Spend Reporting

Improved data visualization and user experience in the TealBook Diversity Spend Reporting tool

Client

TealBook

Year

2023

Role

Lead Product Designer

The company embarked on its mission of creating an improved supplier data platform, upgrading it from the classic platform. One of the first steps was to redesign one of the more widely used tools, the Supplier Diversity Spend Reporting tool to address user feedback as well as set a foundation for future features to create a more powerful tool.

Success Metrics

We aimed to secure the commitment of 6 customers for migration from the classic data platform to the new platform, drive customer satisfaction with an NPS 86% and drive internal stakeholder satisfaction with an outcome of reduction of support tickets by 5%.

Research

To guide our research, we started by establishing a clear plan and defining the key questions we wanted to answer:

What challenges do users face with the current supplier diversity spend reporting?
What aspects of the current reporting experience do users value?
How do users share and present their data?
What are users' workflows for setting up diversity programs and achieving tiered goals?

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To answer these questions, we employed the following research approaches:

Current Experience Audit

Identified drop-off points and usability gaps through product analytics.

Competitor Analysis

Examined similar platforms (e.g., Supplier.io) for inspiration and to assess features and usability.

User Interviews

Conducted interviews with customers to uncover pain points and opportunities, as well as feature appetite.

Internal Stakeholder Workshops

Collaborated with Solutions and Customer Service teams to uncover insights from frequent customer interactions

Pain Points

Data Perception Issues

Users doubted the accuracy of their reports. The current experience also always shows a live view of the data, which frequently changed and the unexpected changes often confused users, creating more doubt of accuracy.

Confusing Data Visualization

Users struggled to interpret complex visualizations, undermining their confidence in the data.

Key Insights

Based on the research I conducted, we were able to distill our findings into some key insights:

Users seek more flexibility and granular control of their data

Users expressed a need for greater control and customization in how they view, filter, and analyze their data. The current platform lacked flexibility, forcing users to rely on workarounds, manual calculations, and external tools to meet their reporting needs.
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Recommendations:

Provide options to include/exclude spend categories
Enable advanced filtering for a deeper, more customizable data view
Add pre-set date ranges to align with users’ reporting periods
Address double-counting issues in certification spend

Data is not transparent

Users often doubted the accuracy and credibility of the data due to insufficient information about its sources, validation, and updates. This lack of transparency made it difficult for users to confidently present reports.

Recommendations:

Highlight data sources, certification expiration dates, and key qualifiers prominently
Offer more contextual information through educational modals

Reporting workflow is inefficient

The current reliance on manual data input from our implementation team and limited export options created delays for users, especially when preparing reports for internal stakeholders. Users need tools that streamline and automate these processes.

Recommendations:

Introduce self-serve reporting capabilities to reduce delays
Ensure export views mirror the platform view to set expectations

Users value personalized alerts and recommendations

Notifications and recommendations can help users stay on top of expiring certifications, set personalized goals, and identify opportunities to optimize their supplier diversity efforts.

Recommendations:

Introduce goal-tracking features for diversity spend
Add predictive recommendations and benchmarking capabilities for more confident decision-making

Process &
Solution

Based on our insights and recommendations, I started to put some ideas together for the experience.

Ideation

I explored various layouts and features through sketches and brainstorming sessions with internal teams. By utilizing workshops such as the $100 Test, Pain Point Wall, and Impact-Effort Matrix, we collaboratively identified and prioritized solutions to simplify the complex reporting process.

Tools & Design Documentation

User persona documents, wireframes, and user journey maps were created in Miro to visualize workflows. Mid-fidelity prototypes in Figma were tested with users to validate usability and gauge feature appetite before finalizing high-fidelity designs.

Collaboration with Teams and Stakeholders

Close collaboration with PMs ensured alignment of user needs with business goals. I worked with engineers to address technical feasibility and scalability, holding regular reviews with cross-functional stakeholders to refine the design.

Different Iterations of the Dashboard

The dashboard addresses users' need for alerts, recommendations, and flexible control by providing real-time goal tracking, notifications, and trends. It addresses the pain point of confusing visualizations by offering clear comparisons of diverse spend to total spend as well as interactive widgets for deeper data insights.

Certification and Supplier Information

This feature tackles the lack of transparency by offering granular spend breakdowns per certification and supplier.

Supplier Details

Accessible modals provide important details like expiration dates and qualifiers, ensuring users can confidently assess their data for compliance. These modals address transparency and guidance gaps, providing contextual explanations for definitions, metrics and workflows. These resources make the data easier to explain and the platform easier to navigate, especially for users unfamiliar with complex reporting tools.

Advanced Filters

Advanced filtering meets users’ need for flexible and granular control, allowing tailored data views by supplier type, region, or certification status. This customization streamlines the data review workflow and and aligns with users’ diverse objectives, making the platform more intuitive.

Spend Reclassification

Reclassification ensures data accuracy and trust by letting admins classify or disqualify potential spend and resolve double-counting issues. This empowers users to validate their data and improve reporting accuracy.

Qualification Rules

Admins can define which supplier certifications qualify for diversity spend, directly impacting Qualified Diverse Spend calculations. This feature also resolves double-counting issues by allowing prioritization of certification subcategories for accurate reporting.

Results

Initial user testing yielded positive feedback, with clients praising the improved flexibility and control over data. However, final metrics could not be tracked due to reprioritization in feature development.

Lessons Learned

The opportunities and challenges from this project helped refine my process and approach for future initiatives:

Project Data-Driven Decisions

Assumptions from the internal team and stakeholders often misaligned with real user needs, highlighting the importance of prioritizing research to inform design direction.

Coping with Changes

Projects often evolve, and this experience taught me to adapt and embrace change. Even though the launch didn’t occur as planned, it reinforced the importance of flexibility and resilience in navigating shifting priorities.