Overview
Drawing on our extensive consulting experience in the retail industry, PwC has identified several recurring challenges faced by our clients regarding Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. We observed many retailers relied on antiquated systems that were cumbersome/impossible to upgrade and difficult to learn. The workaround was often a patchwork of additional systems and spreadsheets. However, this approach accumulated design and tech debt over time, as users had to juggle multiple applications with inconsistent workflows and the absence of a single source of truth made system updates even more challenging.
Furthermore, when retailers finally decided to tackle these issues, they encountered a common dilemma: off-the-shelf systems often fell short of addressing certain unique requirements or workflows. And at the same time, they lacked the expertise to develop a tailored solution internally.
Example of a command-line system still used by many retailers
An employee struggling to juggle multiple systems and spreadsheets
Recognizing the opportunity, our team sought out and secured funding of $0.5M to create a design system, code snippet library, and demo site specifically tailored for ERP portals. It's important to note that our objective was not to create a comprehensive software-as-a-service solution, but rather to establish a collection of flexible foundational components and screen templates that are commonly used. This approach empowers designers with the freedom to craft scalable and customized solutions while significantly reducing development hours and costs for our clients.
With my track record of successfully designing ERP portals from the ground up, I was tasked with owning the entire design workstream as the sole designer on the project. Other members of our project team included a senior manager specializing in the retail industry, a product manager, and a group of developers.
With my track record of successfully designing ERP portals from the ground up, I was tasked with owning the entire design workstream as the sole designer on the project. Other members of our project team included a senior manager specializing in the retail industry, a product manager, and a group of developers.
Solution
Our first step was to analyze four ERP portal projects previously delivered by PwC in order to create the design system. Luckily, I had extensive knowledge of all four projects. I had been the UI/UX designer on two of them and had regular contact with designers involved in another ERP project that was ongoing at the same time. The last project was an older one where the UX designer at the time happened to become the Creative Director overseeing the two projects I was involved in. Thus, I was able to distill the commonly used components and design patterns across the projects to form the design system while taking into account the intent and learnings of the original designers.
Examples of designs from previously delivered ERP portals that were referenced
The next step focused on designing the demo site. Here we addressed over 150 use cases from grocery, apparel, and e-commerce retailers tailored to various personas such as merchant, planner, and store manager. I planned and facilitated workshops involving several teams of PwC consultants with industry knowledge. Together, we engaged in an iterative design process utilizing screens and user flows from past ERP projects as a foundation. I then again drew on learnings from the previous projects to create the information architecture for the demo site and piece everything together.
Screenshot of Miro workspace used for collaborations during the Grocery phase
Example of business process information shared by stakeholders that I needed to interpret to understand user flows and motivations
Example persona for Category Manager
Example IA for the Grocery version of the demo site
Overall, the project spanned over 6 months. We delivered over 200 screen designs, 3 versions of prototypes for the demo site, and accompanying documentation. And in addition to my regular design duties, I also performed the following tasks:
• Created design sprint roadmaps for each phase of the work
• Tracked design workstream progress while raising risks and resolving roadblocks
• Coordinated with the development team to hand off designs and supervised implementation
• Created design sprint roadmaps for each phase of the work
• Tracked design workstream progress while raising risks and resolving roadblocks
• Coordinated with the development team to hand off designs and supervised implementation
Example flow for editing a purchase order from Invision prototype
Example flow for reviewing item KPI and adding it to a purchase order from Invision prototype
Design system component sticker sheet
Sprint roadmap collaboratively created with Product Manager
Using Miro to clarify UI issues in build for developers
