Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Website Project
Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Website Project
Long Story Short
Problem
Solution
Results
The project addressed a key issue: the existing FastTrack Partner Community portal wasn't effectively engaging its users. Partners struggled to find opportunities to submit ideas, join conversations, or access relevant content at the right time.
Enhancing the portal’s interactive features and community-centric design was central to solving this engagement gap.
Task success rate improved from 45% to 79% in usability tests
82% of test users reported feeling “more confident” using FastTrack with new UX system
This redesign aimed to reduce time-to-onboard by 30%, decrease support tickets by 25%
Long Story Short
Problem
Solution
Results
The project addressed a key issue: the existing FastTrack Partner Community portal wasn't effectively engaging its users. Partners struggled to find opportunities to submit ideas, join conversations, or access relevant content at the right time.
Enhancing the portal’s interactive features and community-centric design was central to solving this engagement gap.
Task success rate improved from 45% to 79% in usability tests
82% of test users reported feeling “more confident” using FastTrack with new UX system
This redesign aimed to reduce time-to-onboard by 30%, decrease support tickets by 25%
Role:
UX Designer & Researcher
Role:
UX Designer & Researcher
Role:
UX Designer & Researcher
Tools:
Miro, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Surveys
Tools:
Miro, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Surveys
Problem Scope
There is currently an issue to be investigated in the way that the Microsoft FastTrack portal is utilized to its full potential regarding a community of practice.
The focus of this project began with addressing how to enable, support and enhance the Microsoft FastTrack portal using AI as a tool.
Understand Phase
Research
Literature Review, Competitive Analysis & Heuristic Evaluation
Survey & User Interviews
Creative Workshops
Performed a competitive analysis to benchmark industry best practices and executed a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues within the existing Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal.
Conducted in-depth interviews and distributed surveys with Microsoft FastTrack partners to gather qualitative and quantitative data about portal usage and pain points.
Facilitated workshops with Microsoft teams to understand business goals and technical constraints.
Long Story Short
Problem
The project addressed a key issue: the existing FastTrack Partner Community portal wasn't effectively engaging its users. Partners struggled to find opportunities to submit ideas, join conversations, or access relevant content at the right time.
Solution
Enhancing the portal’s interactive features and community-centric design was central to solving this engagement gap.
Results
Task success rate improved from 45% to 79% in usability tests
82% of test users reported feeling “more confident” using FastTrack with new UX system
This redesign aimed to reduce time-to-onboard by 30%, decrease support tickets by 25%
Understand Phase
Understand Phase
Research
Research
Literature Review, Competitive Analysis & Heuristic Evaluation
Survey & User Interviews
Creative Workshops
Performed a competitive analysis to benchmark industry best practices and executed a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues within the existing Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal.
Conducted in-depth interviews and distributed surveys with Microsoft FastTrack partners to gather qualitative and quantitative data about portal usage and pain points.
Facilitated workshops with Microsoft teams to understand business goals and technical constraints.
Literature Review, Competitive Analysis & Heuristic Evaluation
Survey & User Interviews
Creative Workshops
Performed a competitive analysis to benchmark industry best practices and executed a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues within the existing Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal.
Conducted in-depth interviews and distributed surveys with Microsoft FastTrack partners to gather qualitative and quantitative data about portal usage and pain points.
Facilitated workshops with Microsoft teams to understand business goals and technical constraints.
Define Phase
Testing
Carried out moderated usability testing sessions with real users interacting with interactive prototypes to identify usability issues.
Iteration Phase
Created wireframes and interactive prototypes using tools like Figma to visualise design solutions.
Expert Review
Facilitated an expert review with UX professionals to assess the portal’s usability, uncover friction points, and validate initial research findings against established design principles.
Define Phase
Testing
Carried out moderated usability testing sessions with real users interacting with interactive prototypes to identify usability issues.
Problem Scope
There is currently an issue to be investigated in the way that the Microsoft FastTrack portal is utilized to its full potential regarding a community of practice.
The focus of this project began with addressing how to enable, support and enhance the Microsoft FastTrack portal using AI as a tool.
Iteration Phase
Created wireframes and interactive prototypes using tools like Figma to visualise design solutions.
Expert Review
Facilitated an expert review with UX professionals to assess the portal’s usability, uncover friction points, and validate initial research findings against established design principles.
Iteration Phase
Created wireframes and interactive prototypes using tools like Figma to visualise design solutions.
Expert Review
Facilitated an expert review with UX professionals to assess the portal’s usability, uncover friction points, and validate initial research findings against established design principles.
Define Phase
Testing
Carried out moderated usability testing sessions with real users interacting with interactive prototypes to identify usability issues.
Design Phase
Design Phase
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Developed high-fidelity wireframes to visualize the refined user interface, incorporating insights from prior research and testing. The designs prioritized intuitive navigation, enhanced engagement features, and seamless integration of the AI chatbot to support user needs.
Solution
The project successfully enhanced the Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal by addressing key usability gaps and introducing features that fostered engagement and support. The integration of an AI chatbot and improved interface design demonstrated clear potential to streamline user interactions.
Future opportunities include:
Testing further with a larger group of partners
Focusing on the FPC portal as a transactional website
Investigating the relationship between Partners and Project Managers (PSMs)
Problem Scope
There is currently an issue to be investigated in the way that the Microsoft FastTrack portal is utilized to its full potential regarding a community of practice.
The focus of this project began with addressing how to enable, support and enhance the Microsoft FastTrack portal using AI as a tool.
Solution
The project successfully enhanced the Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal by addressing key usability gaps and introducing features that fostered engagement and support. The integration of an AI chatbot and improved interface design demonstrated clear potential to streamline user interactions.
Future opportunities include:
Testing further with a larger group of partners
Focusing on the FPC portal as a transactional website
Investigating the relationship between Partners and Project Managers (PSMs)
Solution
The project successfully enhanced the Microsoft FastTrack Partner Community Portal by addressing key usability gaps and introducing features that fostered engagement and support. The integration of an AI chatbot and improved interface design demonstrated clear potential to streamline user interactions.
Future opportunities include:
Testing further with a larger group of partners
Focusing on the FPC portal as a transactional website
Investigating the relationship between Partners and Project Managers (PSMs)
Design Phase
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Developed high-fidelity wireframes to visualize the refined user interface, incorporating insights from prior research and testing. The designs prioritized intuitive navigation, enhanced engagement features, and seamless integration of the AI chatbot to support user needs.
