CASE ✦ TWISTELLAR PROJECTS
Customized Salesforce Interface for a Nonprofit Organization
• Date: February 2023 •
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
CLIENT
NPO
A nonprofit organization that employs blind people through an application as volunteers to perform a range of tasks.
Improved Flows
- Internal Management
- Customer Experience
Cloud/Solution
- Nonprofit Cloud (NPSP)
Services
- Customization
- Configuration
Challenges
The organization utilized the Salesforce NPSP cloud and the NVDA screen reader, which voices the Salesforce interface.
NPSP Cloud
The standard Salesforce solution wasn't adaptive enough, as the disposition of the elements in the voicing was inconvenient and illogical. Thus, it was required to create a custom and convenient solution, including a unique user interface utilizing ARIA-driven tags, a unique event calendar, search functionality, and a community registration form accessible to blind users.
Solution
Based on the feedback, it was decided to create a unique interface that is totally adaptive for blind users.
The interface had to include explicit explanations for each screen element, i.e., how to enter data and what format to use, allow users to move around the page using tabs and enter keys as well as the keyboard, and display a confirmation screen when saving the information.
Additionally, it was decided to create two interfaces:
- For volunteers — to record, browse the agenda, cancel, or sign up for volunteer events
- For managers — to look for a volunteer
Scope and Process
We set up an NVDA screen reader to investigate its behavior in interpreting the default Salesforce user interface. We also used the examples of the previously used solutions to lay the foundation for building custom interfaces.
Using these findings and following several user-centered design sessions, our team developed a new, more user-friendly event calendar, a registration form tailored to blind people, and capabilities for locating qualified volunteers.
The solution was tested iteratively and improved by the team when new requirements appeared.
Results
As a result, the organization was able to use the application for their volunteer tasks with improved functionality and design, including:
1. Simplified UI in Salesforce using a screen reader with a tailored layout of fields and buttons
2. Screen and field explanation
3. Personal event calendar administration
4. Registration form for blind people
5. Skill-based search
6. Two accounts with various features
The implemented functionality helped to adjust the convenience and accessibility of the screen; the UI elements are easily readable by screen parsing tools, which facilitates the registration process for volunteers.