As quality abstraction relies on efficiency and accuracy, providing the user with timely and complete validation opportunities is key for effective abstraction. By alerting the user to potential data issues prior to case submission, initial individual pass rates are higher, batches are accepted faster, and overall time spent per case is reduced.

As part of our existing form, in-line validation is provided to the user. While this is useful during an active abstraction session, there was an opportunity to improve this feature to include an error summary of a form, and quickly assess whether the case was ready for submission.

Opportunities:
The existing interface for the case forms included modal tools for use in parallel with the form. This provided us with an opportunity to reduce development time by reusing the existing component and design system to create the error summary UI. As the user was already conditioned to access the modal abstraction tools from the left-hand navigation, onboarding would be minimal.

Challenges:
Combined with a request for an MVP version that could be deployed quickly, the primary challenge in this project was a lack of clarity cross-team on functional requirements due to recent internal changes in the team.

Process:
In order to create cross-team alignment, I used research I had gathered on this feature much earlier in product development, and re-evaluated it with the help of abstraction and product team members. I then created a detailed workflow identified the design/development needs and identify additional requirements - such as manually marking cases complete and including required fields.

Having the workflow was an invaluable discussion aid, due to the complexity levels of the workflow. It served as a resource for asynchronous feedback, and helped product support the request for additional features to be included in the MVP version, by demonstrating the benefit to the overall workflow (e.g. updated encounter table columns).

Once this project was fully defined, and the teams understood the various limitations and goals, design was able to confidently forward with UI development.

Design challenges primarily centered around available space and content, and limiting the incorporation of new design elements. The final design includes five key validation types and three descriptors to help the user prioritize issues. Text links scroll the form to the relevant field, and buttons change case status throughout the system.

Supporting UI/UX assets were created for new form functionalities, status notifications, and user messages. Updates to the case management table allowed quick assessment of validation status, which is utilized by the abstractor, management, and in client case review.

Documentation:
Actionable documentation is a key part of the final deliverable. This includes a design file with specifications, development assets, content copy, workflows, and access to the design library and UI guide.

A file tracking system links handoff documents to additional design resources, such as research and design rationale notes, and maintains version control.

Retrospective:
Detailed ground work on this project helped support quick development, and collaboration with QA and development team members allowed feature integration with few issues.

As anticipated, the MVP version of validation reduced the need for external tools and improved the pass rate of case review. Building on this success, v2 will include additional capabilities (such as list filtering) and integrate user feedback. Based on this use case, I will be modifying the warning specifications within the design system to improve accessibility.