Representative User Expertise for MORPHEUS Evolve to Open Project

Situation

The MORPHEUS Evolve to Open (EvO) programme under the British Army Tactical Communications and Information Systems (BATCIS) sought to adopt a user-centred design (UCD) approach as part of its transformation efforts. This required the recruitment and coordination of skilled representative users with direct experience in tactical communication roles across various unit types, to participate in thirteen rounds of design workshops, validation activities and usability testing.

The challenge lay in finding individuals with credible operational backgrounds, ensuring their sustained availability, managing security clearance compliance, and facilitating their participation in a secure and time-sensitive environment.

Context

TPG Services Ltd held the prime contract with the Authority. MilUX Ltd was subcontracted to deliver the UCD support work.

MilUX’s remit included the end-to-end recruitment and management of a specialist user panel to fulfil MOD requirements. The recruitment had to meet strict domain, security, and scheduling constraints.

The Authority placed a strong preference on participant continuity throughout the process to ensure consistency and depth of insight during iterative design activities. This introduced significant operational risk, requiring both resilience and flexibility in planning.

Activity

MilUX recruited and managed 7 of the required 13 representative users. These individuals were selected based on their previous roles across the Army and Royal Marines, including expertise in operations, planning, IM, BCIP repair, system management, and combat communications.

Each candidate underwent a structured internal selection process, which included CV vetting, verification of relevant military qualifications (e.g., Infantry Advanced Signaller, RSO, BSM), and confirmation of prior operational experience. Once approved by the Authority, individuals were onboarded and placed on a four-week probation period to validate suitability within the GDUK environment.

MilUX ensured participants were SC-cleared or could be reinstated quickly, and managed availability through weekly tracking against a fixed research schedule. Where shortfalls or availability conflicts emerged, MilUX coordinated directly with the client to propose and onboard suitable reserves. This built-in resilience meant research continuity was not compromised by short-term absences.

Result

All 7 users provided by MilUX were successfully onboarded in time for the start of the programme increment and participated across the required rounds. Availability data confirmed that these individuals met the expected levels of participation, with cover in place for identified constraints.

The engagement also demonstrated MilUX’s ability to deliver sensitive UCD services in high-security environments, including managing GDPR-compliant consent processes and ensuring all personal data handling met defence compliance standards.

Feedback received during the project and through subsequent deliverable reviews indicated high satisfaction with the authenticity and value of insight generated from the MilUX cohort.

Impact

MilUX’s delivery of this specialist user cohort enabled the MORPHEUS programme to maintain momentum across all research rounds without gaps in representation or experiential fidelity. The insight generated directly supported iterative development within an agile framework, contributing to system designs that were operationally grounded and user-validated.

Moreover, MilUX’s ability to manage complex user engagement logistics reinforces our value as a niche defence consultancy capable of operating with autonomy and reliability within prime-led contracts.