Muirfield Riding Therapy
A web application for planning horse riding therapy sessions from anywhere
The problem
Muirfield Riding Therapy approached us looking for a new system to help plan their horse riding therapy sessions. Their existing system was held on one computer and was simply a database that required a lot of guidance to operate. It wasn’t accessible remotely at all, requiring their volunteers to go out to their grounds to make any changes to the set-up and riders.
Bringing important events to the forefront
Our solution was a portal that could be accessed by staff and volunteers anywhere on the web from their computers and their mobile phones.
Previously staff would have to navigate through tables in a database to find any information they needed. The client came in under the impression they would need to build reports and then sift through rows and rows of data to find anything needing actioned, much like their old system.
We reduced their reports down to just a few by bringing information to the forefront. I designed a dashboard immediately available to admin users showing important events such as birthdays and vet appointments. By making the data work for them rather than expecting them to sift through it we saved the admin staff heaps of time.
Progress at a glance
Volunteers on the system three main roles - organising a session with riders, side walkers and lead walkers, matching riders to horses and updating past session notes.
I developed a red/amber/green system which would immediately show users which past sessions needed updated notes and which future sessions weren’t fully set-up.
One of the roles of volunteers at Muirfield is to get sessions organised before the event. This involves pairing riders with horses, lead walkers and side walkers and taking action from any developments in the rider’s last session.
User testing
Muirfield didn’t budget for formal user experience testing. I don’t like to design a project and release it untested by fresh eyes so I held UX testing sessions internally with developers and designers who hadn’t seen the system before. We ironed through a few kinks. Even though it’s not the most scientific method the quick and scrappy nature of my UX testing proved valuable for pointing out flaws that the team and the client were too close to the product to see.
The client also did some user testing with their own volunteers and came back with feedback that we actioned within the week. Muirfield were delighted with our work and will start using it as soon as they can post-covid!