Platform User Manager
Redesigning admin tooling for a Dutch gaming company to help customer support teams handle millions of users across multiple games efficiently
The Challenge
How might we help customer support and moderation teams quickly access the right user information and take action without navigating through fragmented tools and disconnected data sources?
How might we reduce support ticket resolution time and moderation response time while maintaining accuracy and preventing errors in a high-stakes environment?
The Context
I was hired by a Dutch gaming company to improve their internal admin platform used by customer support, community moderators, and technical support teams. The existing tool had evolved organically over years of adding featuresresulting in a fragmented, difficult-to-navigate interface that slowed down critical workflows.
This was a comprehensive redesign of an existing product. Support teams were managing millions of users across multiple casual games (Bingo, card games, board games), handling everything from account issues and payment disputes to chat moderation and technical troubleshooting. The existing platform worked, but inefficientlyimportant information was buried, actions required too many clicks, and the mental model didn't match how teams actually worked.
Before: Fragmented Admin Tool
- Information scattered across multiple tabs
- Repetitive navigation for common tasks
- Critical context hidden in sub-menus
- Inconsistent interaction patterns
Goal: Unified User Management
- All user context in one place
- One-click access to common actions
- Clear information hierarchy
- Consistent, predictable workflows
Design Process
1. Understanding Internal User Workflows
I conducted contextual interviews and shadowing sessions with customer support agents, community moderators, and technical support specialists to understand their daily workflows:
- Speed matters most: Average ticket handling time directly impacts team capacityevery unnecessary click costs time at scale
- Context-switching kills efficiency: Support agents frequently need to view account details, game progress, payment history, and chat logs simultaneously
- High-stakes actions: Banning users, issuing refunds, or removing content require confidence and accuracyunclear interfaces lead to errors
- Cross-game complexity: Users play multiple games with separate inventories, currencies, and progressagents need to understand the full account picture
- Moderation patterns: 80% of moderation actions follow predictable patterns, but the tool treated every action as equally complex
2. Auditing the Information Architecture
I mapped the existing information architecture and identified critical pain points:
- User information was split across 6+ tabs with unclear categorization
- Critical context (like active bans or VIP status) wasn't immediately visible
- Similar actions (e.g., silence user, ban user) lived in different locations
- Comments and internal notes were disconnected from the actions they referenced
Through card sorting and tree testing exercises with the internal teams, I restructured the IA around user tasks rather than technical data categories.
3. Defining Core User Needs
From research, I identified the key jobs-to-be-done for platform users:
See account status, active issues, and relevant history at a glance
Execute common moderation and support actions with minimal clicks
Access game progress, purchase history, and technical data contextually
Document actions, track history, and communicate with other team members
4. Designing the Core Experience
I designed around a tab-based architecture that grouped related information by function rather than data type:
- Overview: At-a-glance user status, current activity, and quick actions
- Wallet & VIP: Payment methods, transactions, VIP status, and financial summary
- Game Items: Cross-game inventory, progress, and in-game currencies
- Moderation: Sanctions, chat history, block management, and safety tools
- Communication: Support tickets, internal notes, and notification history
- Technical: Device info, diagnostics, and troubleshooting tools
Each tab was designed to be self-contained, reducing the need to jump between sections while handling a single issue.
5. Iteration Through Usability Testing
I ran multiple rounds of prototype testing with support teams, focusing on task completion speed and error rates:
- Early tests revealed that critical alerts (active bans, payment flags) needed persistent visibilitynot just in one tab
- Support agents wanted contextual comments visible alongside every action, leading to the persistent comments sidebar
- Moderation teams needed to distinguish between "stealth" actions (silent bans) and standard actionsthis became a key interaction pattern
The Solution
Unified User Overview
The Overview tab presents critical user information at a glance: current game activity, account status, recent messages, currency balance, and quick action buttons. Support agents no longer need to navigate multiple screens to understand a user's situationeverything contextual is immediately visible.
Persistent User Context Header
Every tab displays a consistent header with the user's name, status, account age, and active alerts (bans, silences, flags). This eliminates the cognitive overhead of remembering who you're viewing while navigating between tabscritical for preventing errors when handling multiple tickets.
Contextual Comments Sidebar
A persistent comments sidebar shows the full history of support interactions, moderation actions, and internal notes. Support agents can see why previous actions were taken and add context for future interactionsturning tribal knowledge into institutional knowledge.
Moderation Hub
The Moderation tab consolidates all safety and community management tools: current silence status, sanction history, block management, and quick moderation actions. Moderators can see the full pattern of user behavior and take appropriate action without switching between tools.
Cross-Game Item Management
Users play multiple games, each with unique currencies and items. The Game Items tab uses a game selector to switch context, showing game-specific progress, collections, and inventory in a consistent format. This allows support to troubleshoot issues across the entire platform without learning different interfaces for each game.
Financial & VIP Overview
Payment-related tickets are common and require quick access to transaction history, payment methods, and VIP status. The Wallet & VIP tab shows current balance, lifetime value, purchase history, and VIP tier with promotion toolseverything needed to resolve payment disputes or manage VIP perks.
Diagnostic & Technical Tools
Technical support needs access to device information, browser details, login history, and diagnostic tools. The Technical tab consolidates this information with quick actions like "Login as User" (for debugging) and "Generate Console" for advanced troubleshooting.
Outcome & Impact
reduction in average ticket resolution time after rollout
fewer navigation steps required for common support tasks
of support agents rated the new interface as "much easier to use" in post-launch survey
"Before, I had to open 5 different tabs just to understand why a user was banned. Now everything I need is right there. I can actually help people faster."Customer Support Agent
Key Outcomes
- Support team efficiency: Ticket handling capacity increased by 35% without adding headcount
- Reduced errors: Moderation action error rate dropped by 58%persistent context prevented agents from taking actions on the wrong user
- Improved onboarding: New support agents became productive 40% faster due to clearer information architecture
- Better documentation: Internal comment usage increased by 3x, creating better institutional knowledge and accountability
- Cross-team alignment: The unified platform reduced handoff friction between support, moderation, and technical teams
Reflections & Learnings
Internal Tools Deserve Great Design
Enterprise admin tools are often treated as "good enough" because users don't have a choice. But these tools directly impact business outcomesin this case, support team efficiency and customer satisfaction. Investing in internal tools design pays dividends in operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.
Task-Based IA Over Data-Based IA
The original tool was organized around data types (e.g., "User Data," "Transactions," "Game Info"). The redesign organized around user tasks (e.g., "Moderation," "Financial Support," "Technical Diagnostics"). This shiftfrom developer mental models to user mental modelswas the biggest contributor to improved usability.
Persistent Context Prevents Errors
In high-stakes environments (banning users, processing refunds), even small cognitive overhead can lead to costly errors. Showing persistent user contextespecially active warnings and alertsacross all tabs dramatically reduced the error rate. Don't assume users will remember context while navigating.
What I'd Do Differently
If I could revisit this project, I'd spend more time on the moderation workflow specifically. While we improved navigation and information access, the actual moderation action flows (e.g., banning a user, issuing a warning) still required too many steps. I'd also explore better keyboard shortcuts and power-user featuressupport agents who use this tool 8 hours a day would benefit from more advanced efficiency tools beyond what we delivered.
Collaboration & Constraints
This project required extensive collaboration with engineering to understand backend constraints and with support leadership to balance business requirements with user needs. Some design decisions were shaped by technical debt we couldn't immediately addressfor example, certain data had to remain in separate tabs due to API limitations. Learning to design great experiences within real-world constraints was a valuable lesson.