Chris Hughes
Design
London
The Tenenacy bond system is the service that new Zealanders have to use when lodging a bond. An important part of the renting ecosystem.
Throughout the years the business unit that was responsible for the Tenancy bond service saw an increase in issues with the service to the point where these issues needed to be addressed. The existing bond system, currently 24 years old, paper based and and mostly manual. The goal was to understand and address user and business pain points to help form an improved bond system.
Work was commissioned to my team to better understand the current state of the service and come up with proposed solutions on implementing these changes. This piece of work was to be done by myself and two other service designers.
The Tenancy Bond System, a critical component of New Zealand’s renting ecosystem, faced significant challenges due to its outdated, 24-year-old, paper-based infrastructure. These challenges were not only operational but also deeply impacted user experience, leading to frustration for tenants, landlords, and agencies alike.Addressing these issues was critical to improving efficiency, reducing user frustrations, and building trust in the bond system. The project’s goal was to redesign the service to be more transparent, user-friendly, and scalable, ensuring it could meet the needs of New Zealanders in the modern digital age.
“What does transforming a 24-year-old, paper-based bond system look like?”
Discovery
Mapping out the new service
Wireframing
Presentation document for stakeholders
Insights from multiple research methods
Service blueprint
Wireframes
Proposal document
Deliverables Produced
Insights for Decision-Making
Organisational Impact
Enhanced Collaboration
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Supply room is a bar and restaurant that’s been around for over 10 years. They have great food and great service and needed to showcase that to show how well they stack up to the competition.
Supply room is a bar and restaurant that’s been around for over 10 years. They have great food and great service and needed to showcase that to show how well they stack up to the competition. Check out another project
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the Tenancy Bond System’s challenges, we used a combination of qualitative research methods and service design tools. This process enabled us to identify pain points, map the current state of the service, and uncover opportunities for improvement.
I created a detailed service blueprint to map out the current state of the bond system. This visualisation captured the end-to-end user journey, internal processes, and supporting systems.The blueprint became an invaluable tool for stakeholder engagement. It facilitated discussions by clearly illustrating pain points, inefficiencies, and areas requiring further clarification.For example, when presenting the blueprint to stakeholders, we highlighted the lack of transparency in the bond processing stage, prompting them to provide additional details about internal workflows.
Paper-based and manual processes.
Inconsistent, poorly designed forms, and limited transparency.
Long processing times. Impacted by the amount of forms being filled in incorrectly.
Expensive and slow to update due to legacy technology.
Terminology not always understood
I created a detailed service blueprint to map out the current state of the bond system. This visualisation captured the end-to-end user journey, internal processes, and supporting systems.The blueprint became an invaluable tool for stakeholder engagement. It facilitated discussions by clearly illustrating pain points, inefficiencies, and areas requiring further clarification.For example, when presenting the blueprint to stakeholders, we highlighted the lack of transparency in the bond processing stage, prompting them to provide additional details about internal workflows.
Using qualitative analysis, I reviewed historical call centre data to identify recurring themes and patterns in user complaints. This helped us quantify the most common pain points and validate insights gathered during interviews.
The team listened to approximately 100 live or recorded call centre interactions. This observational research method allowed us to directly hear user frustrations and understand their questions in real-time.
In addition to analysing call data, we conducted sessions with call centre staff to gather their insights and identify recurring trends. Call centre staff had first-hand knowledge of the most common user issues and provided valuable context about the operational challenges they faced, such as dealing with incomplete or incorrect forms and answering frequent questions about bond statuses. This engagement also helped validate the themes identified during our analysis of call data and call listening sessions.
A high level summary of insights gained from analysing all data gathered in discovery.
Communication between landlords and tenants was often poor or nonexistent, leading to misunderstandings and delays in lodging bonds.
Tenants were most concerned about how quickly they could get their bond back, as they often needed it for their next flat.
Landlords wanted to complete the process quickly and ensure all signatures were collected to avoid delays.
The manual signing process often resulted in illegible signatures or forms being filled out incorrectly, causing delays.
