DRS

Problem

Business problem:  DRS was unable to meet the new scheme’s goal of helping injured parties access benefits sooner due to the absence of a self-service digital channel. The existing system was largely paper-based, slow, and inefficient, offering limited visibility and no support for a self-service model.

User problem: Injured CTP claimants received, on average, only 45 cents in benefits for every dollar collected by insurers and often waited between three and five years, or longer, for their claims to be resolved.

The Hypothesis

How might we establish a flexible solution that easily responds to change, enables innovation and the frequent delivery of outcomes.

The Approach

I was one of 50+ Capgemini consultants embedded on the multi-year, multi-release Salesforce project. As design lead, I guided the team in defining the digital transformation of the DRS platform to achieve Ministerial goals of improved customer experience and service efficiency.

The project had already started before the design team was onboarded, requiring me to quickly familiarize myself with the work, define the future-state experience, and ensure development could continue without disruption.

User research informed the creation of four connected Salesforce portals, Insurer, Lawyer, Decision-Maker, Claimant, and Internal Staff Console, transforming a largely paper-based application process into a seamless digital experience.

1. Discover

   • Conducted contextual enquiries and interviews with departmental staff, including Case Managers, to understand current workflows, tools, and challenges across both physical and digital touchpoints.

     • The current system does not support the Case Managers workflow by allowing other parties to provide information early in the process. 

     • The system does not guide users the the next step in the process

     • The CM’s do not trust the system to have the latest information, instead they refer to the printed case documents. 

   • Ran competitive benchmarking to identify best practices across similar service environments.

   • Distributed a Decision Maker survey to capture key behavioural insights:

     • 28% support more than one Decision Maker (DM)

     • 90% have an assistant providing administrative support

     • 50% print assessment documents; 100% take handwritten notes

     • 60% send audio recordings or notes to a typist

     • 90% of DMA’s provide DM availability to DRS

   • Facilitated discovery workshops with business units and sustainment (tech) teams to align on goals, constraints, and the broader digital transformation context.

2. Define

   • Facilitated design thinking workshops with key stakeholders to co-create current and future-state journey maps, personas, and pain point analyses.

   • Conducted one-on-one workshops and card sorting exercises to understand users’ mental models and inform the information architecture.

   • Synthesised insights to highlight key opportunities:

     • Enable earlier data capture from other parties in the process.

     • Introduce system prompts and guidance to support next steps.

     • Improve trust in the system as a single source of truth, reducing reliance on printed case documents.

3. Design

   • Developed future workflow journeys that informed requirements across all digital portals and touchpoints.

   • Created paper through to high-fidelity prototypes to visualise the future-state experience and align stakeholders around design direction.

   • Designed and consolidated digital forms for the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS):

     • Analysed 14 paper-based CTP dispute applications and reduced them to a single online form.

     • Applied content simplification and conditional logic to streamline the user experience.

     • Ensured alignment with policy and accessibility standards.

4. Deliver

   • Conducted in-person and remote usability testing to validate designs and refine interaction patterns.

   • Partnered with business and technical teams to ensure design feasibility and readiness for implementation across four release cycles.

   • Delivered recommendations to improve workflow integration, enhance user confidence in digital systems, and optimise the overall service experience.

The Impact

Key results
A digital self-service channel empowering users towards recovery

1. Introduced a new self-service digital channel to enable users to independently lodge and manage claims and disputes.

2. Streamlined the end-to-end claim and dispute process, reducing complexity and improving turnaround times.

   • Removed inefficiencies and barriers within the workflow which has resulted in faster claim resolution 

3. Supported the claim workflow through an integrated platform, ensuring smoother interactions across systems and teams.

   • Developed a flexible architecture supporting future business needs 

   • Created an integrated platform across four portals  

4. Applied human-centred design principles to ensure solutions met both user and business needs.

   • Empowered users by providing transparency in the process 

   • Developed a roadmap for the future 

Why it Matters

Transforming DRS from a paper-based system into a connected self-service platform improved speed, transparency, and trust across the claims process. By redesigning the service around user needs, the solution empowered injured parties to access benefits sooner, reduced administrative burden, and created a flexible foundation for future innovation.

Reflections & Learnings

This project was an excellent opportunity to be embedded with the business unit we were designing for. It reinforced the importance of conducting research early to prevent gaps in understanding from becoming issues during or after delivery. During interviews with Decision Makers, I identified additional roles that the system needed to support, roles that had not previously been accounted for. This insight directly influenced our approach to authentication and shaped the overall workflow design.