Application for Retail Industry- Cognizant
This project focuses on building an application system for a UK based retail company, for its smooth operation and business. Emphasizing on the suppliers and buyers who carry out everyday promotions. These promotions are typically the offer/discounts applied to various products.
Due to company policy and privacy considerations, the project cannot be fully displayed.
​DURATION
Phase 1- 8 Months
Phase 2- 7 months
Phase 3- 4 months
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MY ROLE
Phase 1- UX Designer
Phase 2 & 3- Lead​ UX Designer​​​​​
TOTAL TEAM SIZE
20
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TEAM ROLES
Ux Designer (1), Dev Team (10), Testing Team (4), Business Analyst Team (3), Functional lead (1), Solution Architect (1)
TOOLS
Figma, Jira, Confluence
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UX METHODS
Information Architecture, System Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Task Flows, User Flows, Visual Design, Usability Testing,
PROJECT BRIEF
This project focuses on building four application systems for a retail client of Cognizant. The goal was to design user friendly applications to enhance the operation and business for the users (Buyers and Suppliers).
MY INTERVENTION
The team completed user research and conducted multiple interviews during the workshop sessions which helped to gather data and defined user personas and problem areas. I joined this project in the Design phase.
Following is a list of tasks and activities I performed during this project.
INFORMATION GATHERING
I began by receiving knowledge transfer from stakeholders (product owner, business analyst and technical analyst) and the internal funcational team that contributed to the retail workflow. The goal was to understand the current system and identify areas where design intervention was possible.
USER FLOWS AND PROTOTYPES
Further, I began by developing task flow and wireframes that bridge the gap between suppliers and buyers. The purpose of doing this was to provide a newly re-platformed solution to make functional changes to the management system by addressing the pain points around (manual process, multiple system for promotions, audit trails), and to provide a more consistent experience for users. For the first time, allowing users to collaborate on application within a platform without the need for emails and spreadsheets.
The process followed was: ​
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Receive user scenario from BA > Create task flow and Wireframes > Design team review > Alterations > Stakeholder Review (workshop sessions) > Design Refinement > Handover to Developers > Testing​
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I worked on more than 25 flows (high complexity) for a retail internal application. I also followed up with product owners and developers as needed to better understand the present workflow and the technical feasibility of a specific design solution. The entire process conducted more than 196 working sessions with stakeholders (for all the phases). Every phase was divided into sprints and aligned with the priority deliverables.
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CHALLENGES
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​During internal demo sessions with the testing team, we discovered that the application’s speed was hindered by heavy backend data, causing delays in user task actions.
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The set of technical rules for every type of user role gave arise to creation of multiple alterations in the development building, delaying time ​​​​​
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Incorporating design for both suppliers and buyers into all these complex tasks was another challenge.
LIVE RELEASE
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Phase 1 Release: set a strong foundation for the application to be further build up. The valuable feedback from the stakeholders helped the team to restructure and enhance few methods for future phases.
LEARNINGS
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Gained in-depth understanding of the Human-Centered Design (HCD) process.
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Acquired extensive knowledge through first-hand experience in designing user task flows and workshop sessions.
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Developed empathy and behaviour model by engaging directly with users and feedback.
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Enhanced collaboration and communication skills by working closely with stakeholders, developers and business analysts.