Aperture Data Studio is a unified data quality and governance solution that provides robust capabilities to improve and govern an organization's data. The platform empowers data practitioners to determine and report on the accuracy, consistency, completeness, and trustworthiness of their data.
It is designed to target the data quality challenges that are most critical for your business growth strategy, from gaining a single customer view to improving operational data quality, assisting with data migrations and enhancing accuracy in compliance reporting. This helps businesses improve operational efficiency, facilitate data driven decisions, and manage risk.
Situation
The documentation for Aperture Data Studio was falling short of user needs during the later stages of
version
2. Users faced significant challenges with usability and content discoverability, making it difficult to
efficiently find the information they needed. This was largely due to the documentation combining three
distinct types of content, core product functionality, licensed module features, and specific use case
guidance, without clearly distinguishing between them. For new users landing on the homepage, these
differences were unclear, contributing to a high volume of support tickets.
With the upcoming release of Aperture Data Studio v3.0 and the introduction of the new Data Catalog and
Governance module, it became evident that the existing documentation structure was not equipped to
support
the product's growth.
A structural overhaul was clearly needed.
The initial state of the Aperture Data Studio documentation.
Task
The primary task was to revamp the Aperture Data Studio Documentation to enhance site usability and content
findability, standardize the Aperture Data Studio content experience, and actively collect and implement
user feedback. The goal was to ensure that Aperture Data Studio users could find information more easily and
intuitively, reducing the need for external support, and preparing the content for expansion post v3.0
launch.
Toolkit:
Action
To address these user challenges, I worked directly with the Senior Product Manager for Aperture Data Studio and various members of the dedicated engineering team to scope this project over a six month period. Using the Jobs To Be Done framework, we conducted extensive persona mapping and launched an initial survey to get the best, most unbiased state of our current userbase. This, paired with historic feedback, was used in conjunction with regular A/B testing throughout the project's lifetime to determine our user's immediate needs and our main areas of focus.
I worked in-line with agile principles, delivering functional prototypes through our docs-as-code solution. This robust approach allowed users to interact with the product prototypes directly with zero latency, enabling them to provide us with clear, detailed feedback for future iterations.
In six months, I had two main action groups:
Content Structure and Usability Improvements
Redesigned the documentation structure to clearly separate core product functionality,
licensed modules, and use case guidance.
Standardized the content experience across all Aperture Data Studio guides to align with
UXC standards.
Enhanced navigation and search functionality to improve content discoverability.
Created a new homepage that serves as a clear entry point for users, providing easy
access to frequently used content.
Collect and Implement User Feedback
Consolidated existing user feedback to generate and action an improvement plan.
Conducted user research through A/B testing at pivotal stages of the redesign to
validate assumptions and focus on key areas.
Scoped into next, now, later to further narrow focus to immediate user needs.
Home Page Redesign
Separated native product functionality from directed use cases and licensed modules.
Consolidated previously duplicated content into one clear place.
Added new sections common to all other Experian Data Quality products, namely: Overview
section, Introduction page, and Help section.
Enhance User Experience
Introduced logical grouping of categories and content based on user groups, serving the
largest groups first (Designers > Consumers > Admins).
Added new use case and licensed modules pages to introduce and explain the
functionality, all on one page.
Converted accordions into tabs or new pages where appropriate to ensure critical
information was not hidden and could be easily found and searched.
Added high level signposting to further resources.
Off the back of this, I made it easier and simpler for content contributors to make updates to our
documentation stack. No more confusion between on-premise and hosted solutions, and less time to
value for documentation releases.
The agile iteration of the Aperture Data Studio documentation homepage layout, showing the new structure and content grouping.
Result
The outcome of these actions was a significantly improved Aperture Data Studio Documentation experience:
User-Centric Design: The largest user groups received tailored support and functionality, enhancing their overall experience.
Effortless Access: Users could quickly reach their most-used content with improved navigation, reducing the time spent seeking support. Users took on average 30% less time to locate the content they needed, and support tickets related to documentation dropped by 10%.
Clarity and Control: Resources became easier to find, and licensing distinctions were made clear, contributing to a more intuitive user experience.
Consistency and Preparedness: The Aperture Data Studio guides were standardized to align with UXC standards and the rest of the site, ensuring consistency and readiness for v3.0 expansion.
Active User Feedback Implementation: User feedback was actively collected and implemented, ensuring the documentation site remained a key selling point for the products.
This comprehensive revamp not only addressed the immediate usability and content findability issues but also laid a strong foundation for future expansions and improvements, demonstrating a commitment to continuous enhancement of the user experience.
The final, live version of the Aperture Data Studio documentation to support v3.0 and beyond.
Looking Ahead
During this project, we identified several areas for further, global improvement to the documentation
site. These were scoped out of the initial project due to engineering and time constraints, but they are
on the roadmap for FY26 H1.
UI Enhancements: During A/B testing, users raised some excellent usability
concerns. Chiefly, and although appearing infrequently, pages with lots of accordions are
tedious to navigate. Users must open and close each one manually. A simple expand/collapse all
toggle alongside some smarter navigation buttons are next on my radar to address these
frustrations.
Improved Search: Similarly, users occasionally struggle to find what they need
when using the search function. A dedicated A/B testing session on this revealed that super
users and SMEs were able to search for information within seconds, using more specialised
queries, whereas new users or those from non-technical business functions received generic
search results that weren't always what they were expecting. Updating our search function and
content indexing is now in the roadmap for completion by the end of FY26 H1.
Generative AI: Discussion with internal stakeholders revealed the desire to
implement GenAI into the documentation site to improve the self-serve capabilities of our users.
This is currently being explored in terms of page summarisation and integration into the search
to provide a more accurate, tailored set of search results.
