UM ARC-TS Flux HPC Project

Quick Snapshot

• Role: UX researcher and service designer
• Team: Student consulting team working with ARC-TS staff
• Customers: University of Michigan researchers onboarding to the Flux high-performance computing cluster

Mandate / Opportunity / Problem Scope

ARC-TS needed to streamline onboarding and support for Flux, the university’s shared HPC environment. Our brief was to diagnose where researchers struggled and recommend documentation and service improvements that could reduce support load.

What I Led / Delivered / Highlights

• Conducted contextual inquiries with researchers and support staff to map workflows, pain points, and information gaps.
• Applied human-centered design methods to synthesize findings into personas, journey maps, and prioritized opportunity areas.
• Delivered actionable recommendations and prototype content for new documentation and support touchpoints.

Impact / Lasting Value / Takeaway

The engagement provided ARC-TS with a blueprint to onboard researchers more effectively and reduce unnecessary support escalations. Final deliverables are available upon request.