Role
Product Designer
Year
Q3 2019
Team
Product Manager
Fullstack Engineers
Deliverables
Stakeholder interviews
Journey maps
Wireframes
Prototypes
User testing
Walkthrough of the implemented feature!
USER FLOWS
Playing catch up
By the time that I joined this project, the basic technical constraints and business needs had already been determined. I worked with the Product Owner and developers to map out the user flows for each scenario. This helped us to gain a holistic picture of all scenarios: their similarities, differences, and potential paint points.
Based on these flows, I drew up and reviewed the preliminary designs with my colleagues from the product, development, and design teams.
Goals
Users should be able to reopen a paid expense report, edit cost center associated fields at all levels of the report, and resubmit it for auditing and payment.
Post-MVP, users will be able to reopen a report and inline edit all fields. Only light UX will be needed for the final version.
Constraints
The design of the MVP solution was constrained due to an incomplete API. This ultimately impacted the scope of the project as inline editing couldn’t be built without a more advanced infrastructure.
Activities and outputs
Mapping user flows to get a broad picture of the scenarios to include in designs.
USABILITY TESTING
Determining the learning curve
Partnering with the UX Research team, I used Validately to conduct 6 remote moderated studies with German SAP employees.
I created a prototype using Sketch and InVision to validate 4 tasks. Each task required the user to edit a reopened report at a different level (Report Header, Expense Entry, and Itemization Entry), and then finally submit the report for re-approval.
Testing Instructions + Test Plan.docx
Assumptions
Users would call out not being able to edit inline but would learn to look for and use the edit modal and successfully complete the task.
Users would benefit from a summary of changes made to the Report when they finalize/resubmit for payment.
Synthesis + Outcomes
To synthesize the interview findings, I mapped the participants' pain points, successes, and notes to a User Journey template. The diagram revealed a learning curve which demonstrated that users were able to complete edits without issues after the first or second task.
The participants’ desire to verify was the most obvious theme revealed by the synthesis. Many users were vigilant about checking whether the edited input had been applied, despite Copy Down messaging and success toasts.
My assumptions were validated in that the lack of inline editing would be called out, but that they would notice the Edit button in order to change their Project Code. A few commented on the Report Change Summary as a nice-to-have feature. However, they shared that it would be more beneficial if it described changes made to their personal reimbursement - something that will not be affected until the next phase when associated fields are editable.
Activities and outputs
Synthesizing the research study results through user journey mapping.
DESIGN ITERATIONS
Putting it all together
Based on the user testing insights, the engineering team and I decided not to include the Report Change Summary as part of the MVP, as it will be most useful when a change in the submitter’s reimbursement can be described. This saved development time on the MVP delivery and will allow for more design and research to be conducted around this feature.
Activities and outputs
REFLECTIONS
Outcomes
Launch/Results
The MVP launched in September of 2019.
Phase II with full inline edit capabilities set to be released at a later date.
Retrospective
This project helped me to practice:
Managing expectations
Making tradeoffs with partner teams
Presenting a range of design options to stakeholders
Scaling design to meet business, technological, and time requirements
Recording ideas and insights that may not make it into the final deliverable, but could be used in later phases or related projects
Next Steps
The upcoming phase of this project will comprise of an inline editing experience. Building on my findings from the MVP phase research, I will be investigating how to best present any changes to the users’ expense reimbursement post edit.