An end-to-end solution to give users access to account data in real time
Background
My Involvement
- Lead UX Designer
Tools Used
- Figma
- Miro
- Azure Dev Ops
- Notion
Timeline
- 7 Months (2021)
Team
- Engineers (9) | UI and DevOps
- Technical Leads
- Solution Architect
- Project Manager
- UX Director
Problem
How might we give customers access to their data in real time and improve self-service in order to reduce frustration and company overhead?
Questions I Had
- How often do customers need to access their data?
- How do we best serve the different types of customers – ie Regional Manager vs Facility Manager
- How does a customer define “transparency?”
Challenges
Constraints
This portal needed to be built mobile-first, and needed to be delivered at a hard date (within six months).
Our Users
User research was conducted by an outside firm who interviewed multiple rounds of users. I partnered with my UX Director to boil down the initial research and narrow in on the insights below.
Regional Manager —
I need self-service access to high-level data, I want to understand the business at large.
Facilities Manager —
I need transparency into work orders, to be in the know, and vendor accountability.
Process

UX Methods
- Wireframes
- High fidelity mockups
- Data visualization
- Prototype
- User Feedback Sessions
01 | Discovery + Definition
Our team inherited user research from an outside vendor. Using those insights I helped define our customer profiles and their initial needs. This drove feature definition for our backlog, and helped inform the site map architecture.
02 | Design
I began iterations on wireframes to help plot out features we knew customers needed. I established a design pattern that could be implemented across the portal for consistency. Designs were presented to stakeholders and users for feedback, and consistently iterated to satisfy business requirements and users’ needs.
03 | Development
Our team of engineers started building out features. I worked cross-functionally with our UI engineers to further define and develop the portal interface and functionality, as well as the QA team to ensure the portal was functioning as intended.
04 | Delivery
I tested the portal’s features with users via moderated user feedback sessions. I built a clickable prototype, wrote out the script and interview questions, and partnered with an additional UX designer to help moderate so that the questions came across without any bias. All findings were synthesized and I used the insights from these sessions to help further define and validate our design decisions before delivery to the client.
Wireframes + Iteration
I started with sketches on paper to rapidly create some rough wireframes. These sketches were eventually turned into lo-fi wireframes which I used to get feedback on from our internal team as well as the client.


Assumption: Users are most concerned with upcoming maintenance at their facilities.
Findings: While a valid concern, users wanted to see the list of work orders as the main feature.


Assumption: With complex levels of data, users would need to be able to filter
Findings: Not only did users want the ability to filter, they wanted to be able to filter specifically for their business. ie by hotel brands, regions, facility, etc.
Solution
The end-to-end customer portal MVP was built and delivered on time. This solution hit our goal of creating a self-service hub to reduce customer frustration and lower overhead costs.
The data was visualized to allow for quick understanding for regional managers who wanted a high-level snapshot, and also gave more tactical users access to more detailed information.
User Interviews
I conducted several rounds of moderated user interviews. Using a prototype I built, we discovered:
- The interface was intuitive and easy-to-use
- Businesses wanted the ability to filter data by custom parameters (vs universal filtering)
- Users wanted the ability to mass download site reports for auditing purposes

Impact
25
1
+2
Lessons Learned
- With more time I would’ve built a more comprehensive design system. This would save on any back-and-forth with developers, and make it easy for future designers to iterate on this project.
- I would improve the integration of design and Agile. Ideally, it would be nice to have more time to collaborate and iterate before sprints.