**adjust h1, h2, etc!

October-December 2022

Before I joined

The 18F team spent three months conducting interviews with Federal Nutrition Services (FNS) and WIC State and local agency staff and explored whether a centralized, national solution offered by FNS was the best way to bring more State agencies’ application process online. They decided with FNS to use another phase to explore whether leveraging existing State agency-based solutions would be best, given the drastic differences in State agencies’ current online forms.

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This is where I came in. 

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February-March 2023

Assessing the Landscape

I was staffed to the project as a service designer and shortly thereafter became the project lead alongside a product manager, user experience designer, engineer. and acquisition specialist, and account manager.

We set out to:

• establish an updated foundation of WIC online application tools in use by State agencies and establish descriptive categories of State agencies.

• determine State agency-based emerging opportunities that FNS could leverage for re-use and development, especially for State agencies who don’t have online applications.

• assess a sample of online application tools for human-centered design best practices, based on the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (accessibility, visual design, plain language, mobile first).

We accomplished these objectives by creating a spreadsheet with extensive data about each of the 89 State agencies and, if applicable, their online application tools. I worked with the product manager to create the structure for the spreadsheet, and I delegated State agencies across our team and led the trend analysis.

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Here's what we found:

• 38 of the 89 State agencies, or 43%, had online application tools, while 51 State agencies, or 58%, did not.

• State agency online application tools ranged in terms of how much information they collected.

• Some didn’t store any information — since they checked eligibility only — while others went as far as creating an account based on information collected.

• Some tools were mobile-friendly, but most needed plain language support.

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Which led us to wonder the following questions that could guide the next phases of our research and prototyping:

• How much information are applicants willing to provide up front?

• How much information do WIC staff need before a certification appointment?

• How valuable are features like document upload and account creation? What is the technical and operational feasibility for offering these features? 

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reaction from Rebecca

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April-May 2023

Filling in the gaps

The user experience designer and I planned a round of user research interviews with subject matter experts, State and local agency staff, and solution architects who supported the Management Information Systems (MIS) that power the backend of WIC to help us answer more targeted questions since our scope had changed from the first phase in 2022. Now, we needed to better understand three lines of inquiry:

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1. State and local agency needs:

• Understand from 6 State agency staff and 3 local clinic staff what their needs are from online tools, and understand how these online tools integrate into existing processes for scheduling, certification, and enrollment.

• What we learned:

2. FNS and State agency model viability:

• Understand from 6 State agency staff how State agencies make decisions about which online application tools to invest in, what software, systems, and services they use to power online application tools, and how they interact with their MIS.

• Understand from 3 FNS program staff how FNS shares resources and communications with State agencies, and what levers exist to influence State agencies to adopt online tooling.

• What we learned:

3. Technical and operational feasibility:

• Understand from 6 State agency staff how State agencies procure online application tools (or how they would procure them if they don't have an online application tool yet) and how online application tools interoperate with MIS.

• ​What we learned:

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What we decided: 

We considered multiple potential solutions to prototype next, but together with our partners at FNS, we decided that a model online application combined with implementation guidance would support the needs of State and local agencies, as well as FNS's strategic goals, and be most viable and feasible for State agencies to adopt.

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State agencies that don't have online applications could adapt and re-use  the model online application we'd create, rather than start from scratch. Those that do have existing online applications can use the model application to improve theirs by cutting unnecessary questions or rewording them in plain language. They could also see what U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) components and patterns that we'd leverage and consider using them, too. We also learned from several State agencies that they know “what” to do, it’s the “how” — how do I implement this — that they need support with.

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June - July 2023

Testing our hypotheses

As we scoped our initial prototypes, we set out to answer the following questions:

• How much information are applicants willing to provide up front?

• How much information do WIC staff need before a certification appointment?

• How valuable are features like document upload and account creation? What is the technical and operational feasibility for offering these features? 

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We decided to test two versions of the model online application (and held off on testing implementation guidance because we would learn more about what State agencies need to implement the model online application through testing):

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1. WIC interest form

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• A shorter form that collects personal and contact information only, so that WIC staff can follow up with more information about the program and schedule a certification appointment to determine eligibility.

• Hypothesis this form is testing: Applicants would prefer to quickly indicate interest in WIC and provide less information up front (personal and contact information only) and spend more time providing eligibility information and documentation during the certification appointment.

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2. WIC eligibility form

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• A longer form that collects personal and contact information as well as some eligibility criteria , so that WIC staff can follow up with more information about the program. We also wanted to test the desirability and feasibility of features like document upload and scheduling.

• Hypothesis this form is testing: Applicants would prefer to provide more information and documentation up front on their own time so staff can spend more time during a certification appointment on education and resources.

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How we created the initial version of each form

My role:

• Looked at common question types and answer options based on online application categories from the landscape analysis, as well as from an existing demo application.*

• Leveraged specific plain-language word choices from individual online application tools.

• Identified potential U.S. Web Design System design patterns and components to incorporate.

I also: 

• partnered with FNS stakeholders to incorporate policy expertise.

• worked with our user experience designer to develop prototypes in Figma.​

• identified two additional 18F staffing needs to support our prototypes: 

  • a product designer who knew the ins and outs of USWDS.

  • a content strategist who could create implementation guidance. 

How we tested our initial versions

Local and state agencies: demo days

• # of State agencies and local agencies/what type

• goal

WIC applicants: moderated concept testing sessions via usertesting.com.

• Screener design: modeled after WIC eligibility criteria

• Worked with partner to facilitate fast-track Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance for screener through FNS PRA Office and OMB (possibility that it could be filled out by more than 9 people through screening process)

• Recruited XX participants

• Wanted to learn xyz

What we learned

• ​​

What we decided

• ​model online application with 6 sections​

• 3 best practice articles

Refinement and approvals

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My roll-off and beyond

• Spanish translation via