core CRM platform, Microsoft Dynamics 365. To ensure the investment addressed real operational needs, the project required a clearer understanding of its users, their roles, current workflows and the issues affecting their day-to-day work. The research needed to translate a complex range of responsibilities, tasks and pain points into practical guidance that could inform the future CRM interface, contextual content and supporting training.

Solution

I began by working with stakeholders to identify the primary user segments and analyse available workforce data, including team structures, roles and staff numbers. I then secured participant involvement and conducted 52 research sessions with 12 key users to understand their responsibilities, workflows, behaviours and pain points.

I translated the research into user scenarios and a task analysis matrix, helping to connect different user groups with the tasks, information and system interactions they required. These findings informed the development of personas that represented the needs and working contexts of the key user groups.

I then synthesised the research into a 67-page report containing 480 documented pain points, supporting evidence and recommendations. The personas and related research artefacts provided context for subsequent collaboration on the Microsoft Dynamics interface, including layout and interaction guidance, form labels, help text, contextual information and recommendations for side-panel content and access.

Reflections

In the future, I would create a lighter, maintainable version of each persona and establish a clearer method for tracing specific persona needs to downstream interface, content, and training decisions, making their practical influence easier to demonstrate.