How might we manage health inspections for animals entering the UK?

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Highlights

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8000+ animal inspections each year

This is a large-scale service with an estimated 8000+ inspections each year. 

36 usability testing sessions

Our team conducted 36 usability testing sessions. We worked in an agile way and continually iterated the service to ensure it met user needs.

Accessibility

I prototyped the service to make sure it was WCAG compliant, and used components and patterns that would work for people who use screen-readers and other accessibility tools. 

Team

• Ade Adowole, Business Analyst
• Kaitlin D’Avella, Content Designer
• Charlie Fountaine, Service and Interaction Designer 
• Joanne Gilles, Product Manager
• Tess McIntyre, User Researcher
• Nilesh Nagepatil, Software Developer
• Kieran Swales, Delivery Manager

Challenge

Brexit legislates that animals entering the UK need health inspections at the border. Thousands of animals enter the UK each day. Importers and drivers need to know when to arrive for inspections, and border control operators need to know what's coming when.

Success looks like:

• Reduced waiting times at the border
• Increased animal welfare

This is a large-scale service with thousands of animals entering the UK each month. We designed a service that would work for the first 4 Border Control Posts opening across England and Wales. I was the Service and Interaction designer on this project. 

Research

Through research we identified 3 key users. 

1. Booker, who imports live animals in the UK. They could be a customs agent or a transporter. A transporter is the person who arranges transport to move the animals.
2. Admin. This person is an animal handler, inspector or manager who works at the Border Control Post. The admin users job includes; managing the flow of animals coming in the Border Control Post, unloading the animals, inspecting the animals and disinfecting the area.
3. Site operator, who manages the admin staff. They may need to change the parameters of the booking system.

We learned that people need;

• A simple, flexible tool for booking inspections.
• A robust back-end tool to manage inspections at the border.
• The ability to change the parameters of the booking system. 
• A way to safeguard against rogue bookings. 

Solution 

We developed a booking system with a front and back end. My role was to use the GDS prototyping kit to develop a working prototype to test and improve the service with users. 

Overview of features

Bookers

• Ability to book, cancel, and manage your inspections.

Admin

• View inspections.
• Make edits to inspections.
• Change the parameters of the booking system, including opening times, inspection. lengths and more. 

This shows a flow for the bookers when they book an inspection. 

Impact

The new system is being rolled out at Sevington Border Control facility in 2025, where it will facilitate the inspection of all animal inspections entering the UK. 

Kaitlin D’Avella and I talked about this service during Services Week 2024: 

Watch our talk here