The increase in call centre handling times indicated that bond issues were becoming more complex.
Requiring a physical “address for service” outside the rental property caused problems, especially for tenants who didn’t have a stable address after moving.
The research findings were pivotal in shaping a user-centred design that reduced errors in bond lodgement and improved transparency for all parties involved.After completing the research and creating the service blueprint, journey flows, and wireframes, I synthesised the insights gathered during the discovery phase to identify the most critical pain points to address which would be used when creating user flows and wireframes for the new proposed service. Through our research, we ensured that the redesigned service prioritised tenants’ concerns about bond refunds and landlords’ need for speed and accuracy, addressing their most critical pain points.
I began mapping out the initial service flows, starting with the most straightforward and simple user journeys. I worked closely with stakeholders to workshop these flows, ensuring they could be challenged, refined, and aligned with both user needs and business objectives. This collaborative process allowed me to iterate on the flows until they were sufficiently developed to serve as a foundation for the next steps.
Once the simple flows were refined and mapped out, I began designing for more complex scenarios. This included addressing edge cases such as a tenant requesting a refund while the bond was being transferred to a new landlord or enabling agencies to manage multiple bonds through batch actions. Incorporating these scenarios early ensured that the service would cater to the diverse and sometimes challenging needs of its users.
With a clear understanding of both the simple and complex service flows, I then moved on to creating wireframes for the new service. These wireframes were essential for communicating how the redesigned service would function to key stakeholders, including the project sponsor and the head of tenancy services. The wireframes provided a visual representation of the proposed solution, helping to align stakeholders on the direction of the design and ensuring that the new service addressed the identified pain points effectively.
The research findings were pivotal in shaping a user-centred design that reduced errors in bond lodgement and improved transparency for all parties involved.After completing the research and creating the service blueprint, journey flows, and wireframes, I synthesised the insights gathered during the discovery phase to identify the most critical pain points to address which would be used when creating user flows and wireframes for the new proposed service. Through our research, we ensured that the redesigned service prioritised tenants’ concerns about bond refunds and landlords’ need for speed and accuracy, addressing their most critical pain points.
After completing the wireframes and pairing them with the refined service flows, I worked to showcase how all parts of the redesigned service would function cohesively. I ensured that the wireframes clearly communicated the user journeys and addressed both straightforward and complex scenarios. These were then compiled into a detailed proposal document, which outlined the new service concept, key features, and anticipated benefits. I focused on making the proposal clear and compelling for stakeholders, including the project sponsor and the head of tenancy services, ensuring it demonstrated how the redesign would resolve existing pain points and improve the overall user experience. This document served as the foundation for further discussion and consideration by the agency.
The project resulted in several key deliverables, including a comprehensive service blueprint that mapped the current state of the tenancy bond service, highlighting pain points and inefficiencies. Refined service flows were developed to represent both straightforward and complex user journeys, providing clarity on how the redesigned service could function. These were complemented by wireframes, which visually demonstrated the proposed service and its features. All these outputs were compiled into a proposal document that outlined the findings, recommendations, and design concepts, enabling stakeholders to evaluate the proposed changes effectively.
Through the research and design process, stakeholders gained a deep understanding of the key challenges faced by users and the business. These insights, backed by qualitative data, were instrumental in identifying and prioritising features and improvements for the new service. The project provided a clear roadmap for modernising the bond system, giving stakeholders confidence in how to proceed.
The project increased awareness among decision-makers of the critical issues impacting users and the limitations of the legacy system. It established a strong foundation for future work by providing a user-centred and actionable framework for redesigning the service. This work also demonstrated the value of service design in tackling complex systems, helping to position the organisation for more user-focused and efficient service delivery in the future.
The project strengthened collaboration between the design team, operational teams, and stakeholders. By involving stakeholders throughout the process and creating shared outputs like the service blueprint and proposal, the project fostered a collective understanding of the challenges and goals. This improved alignment and laid the groundwork for more cohesive and effective decision-making moving forward.
