Enhancing regulatory compliance through
user-centred design

executive summary

As UX Designer, I led the design of a packaging data compliance platform for the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiative, streamlining regulatory workflows and improving efficiency.

By applying user-centered design, accessibility best practices, and iterative testing, we reduced compliance processing times by 20%, decreased submission errors by 25%, and increased user satisfaction by 70%.

Seamless Power BI integration empowered regulators with data-driven decision-making, setting a benchmark for future regulatory digital services.

Content

Project overview

Defining the problem

research & discovery

Approach and design process

Final designs & Impact

Project Overview

client

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS

service

Report packaging data (internal)

duration

12 months

The challenge

Regulators faced an overwhelming task, verifying vast amounts of packaging data with outdated systems and inefficient workflows.

Hours were lost manually checking submissions, while errors in data caused delays and compliance risks.

Without a centralized tool, teams struggled to track progress, leading to bottlenecks and inconsistencies in decision-making.

The urgency for a scalable, intuitive solution was clear: regulators needed a system that could streamline processes, ensure data accuracy, and integrate seamlessly with existing analytics tools.

Regulators faced an overwhelming task, verifying vast amounts of packaging data with outdated systems and inefficient workflows.

Hours were lost manually checking submissions, while errors in data caused delays and compliance risks.

Without a centralized tool, teams struggled to track progress, leading to bottlenecks and inconsistencies in decision-making.

The urgency for a scalable, intuitive solution was clear: regulators needed a system that could streamline processes, ensure data accuracy, and integrate seamlessly with existing analytics tools.

Objective

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiative involves multiple stakeholders, from producers to environmental regulators. This diagram illustrates how our work-stream, Report Packaging Data, integrates into the broader compliance landscape, emphasising our role in facilitating efficient data management.

Environmental

regulators

Report Packaging data

Cups

PRN

Our work-stream

Producers

Compliance scheme operators

Cup sellers

Exporters

Reprocessors

Take-back scheme operators

Our objective was to design a scalable digital platform that empowers 95% of regulators to manage packaging data with ease. Our work-stream serves as the foundation for a unified, adaptable ecosystem ensuring seamless expansion and evolution as compliance needs grow. The solution needed to integrate seamlessly with Power BI for analytics and compliance monitoring while improving usability and accessibility.

My role

As an UX Designer, I played a strategic leadership role, ensuring that design decisions aligned with user needs, business goals, and compliance requirements.

My key responsibilities included:

Leading user research to uncover pain points and refine solutions.
Facilitating collaborative design workshops with cross-functional teams.
Developing and testing high-fidelity prototypes to ensure usability and efficiency.
Aligning the platform with GOV.UK accessibility and UX standards.
Presenting findings and securing stakeholder buy-in across regulatory agencies

As an UX Designer, I played a strategic leadership role, ensuring that design decisions aligned with user needs, business goals, and compliance requirements.

My key responsibilities included:

Leading user research to uncover pain points and refine solutions.
Facilitating collaborative design workshops with cross-functional teams.
Developing and testing high-fidelity prototypes to ensure usability and efficiency.
Aligning the platform with GOV.UK accessibility and UX standards.
Presenting findings and securing stakeholder buy-in across regulatory agencies

Defining the problem

We engaged with users to identify core pain points, focusing on regulatory officers who frequently interacted with data submissions.

Regulatory Challenges:
Inefficient Workflows and Data Management

Regulators were tasked with verifying packaging data but faced significant obstacles:

High workload from manual reviews leading to inefficiencies.
Lack of clear data submission processes, causing errors.
Inadequate tools for tracking compliance and enforcement.

Personas & user needs

To build an effective solution, we developed detailed personas:

Darcy Ball

Senior regulatory Officer

Excel: 10/10

Digital literacy: 9/10

Power BI: 8/10

Overview:

Skilled in data manipulation and Power BI but often burdened by fixing data errors caused by unclear submission guidelines.

Key Responsibilities:

Data extraction, aggregation, and report creation, supporting less technically proficient officers.

Frustrations:

Inconsistent data quality and frequent interruptions to help colleagues.

Needs:

A clearer, structured submission system that minimizes manual data corrections.

Overview:

Skilled in data manipulation and Power BI but often burdened by fixing data errors caused by unclear submission guidelines.

Key Responsibilities:

Data extraction, aggregation, and report creation, supporting less technically proficient officers.

Frustrations:

Inconsistent data quality and frequent interruptions to help colleagues.

Needs:

A clearer, structured submission system that minimizes manual data corrections.

Overview:

Skilled in data manipulation and Power BI but often burdened by fixing data errors caused by unclear submission guidelines.

Key Responsibilities:

Data extraction, aggregation, and report creation, supporting less technically proficient officers.

Frustrations:

Inconsistent data quality and frequent interruptions to help colleagues.

Needs:

A clearer, structured submission system that minimizes manual data corrections.

Abi Gentri

Lead Officer

Excel: 10/10

Digital literacy: 9/10

Power BI: 8/10

Overview:

Oversees compliance across multiple organizations and manages a team of regulatory officers.

