UNIFIED INVENTORY VISIBILITY
UIV is a real time operational web app that provides GM internal users insight into vehicle pipeline information from reservations to delivery.
My Role: Senior/Lead UX Designer Timeline: 1.5 years
Challenge: Lead experience design for an end to end real time inventory system for all vehicles at GM
01. The Problem
"There are gaps in our data sources that our dealership networks need to inform customers on accurate delivery times for their vehicles"
GM internal employees such as order fulfillment, dealership networks use multiple source systems to manually gather data and insights into what orders are coming in, where vehicles are going and what holds vehicle have in each stage of the pipeline. This process is riddled with gaps of information, causing mass revenue loss and loss of sales from dealerships that are unable to provide accurate ETA's to customers waiting for their orders.
Learning about gaps of information that GMC sales people experience at a local dealership in Austin. Photo is not actual for privacy but is an accurate representation of the dealership contact.
Opportunity:
Unify and streamline multiple data sources to create a highly accurate view of orders and delivery for all GM vehicles.
02. UIV Users
UIV has a broad use in GM with potential users ranging from 100-1000+ we needed to focus on serving the core needs of core users. Partnering with the UX Researcher on the team we created three core personas to UIV. Out of the three "the tracker" persona is the focus of this problem.
These three personas represent three core touchpoints in UIV: A user that wants to do a health check on all inventory, a user that is concerned with statuses of inventory in specific locations and a user that is responsible for order flow and statuses of them.
The tracker is an order fulfillment employee at GM responsible for making sure dealerships are receiving accurate inventory
03. Information Architecture
IA for all dashboards, focusing on In Transit section for "The Tracker" user
04. Wireframing and Usability Testing
Understanding user needs throw low fidelity information layouts, iterating on feedback to wireframes and final design
I collaborated with a UX Researcher and Product Managers to conduct testing sessions over multiple development sprints. I created click through prototypes to assess users understanding and flow of logic.
05. Visual Design
UIV follows an internal design system called GDS. Dashboard design guidelines were not in GDS as it was meant as a guide for all internal apps at GM. I contributed to the design system wiki for best practices for dashboard design as part of the Global Design Excellence team at GM.
Order focused Dashboard
Shipping and Tracking of GM vehicles
The GDS system was created by Senior UX Researchers partnering with designers, hence there is a strong emphasis on accessibility in the design system.
06. Learnings
UIV has successfully launched it's beta version providing accurate ETA's, resulting in saving +$1M of gained sales within the first month of launch in June. As of August 2022 it has increased to $3M mo/mo.
One key takeaway as a learning is to create buffer times where adequate research can be established and cross-functional teams can understand the value of it. This of course depends on time and budget but an understanding of value goes a long way to adjust timelines to incorporate research into the process.
