Client Case Study
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Transforming Adoption of a Critical Internal Data Service
A major DWP digital service designed to act as a single source of truth for organisational data was struggling with adoption. Despite significant investment and being live for several years, usage remained at approximately 10%, with many teams continuing to rely on manual processes, duplicated data handling, and disconnected spreadsheets.
We worked closely with DWP to understand why adoption was low, identify barriers preventing engagement, and help shape a service that better aligned with real user needs across the organisation.
The Challenge
The platform had been developed to improve data quality, consistency, and efficiency across DWP. However, low uptake meant the intended operational benefits were not being realised.
The organisation needed to understand:
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Why users were not engaging with the service
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Whether barriers were technical, behavioural, operational, or cultural
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How different teams interacted with data across the wider ecosystem
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What changes were required to increase confidence, usability, and long-term adoption
The challenge extended beyond usability alone. Teams had already developed alternative manual workflows, creating behavioural and organisational resistance to change.
Our Approach
We led a large-scale mixed-method Discovery research programme across multiple departments and user groups.
Research included:
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100+ research sessions
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Usability testing
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Contextual inquiry and ethnographic research
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Diary studies
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Journey mapping
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Persona development
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Cross-team synthesis workshops
We also ensured inclusive recruitment across a wide range of accessibility and support needs, including users of assistive technologies such as screen readers, JAWS and Dragon, alongside participants with ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s, hearing impairments and English as a second language.
What We Discovered
The research uncovered that low adoption was not caused by a single issue, but by a combination of system, behavioural and operational barriers.
Key findings included:
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Many users could not successfully access the platform due to login and permission issues
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Users who gained access often did not understand how to use the service effectively
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Existing training materials were generic, inconsistent, and poorly aligned to real workflows
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Teams struggled to understand the value proposition of the platform within their day-to-day work
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Users reverted to familiar manual processes because they felt quicker and lower risk
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Teams already using the service experienced faster data retrieval, improved confidence in data quality, and reduced duplication of effort
This helped reframe the problem from “users are resistant to change” to a broader organisational adoption challenge involving onboarding, training, accessibility, communication, workflow integration, and trust.
The Outcome
Our findings directly informed redesign priorities, onboarding improvements, training strategy, and future service direction.
The work helped:
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Increase adoption from approximately 10% to around 70%
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Improve long-term engagement and sustainable usage across teams
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Reduce reliance on fragmented manual processes
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Improve confidence in organisational data quality
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Create a clearer and more accessible onboarding experience
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Establish a research and engagement model used to inform future phases of the programme
The programme demonstrated the importance of understanding behavioural and organisational barriers alongside usability, particularly within large-scale government transformation programmes.
Why This Matters
For parliamentary and regulatory organisations, effective case management is fundamental to accountability, public trust and organisational integrity.
This work demonstrated how a user-centred, governance-led approach can modernise complex investigative processes while meeting the highest standards of security, transparency and assurance.
Services Provided
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Discovery & Service Design
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User Research
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Case Management Design
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Workflow & Process Mapping
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Governance & Audit Design
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Accessibility & Inclusive Design
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Secure Evidence Management
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Reporting & Oversight Design
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Microsoft 365 Integration
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Stakeholder Engagement & Facilitation
Services Provided
User Research
Accessibility Auditing
Secure Cloud Infrastructure
Digital Strategy
Service Design
HM Land Registry (HMLR)
Designing a Digital Service for Complex Land Agreement Disclosure