Jeshwanth Srinivasan

Shipped product · HID Global

Self-Serve Audit Log

Audit history inside an enterprise admin portal.

When something broke, admins had to contact HID support and wait. I designed an audit log they can search themselves. Client tickets fell by a third.

Role
Product designer, end to end
Team
Product owner, engineering
Year
2023
Platforms
Web admin portal
Methods
Journey mapping, user flows, stakeholder reviews, specs
Outcome
Shipped. Client tickets cut by a third.

Screens use sample data. Names in the tables are placeholders.

Problem

Admins run HID's authentication service from an admin portal. When they did something the portal didn't expect, it left them stuck, with no way to see what had happened.

Their only option was to contact HID's sustenance team. That team pulled the Audit API, found the mistake, and told the admin how to fix it.

What goes wrong without it

Every small mistake became a support ticket and downtime for the customer. The sustenance team spent its time reading logs for other people.

Research

I mapped the current journey against an ideal one, for both the customer admin and the sustenance team. The map showed exactly where the admin got stranded.

How I learned

  • Journey mapping

    Current and ideal journeys for the customer admin and the sustenance team member.

  • User flow

    From the portal home to the log, its filters, and report downloads.

  • Stakeholder reviews

    The journey map anchored reviews with the product owner and engineering.

What I found

  1. Finding 01

    The data existed. Access didn't.

    What I saw
    Everything the admin needed was already in the Audit API. Only the sustenance team could read it.
    What it changed
    Bring the audit trail into the portal, readable without knowing how the API works.

  2. Finding 02

    Waiting was the real cost.

    What I saw
    Admins went to support for even the smallest issues. The downtime came from the handoff, not the fix.
    What it changed
    Design for self-service: the admin finds the cause and fixes it in one sitting.

  3. Finding 03

    Both sides needed accountability.

    What I saw
    When something broke, the customer and HID both needed to know who did what, and when.
    What it changed
    Every row shows the user, the action, the policy, the result, and a correlation ID.

Research artifacts

Select an artifact to open it at full size.

Today the admin is stranded until support reads the Audit API. In the ideal journey, the admin reads it in the portal.
Current and ideal journey Today the admin is stranded until support reads the Audit API. In the ideal journey, the admin reads it in the portal.
From the portal home to logs, filters, and report downloads.
User flow From the portal home to logs, filters, and report downloads.

Process

  1. 01Map

    • Current and ideal journeys
    • Pain point: downtime from the support handoff

    Output. A shared picture of where admins get stuck.

  2. 02Align

    • Reviews with the product owner and engineering
    • The journey map anchored each discussion

    Output. Agreement to bring the audit trail into the portal. The reviews also shaped the details of the experience.

  3. 03Design

    • Log table with search and quick filters
    • Advanced filters: correlation ID, device serial, channel, policy
    • Reports: generate, track, download, or delete

    Output. A log admins can narrow from thousands of rows to the one that matters. Two trade-offs shaped reports. They build in the background, so admins wait for a file but keep a usable page. And they can be anonymized, trading names for privacy once a log leaves the portal.

  4. 04Ship

    • Specs for every report state: processing, generated, failed
    • Build reviews with engineering

    Output. Shipped in the admin portal.

Screens

The shipped flow, from the log to a downloaded report.

The audit log. Each row shows who acted, what they did, the policy, the result, and a correlation ID.
The audit log. Each row shows who acted, what they did, the policy, the result, and a correlation ID.
Basic filters cover user, date, action, and result. Advanced filters reach correlation ID, device serial, and channel.
Basic filters cover user, date, action, and result. Advanced filters reach correlation ID, device serial, and channel.
Active filters show as chips above the table. Clear all resets the view.
Active filters show as chips above the table. Clear all resets the view.
Reports run on the current filters. Admins can anonymize a report before they generate it.
Reports run on the current filters. Admins can anonymize a report before they generate it.
A report in progress shows Processing in the list. The page stays usable.
A report in progress shows Processing in the list. The page stays usable.
A failed report says so in a banner and asks the admin to try again.
A failed report says so in a banner and asks the admin to try again.

Principles I used

  • Visibility of system status

    Each report shows Processing, Generated, or Failed. A banner confirms the result.

  • Recognition rather than recall

    Active filters sit as chips above the table, so admins always see what they're looking at.

  • User control and freedom

    Deleting a report or downloading the full log asks first. Cancel is always there.

  • Help users recover from errors

    A failed report says so and asks the admin to try again.

Accessibility notes

  • Status in words

    Success, Failure, Processing, Generated, and Failed appear as text with an icon.

  • Visible labels

    Every filter field has a visible label, not just placeholder text.

  • Clear consequences

    Delete and full-log download name what will happen before the admin confirms.

Outcome

What changed
Admins trace a problem to its cause in the portal, without waiting on HID support.
Result
Client tickets fell by a third of their original volume.
The larger effect
Fewer routine log lookups for the sustenance team, and a clear record of who did what on both sides.
What I delivered
Journey maps, the user flow, and specs for the log, filters, and reports.