UI DESIGNINFO ARCHITECTURE EXPERT REVIEWSUSABILITY TESTING
^ Up : Cisco Systems Business Goal We were asked by Cisco to help re-architect a major section of Cisco.com, one of the largest e-commerce web sites in the world. Cisco.com e-commerce operations generate about $4 billion in revenues annually. The site area that was architected, called Learning and Events, is home to Cisco Certifications, the most popular certifications in the world. The content and business units represented in this site area account for over $100 million in revenues annually for Cisco. The design, architecture, and user experience are central for users finding certification information quickly and efficiently. Benefits Our re-architecture dramatically reduced the amount of steps it took to find information in the L and E site area. Instead of 8 or even 12 clicks to get to information in a confusing navigation space, users were able to find most of the same content assets in as little as 3 clicks. Based on this substantial redesign, Cisco saw its traffic increase significantly and was able to grow the Cisco Certifications programs as well, they remained the most popular certifications in the entire industry. The stakeholders for this site area were some of the most satisfied at Cisco in having their business goals met with the redesign of cisco.com.
Examples Learning and Events Sitemap + Show full size - hold down shift key if new window doesn't appear. The sitemap is the major document to visualize the architecture decisions and user experience for the site area. This area contains over 300 pages and represents several business units important to the Cisco brand. The architecture decisions were made in close cooperation with each business unit, with major restructuring's common as the process went forward. We provided strong and clear guidance for the entire process for what was a sea change in the way that internal groups approached cisco.com.

We helped the business units understand the new structure's implications to their content and web presence. A lot of guidance was provided regarding the new processes and procedures for updating their content.
Learning and Events Section Home + Show full size - hold down shift key if new window doesn't appear. The Home Page for Learning and Events was particularly important to stakeholders as it represents a window into the business units (and their relative importance). Notice how various divisions represent separate areas of concern for each business unit. Page space is representative of each business' relative importance to the user, so for example Career Certifications has the most space since it receives the most traffic (and also the largest revenue) in the Learning and Events area. Also, the Root page segments users on purpose. For instance, Cisco partners who teach certification courses are directed to their own area by a dedicated link. Users who want online training will find the Learning Resources area and appropriate sub-links.