Department for Business and Trade: improving export data reporting
Led user-centred discovery and service design for a platform migration relied on by ministers, cutting reporting errors by 20% and widening the project from a technology migration into a service redesign.
Overview
The Department for Business and Trade relied on export reporting data to understand how UK businesses were trading internationally and to brief ministers. But the platform was inefficient and no longer fit for purpose: data was incomplete and unreliable, and the department wanted to migrate reporting to a new platform without understanding the risks. I led the user-centred discovery and service design to make sure the migration improved the reporting experience while protecting the integrity of the data.
Building a shared understanding
Different user groups described the same parts of the service in different terms, hiding common pain points. I created a common service vocabulary mapping equivalent terms across groups. That revealed recurring problems which had previously looked unrelated, and shifted stakeholders from chasing symptoms to addressing underlying service issues.
Creating a safe environment for honest feedback
Reporting errors carried real consequences for the people who made them, so participants were reluctant to admit problems. I designed the research approach around confidentiality and psychological safety: anonymous feedback mechanisms, one-to-one interviews, restricted access to recordings, paraphrased quotes and findings aggregated across regions. That trust surfaced previously unreported pain points: manual workarounds, error-prone processes and data accuracy concerns. It gave stakeholders an evidence base instead of assumptions filtered through hierarchy.
Mapping the end-to-end service
I created service maps and user journeys showing how export data moved through the organisation, the dependencies between systems and teams, and where data quality issues crept in. This exposed migration risks that a purely technical view would have missed, and persuaded stakeholders to plan the work as a service redesign rather than a straight platform swap. I also made sure global users across time zones, historically excluded from decisions, were represented through scheduled sessions and asynchronous feedback.
Results
- Reduced reporting errors by 20%.
- Critical migration risks identified before implementation.
- Stakeholder groups aligned through a shared service vocabulary.
- A stronger foundation for export data that ministers could trust.