Redesign of critical supply chain user interfaces
Universal Music Group was looking to reduce costs by streamlining it’s global supply chain. I worked with key stakeholders and a small tech team on a successful redesign of operations interfaces.
What we inherited
Existing interfaces were overly complex, poorly organized and usually didn't adhere to established design and usability best practices.
Planning the work
With input from stakeholders, I created a timeline that would allow us to work efficiently and left space for revisions while collaborating with teams worldwide.
Field research
When I first joined the project, I spent time talking with operations staff and observing them perform common tasks.
It became clear that people were engaging in elaborate and inefficient workarounds due to usability and design shortfalls in the existing interfaces.
UX audit
I made notes of pain points uncovered while spending time with people who use the operations systems. I then captured my own observations in a UX audit.
Establishing design consistency
To keep my wireframes organized and workflow with developers efficient, I started documenting reusable interface elements early in the design process.
The wireframe style guide evolved into a UI design system that was later implemented by the tech team. Common components were used as building blocks.
In addition to saving time and making collaboration more efficient, the design system ensured a consistent experience across the entire supply chain ecosystem.
User interface design
Interfaces that I redesigned included a content release dashboard, an ordering portal for labels, a reporting dashboard for decision makers and a business partner portal for managing UMG's 700+ partners like Amazon, Spotify and Apple.
Rethinking search and filter
I spent time with people who used these systems to understand their workflows. A key challenge they had was displaying, filtering and saving large sets of data.
After iterating and validating my designs with users and stakeholders, I landed on an approach that was optimized for detailed search and filtering behaviors.
I made long lists of search results easier to scan by introducing a status color coding system and hover states for quick access to key information.
Filtering could get very granular and time consuming, so I included a way to save common search parameters.
My wireframes included detailed notes that described all component behavior, relevant use cases and interactions.
B2B shopping experience design
UMerchant is a self-service shopping platform that allows UMG’s business partners to place orders directly from Universal’s vast content catalog. People who use it needed to search, filter results and order selected products.
Since this is similar to shopping online, I added a fixed shopping cart panel that updates in real time to the bottom of the screen, making the experience feel familiar.
Each business partner had product ordering rules and limits. To account for them, I made sure order notifications were informative and set clear expectations.
Designing a dynamic release dashboard
Universal Music and other labels use this dashboard to schedule releases, set up marketing campaigns, manage legal rights, adjust price settings and generate reports.
I worked closely with the product manager to ensure my designs accounted for detailed marketing parameters, business requirements and a wide range of use cases.
First, I established and validated the hierarchy of all interface elements. To keep the UI organized and attention focused on the current task, I relied on progressive disclosure to keep them out of view until necessary.
In many cases marketing settings got very detailed. We had to account for all possible variations. I grouped closely related options to help maintain focus during a workflow.
To avoid making costly mistakes, it was important that people who set marketing parameters were able to clearly see the effects of their actions. I designed a timeline with a real-time visual reference for confirming marketing settings.
Since marketing campaigns could get quite complex, I tested the new approach to confirm the redesigned interface can handle edge cases.
Reporting dashboard design
UMG's reporting system lacked the flexibility desired by stakeholders. I worked closely with the product manager on understanding and prioritizing their needs.
Each report had a unique set of filters. I noted the parallels to online shopping, which helped make the experience of customizing a report feel familiar.
I also accounted for recurring reports with custom options displayed based on a person's credentials.
Outcome
Once wireframes were validated and approved, I worked closely with the tech team on building prototypes and testing the usability of the redesigned interfaces with staff.
The test results and stakeholder reactions were overwhelmingly positive and the prototypes evolved into the live versions of the user interfaces.
My work saved UMG's staff and stakeholders time and frustration through a user-centered redesign effort and a flexible and scalable design system.
Universal Music decision makers were thrilled to have new ways of customizing reports and gaining insights through the redesigned reporting interface.
