The Sales Console combined information from eight different systems into a responsive, unified platform. I conducted user research, created designs, and collaborated with developers during implementation.
Project Overview
Problem
Client
Duration
Role
Collaborators
Output
Design a new internal sales portal that pulled together information from eight different systems
ProQuest
February 2018 - August 2018
Designer
Product manager, developers, stakeholders
Sketches, mid-fidelity mockups
Styleguides
High-fidelity mockups, mobile prototypes
Project Phase | Lesson Learned
Discovery Phase
Sales people needed to interact with eight different systems to get all the information they needed about an account. The goal of this project was to build a tool that simplified their workflows and improved customer service.
Shortly after the project started, stakeholders decided to use Microsoft's Power BI as the platform for unifying these different systems in one place. I started by researching the platform to understand is features and how they would impact designs.
Early sketches were based on my research and were conversation starters with both stakeholders and end users. I wanted these early designs to leverage the visual,
at-a-glance style at the core of Power BI.
Lesson Learned
Understanding a system is a critical first step for making actionable designs.
Prototype Phase
Core interactions in Power BI are done with tiles, and each tile contains a specific KPI. Users can click on a tile to drill down the data driving each KPI.
Power BI's structure made paper prototyping a perfect option for stakeholder meetings. I made prototypes for each screen, and stakeholders were able to move tiles, add notes, and identify areas for further investigation. While this worked well, each paper prototype was too small for the dozen stakeholders.
To better accommodate the large group, I mirrored my laptop on the conference room screen and we modified the digital prototypes as a group. Making changes to the design in real-time made for a collaborative and engaging exercise.
Lesson Learned
Co-design techniques work best when they're flexible and can be modified on the fly.
Mockup Phase
Early designs favored large KPI visuals over text. Conversations with end users surfaced their need for more detailed information, which could only be communicated textually.
The final design compressed more information than I would typically want to have on a single screen, but end user workflows and expectations led us to a more compact and information-dense design.
While some early sketches included mobile concepts, mobile development didn't happen until desktop development was well underway. When the team began considering mobile we found several issues that required redesigning the desktop view. The adage, "mobile first," makes much more sense now, and would have saved us time had we considered mobile sooner. I built a mobile prototype that the team used to refine both the mobile and desktop designs.
The project was released company-wide in February 2019.
Lesson Learned
Reevaluating workflows and UI elements in multiple screen sizes and devices provide new perspectives to consider.
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