1. User Research & Discovery

 

To understand the operational landscape, I conducted qualitative interviews and shadowed daily workflows across multiple departments involved in the specification, approval, and production lifecycle.

The objective was to identify how information, approvals, and documentation moved across teams, as well as the tools and dependencies supporting those processes.

 

Key findings included:

• Manual approval chains through email created redundant steps and operational delays.
• Limited visibility across departments led to outdated drawings being used in production.
• Teams relied on disconnected Excel files with no centralized source of truth.
• Users lacked a clear way to track document ownership and revision history.

 

These insights revealed that the core issue was not the absence of information, but the lack of system-wide visibility and accountability.

🔧 Tools: Miro, Notion, internal survey forms
💡 Insight: “The real problem isn’t data — it’s visibility and accountability.”

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2. Workflow Mapping

 

After synthesizing the research insights, I mapped the end-to-end workflow to visualize how requests, documents, and approvals moved across departments.

 

This exercise exposed several operational bottlenecks, including duplicated approvals, disconnected documentation, and unclear ownership between teams.

 

The workflow blueprint became the foundation for defining the ERP structure, ensuring each module addressed a specific operational gap within the organization.

 

Multiple review sessions were conducted with stakeholders to validate dependencies, clarify responsibilities, and align the process before translating it into system architecture.

🔧 Tools: Miro, Figma Flow, Lucidchart
💡 Outcome: Three connected modules — Inventory Management, Drawings & Approvals, and the Specification Control Center.

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3. UX Architecture

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With the workflows validated, the next step was structuring the system’s information architecture to support the operational logic identified during research.

 

Modules, document relationships, and approval hierarchies were organized to ensure that users could navigate complex processes without losing context between departments.

 

User flows and low-fidelity wireframes were created to visualize how users would move across modules while maintaining clarity in document tracking, version control, and approval stages.

 

This phase translated operational requirements into a clear digital structure before moving into interface design.

🔧 Tools: Figma, Miro, Information Architecture mapping
💡 Outcome: Defined navigation structure and cross-module user flows supporting the ERP ecosystem.

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4. Product Design

 

With the system architecture defined, the focus shifted to designing the interface and interaction patterns for the ERP modules.

The goal was to create a clean and consistent interface that allowed users to manage documents, track approvals, and navigate complex workflows without unnecessary friction.

 

Layouts, reusable UI components, and interface patterns were developed to maintain consistency across modules while supporting the different operational tasks required by each team.

 

Interactive prototypes were created to simulate real scenarios and validate the usability of the system before development.

🔧 Tools: Figma, component libraries, interactive prototyping
💡 Outcome: A consistent UI system enabling users to navigate modules, manage documents, and complete approval workflows efficiently.

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​5. Validation & Iteration

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To ensure the system addressed real operational needs, the design went through multiple validation cycles with stakeholders and internal users.

Review sessions were conducted to evaluate workflows, document tracking logic, and approval flows across different modules. These sessions helped identify friction points and opportunities to simplify complex interactions.

Feedback gathered during these reviews informed several design iterations, improving navigation clarity, task efficiency, and cross-module usability.

This iterative process ensured the final solution aligned with both user expectations and organizational workflows.

🔧 Tools: usability review sessions, stakeholder feedback, prototype testing
💡 Outcome: Refined workflows and improved usability across the ERP system.