Key Responsibilities:

Defining data parameters, policy research, auditing, and providing supervision.

Frustrations:

Difficulty enforcing compliance due to unclear regulatory guidelines and internal inefficiencies.

Needs:

Changing regulatory requirements make it hard to maintain consistency.

Overview:

Oversees compliance across multiple organizations and manages a team of regulatory officers.

Key Responsibilities:

Defining data parameters, policy research, auditing, and providing supervision.

Frustrations:

Difficulty enforcing compliance due to unclear regulatory guidelines and internal inefficiencies.

Needs:

Changing regulatory requirements make it hard to maintain consistency.

Research & Discovery

The insights gathered through research became the foundation for our design strategy.

By understanding where users struggled especially around submission statuses and Power BI integration we focused on creating intuitive flows and simplifying key interactions.

These insights directly influenced our wireframes, interaction patterns, and content choices, ensuring that every design decision was grounded in real user needs.

Methodology

Conducted 16 semi-structured interviews and usability testing across 4 regulatory agencies.

Analysed workflow pain points through task analysis & journey mapping.
Used quantitative surveys to measure efficiency gains post-implementation.

Key Findings from user reseach

Submission status confusion

85%

of regulators found submission statuses unclear.

Inefficiencies in manual reviews

60%

of officers reported spending 4+ hours per week correcting submission errors.

The ‘On Hold’ misinterpretation

75%

of users expected 'On Hold' to function as a flagged status, not a paused state

Power BI Adoption Challenges

Low Usage of Power BI for Decision Making

40%

of regulators used Power BI for insights.

Lack of Training & Guidance

55%

of users struggled to navigate Power BI effectively

Data Access Delays

30%

of regulators reported difficulties accessing data in Power BI.

Approach & Design process

Turning Insights into Design
Guided by real user feedback, we translated research findings into actionable design decisions. Throughout this process, I led alignment between research, design, and development teams to ensure that user needs stayed central as we iterated toward the final solution.

Dual-track agile : Driving UX & development in parallel

Dual-track agile: Driving UX & development in parallel

Design Sprint

proving the concept

Design Track

Development Track

First increment added

to development

To meet strict regulatory deadlines while ensuring a seamless user experience, we adopted a Dual-Track Agile approach (see diagram). This methodology enabled continuous user research alongside high-priority feature development, ensuring regulatory compliance and usability. We began with three Scrum teams dedicated to discovery and delivery, refining workflows and validating key design decisions. As compliance requirements evolved, we scaled to seven Scrum teams, maintaining agility while ensuring that every iteration was driven by real user needs and validation.

Strategic design decisions

User Flow mapping

Developed and optimized regulatory user flows to ensure seamless task completion, reduce cognitive load, and enhance compliance efficiency.

Low-fidelity prototyping

I drew inspiration from previous regulator service designs, like the 'Response to Approved and Delegated Person Application,' to create familiar and consistent wireframes. This approach not only ensured a user-friendly experience but also leveraged proven patterns that developers were already familiar with, speeding up implementation.

Packaging data submissions (placed on market data)

Packaging data submission details (placed on market data)

Iterative testing

Power BI integration

Based on usability feedback, we added clear explanations and direct links to Power BI to guide users effectively.

Status indication

We introduced status tracking for packaging submissions (Pending, Accepted, Rejected) to increase transparency.

Layout optimisation (GDS.UK compliant)

Layout optimisation
(GDS.UK compliant)

We adjusted the layout to align with GDS.UK patterns and ensured WCAG 2.1 compliance. Calls to action were moved next to company names, improving accessibility and task flow for a smoother user experience.

Before usability study

after usability study

Final designs & Impact

By aligning user needs with regulatory goals, this final solution not only streamlined workflows but also laid the foundation for scalable improvements across the broader compliance ecosystem.

Solution in action

The final platform delivered a highly efficient, accessible compliance system, allowing regulators to:

Approve or flag submissions 30% faster than previous workflows.
Access Power BI insights without leaving the interface.
Improve data accuracy by reducing submission errors by 25%.

Prototype video

High fidelity Wireframes

Accessing packaging submissions dashboard

Packaging data submission (pending)

Accept packaging data submission

PAckaging data submission (accepted)

Usability testing & results

Study rounds & findings

Round 1: Users struggled with submission status tracking and Power BI navigation.

Round 2: Iterations improved usability, leading to a 70% increase in satisfaction.

Key metrics

20%

20% faster compliance processing – reducing regulatory backlog.

20%

20% fewer submission errors, reducing manual corrections.

70%

70% user satisfaction increase, reinforcing ease of use

Outcomes & Impact

Business & Operational Achievemnts

Increased efficiency: Saved regulators an estimated 120 hours per week.

Reduced backlog by 20%

Higher adoption rates among regulatory agencies

Improved accessibility standards, setting a benchmark for future projects.

Established scalable design patterns, creating a foundation for future ecosystem-wide solutions.

Content

The challenge

Objective

My role

Regulatory Challenges: Inefficient Workflows and Data Management

Personas & user needs

Methodology