Reducing Organisational Burden with Screening Tools

The Problem

Whilst restructuring the website navigation and designing content for the not-for-profit's website, I noticed a key issue while conducting user interviews and running a collaborative workshop:

Antithetical desires of users and stakeholders

• Users wanted clarity on eligibility criteria, service scope and clear referral pathways

• Staff wanted to keep eligibility criteria undisclosed and to provide referral forms after a screening call

The organisation voiced a lacked time and resources to manage multiple inbound calls and email inquiries, often from ineligible inquirers.

However, the organisation was still receiving inquiries about easily answered questions and in addition had developed an issue of siloed and unofficial referral pipelines that had developed in the organisation leading to fragmented communication within teams and slow workflows.

How might we inform users of their service eligibility and provide referral pathways for eligible inquirers, without directly disclosing criteria?

The Process

The Solution

I designed an interactive eligibility screening tool that filters ineligible inquiries with three questions in lay-man terms, using input to gates referral form access, and centralise all referrals to a single team-accessible point — dramatically reducing organisational burden while connecting ineligible families to appropriate alternative services.

The Impact

The solution transforms a reactive, inefficient system into a proactive, user-friendly process that serves everyone better.