PANDA

User Research

It's vital when designing and improving services to understand user needs and behaviours. Our highly experienced user researchers can provide insight from users at any stage of the process, from interviews and co-creation workshops in Discovery through to concept and usability testing in Alpha and beyond.

Features

• Research planning
• Depth interviews
• Co-creation workshops
• Ethnography
• Surveys
• Usability testing
• Clear, actionable findings and recommendations
• Participant recruitment
• Research operations and logistics
• Training and mentoring of those new to user research

Benefits

• Create a shared understanding of user needs based on evidence
• Get timely feedback on design work
• Reduced risk of costly re-design work post service launch
• Learn how to plan and conduct user research yourself
• Get alignment on key questions with evidence and storytelling

£550 to £1,250 a person a day

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  ODT

• Terms and conditions

  ODT

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at al@panda.associates. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

355892295075717

Contact

Alastair Lee
07748 807 143
al@panda.associates

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: Our consultants will work closely with your subject matter experts, stakeholders and delivery teams to design experiences that work for users and support desired outcomes.; ; We are long-time advocates of user-centred and agile methods and fully support the use of the GDS Service Manual as the framework for our approach. We start with understanding user needs, in the Discovery phase, before generating and validating ideas in the Alpha phase and then iteratively building out the service in subsequent phases.; ; All our consultants are expert practitioners with the ability to flex how they work in order to deliver in your context. They deliver excellent work whilst also supporting the wider adoption of user centred and agile methods within client organisations.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: We offer training and coaching in the following areas:; ; 1. Service Design; - User Research for service design ; - Experience mapping (as is); - Service blueprinting (to be); - Touchpoint design; ; 2. User Research; - Choosing appropriate methods; - Interviewing users to understand needs; - Testing user interfaces with users; - Analysis and communicating findings; ; 2. Prototyping and MVP development; - assumption identification and prioritisation ; - choosing an MVP test and experiment design; ; 3. Doing Discovery for public sector digital transformation; - What discovery is for and why it's important; - What good discovery looks like; - How much time and budget to allow; - Stepping through the activities involved; - Who should be involved; - Key outputs from Discovery and getting ready for Alpha; ; 4. Doing the Alpha phase for public sector digital transformation; - How to plan and deliver a successful alpha phase; - What a good Alpha phase looks like; - Step by step activities; - How much time and budget to allow; - Key outputs and getting ready for Beta
• Training is tied to specific services: No

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: Yes
• How the setup or migration service works: Our consultants will work collaboratively with your team to understand the needs of service users, the goals of the organisation and the constraints (technology, budget, time, political) we are working within.; ; This information will inform recommendations for potential cloud solutions. We will then prototype and test services using these solutions and test any critical assumptions.; ; Once a preferred cloud solution has been identified, our consultants will scope the work involved to migrate the service, both in terms of processes and data. ; ; We'll then create a plan to deliver the migration through an agile process, using an Alpha phase to prove the new system works end to end, then migrating more users to the service in Beta and eventually into Live.
• Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services: No

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: Through the agile process we break work down into manageable chunks and define acceptance criteria for each journey or feature. ; ; Our development partners make appropriate use of Behaviour Driven Development, pair programming and automated tests to ensure code quality and system performance.; ; We also use accessibility tests and have accessibility experts within our associate network that we can call upon when needed.

Security testing

• Security services: No

Ongoing support

• Ongoing support service: Yes
• Types of service supported: Hosting or software provided by your organisation
• How the support service works: We will support the ongoing development and/or maintenance of software developed by our teams.

Service scope

• Service constraints: We are a product and service design consultancy. We partner with technology providers where appropriate to deliver the services we design. ; ; Generally our partners are responsible for ongoing support of the software/services they have delivered. However we will retain responsibility for the service design and will continue to collaborate where necessary to ensure the service is supported.; ; Support arrangements will be made clear as part of any agreement with our clients or partner organisations. Feel free to contact us should you need further information.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Within one business day (Mon - Fri, 9am to 6pm)
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web chat accessibility testing: This is not something we have done as we use a third party provider for chat services, but we will happily check this if necessary.
• Support levels: Support levels will be agreed with the client as part of the contracting process. An engagement manager is assigned to each project and is responsible for ensuring client communication is handled effectively and queries are responded to in accordance with support agreements.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Depending on the specific contract, our research will support the transformation of services in line with efforts to fight climate change by enabling a better understanding of people’s lives, perspectives and behaviours and what it will take to change those behaviours.; ; Our team and ways of working will influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities to understand and support environmental protection and improvement. ; ; We provide small teams that work mostly remotely. We minimise travel and use public transport whenever possible. We consider the environmental impacts of our purchases.; ; We have multiple case studies describing our work delivering services to help people understand and reduce their carbon emissions, both in a business context and a consumer one.

  Wellbeing

  Depending on the specific contract, our user research will support the transformation of services in line with efforts to enhance wellbeing in society. Firstly by enabling a better understanding of users, their needs, and what wellbeing means to them. And then by shaping services with reference to that understanding.; ; Our team and ways of working (including user centred design and co-design) will influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health.; ; We have worked with Social Care services in local authorities where we have put this into practice, delivering transformation in part to enhance the wellbeing of both service users and staff through research and design.

Pricing

• Price: £550 to £1,250 a person a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  ODT

• Terms and conditions

  ODT

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at al@panda.associates. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.