IT Help
The Challenge
GM needed a centralized IT help portal to serve employees across departments and regions. The goal was to create a platform that made it easy to find support, access technical resources, and manage internal IT communications. The challenge was to design a modular, scalable system that allowed content managers and support teams to build and maintain their own sections without relying on developers. In addition to internal support tools, the platform also needed to generate banner ads and promotional content for placement on other GM websites, helping drive traffic back to relevant help articles or updates. The portal had to be easy to use, consistent across teams, and flexible enough to support both content management and promotional needs.
The Process
We began by conducting stakeholder interviews with IT leads, content owners, and support staff across several GM departments. This helped us understand the wide range of technical content needs, workflow differences, and the challenges faced by non-technical users when managing support resources.
Using these insights, we created detailed personas representing different types of portal users, from frontline employees looking for quick answers to support staff responsible for managing content. We mapped out key journeys such as searching for help, contributing content, and managing section layouts.
From there, we designed a flexible component system that could be reused and rearranged to fit a variety of use cases. Page templates were created to support consistency, while modular blocks allowed each team to customize their space without breaking the overall structure.
We developed and tested a user-friendly content management interface that allowed internal teams to publish and update information with minimal training. User testing helped refine the authoring flow and surface improvements to permissions, tagging, and search behavior.
Throughout the process, we collaborated closely with engineering and IT security teams to ensure the system could scale across departments and meet internal governance standards.
The Results
The new IT help portal provided GM teams with a flexible, user-friendly platform for managing technical support content at scale. Staff across departments were able to quickly build and maintain their own sections without developer involvement, leading to faster content updates and better resource organization. The modular design system ensured visual consistency while still allowing customization where needed.
The platform’s banner creation tool also helped surface important updates across other GM sites, increasing visibility and engagement with critical support content.