Reimagining National Accreditation

I led product and service design for NHVR’s national Accreditation Reform Program — defining the end-to-end service model and translating complex regulatory requirements into clear, task-based experiences.

As product leadership changed during the program, I also stepped into Product Owner and Product Manager responsibilities to maintain direction, prioritisation and delivery momentum.

Project snapshot

The challenge

This wasn’t one journey. It was an interconnected regulatory service.

Accreditation connected operators, auditors, regulators and internal teams across applications, audits, compliance and ongoing accreditation.

Each group had different responsibilities, information needs and decisions to make — but their journeys depended on one another.

At the same time, legislation and policy were evolving, product leadership changed during delivery, and the program had to continue moving toward a fixed regulatory deadline.

The challenge wasn’t simply to redesign the existing screens. It was to create a shared model for how the service should work.

Why it was complex

Multiple actors

Operators, auditors and regulators moved through different but interdependent workflows. A decision made by one participant could determine what another could do next.

Policy became product behaviour

Regulatory requirements affected eligibility, evidence, permissions, audits, decisions and service states. Policy had to become understandable product behaviour.

Many journeys, one service

Applications, audits, reviews, compliance and administration couldn’t be designed as isolated workflows. They needed to operate as parts of the same lifecycle.

Continuous change

Legislation, policy and product leadership changed throughout the program. The experience model needed to provide continuity while still being able to evolve.

My role

More than designing the interface.

I worked across service strategy, hands-on product design and product direction — moving between levels depending on what the program needed.

Service Design

Mapped the accreditation ecosystem, lifecycle, actors, dependencies and future-state service to create a shared understanding of the whole system.

Product Design

Designed information architecture, complex workflows, interaction patterns, prototypes and detailed experiences across operator, auditor and regulator journeys.

Product Direction

Worked with product, policy and engineering to translate regulatory requirements into product decisions, priorities and deliverable scope.

Design Leadership

Maintained experience direction across the program, supported designers and delivery partners, and created alignment through changes in product leadership.

Impact at a glance

One service, not disconnected workflows

Mapped the complete accreditation lifecycle before designing individual experiences, creating a coherent service model across operators, auditors and regulators.

Reusable across accreditation types

Established shared patterns for applications, evidence, audits and reviews that could be reused across accreditation modules rather than redesigned for each journey.

Continuity through change

Maintained product and experience direction through three Product Owner transitions and ongoing legislative change without losing the underlying service model.

Built to evolve

Designed reusable patterns and workflows that could accommodate future policy and legislative change without requiring the entire experience to be reconsidered.

Selected work

From policy to service model

Turned regulatory requirements, existing processes and stakeholder needs into a shared lifecycle showing how operators, auditors and regulators moved through accreditation.

Ecosystem Mapping Service Blueprint Lifecycle Modelling

From service model to product

Translated the service structure into clear journeys, states, workflows and interaction patterns that product and engineering teams could deliver.

User Journeys Information Architecture Interaction Design

From complexity to usable experiences

Designed detailed interfaces for complex applications, evidence, audits, reviews and decisions — including the states and exceptions required by a regulated service.

UX/UI Design Prototyping Complex Workflows

Working through change

Three leadership transitions. One experience direction.

During the 18-month program, Product Owner leadership changed three times while legislation and policy continued to evolve.

I stepped beyond the traditional design remit when needed — helping maintain the product model, clarify priorities and preserve continuity between policy, product, design and engineering.

The service model became more than a design artefact. It gave the program a shared reference point for making decisions as the organisation around it changed.

The result

The work established a shared foundation for thinking about accreditation as one connected service rather than a collection of forms and workflows.

It created a clearer model for how operators, auditors and regulators interact, reusable patterns across accreditation types, and an experience architecture designed to evolve with future regulatory change.

See the reform in context

HVNL Changes for Auditors

A broader look at the regulatory changes affecting auditors and the Accreditation Reform Program.

HVNL Changes for Drivers

A broader look at the regulatory changes affecting drivers and the Accreditation Reform Program.

Newly introduced Safety Management System

A broader look at the different modules, SMS and auditing requirements around that.