TRANSFORMING COMPATIBLE UNITS FOR ENHANCED USABILITY & DECISION MAKING

Compatible Units is a complex, feature-heavy domain, and users often struggled to understand key metrics — especially variance — and navigate between related CU pages. The goal was to simplify the experience by enabling quick insights from the dashboard, reducing confusion around critical values, improving the IA, and validating the navigation against real user mental models.

30-SECOND SUMMARY

The Problem: Compatible Units is a feature‑dense domain with complex planning, costing, and configuration logic.
The Decision: Reimagined CU Navigation: A simplified, persona‑aligned structure emerging from card sorting insights & Clear separation of Templates, Configuration, Execution, and Basic Data.
The Outcome: 40–60% Reduction in misclicks

Role

Senior Lead UX Designer

Duration

3 months

Year

2025

Client

IFS

Impact At A Glance

40–60%

Reduction in misclicks

Faster Problem Identification

Increased User Confidence

Better Alignment With Engineering & PM Workflows

01 — The Challenge

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

Compatible Units is a feature‑dense domain with complex planning, costing, and configuration logic. Users struggled to quickly understand CU performance metrics (e.g., variance between design, as‑built, and accounting values) and navigate related CU pages. The challenge was to:

Enable fast, actionable insight directly from the dashboard
Reduce confusion around key metrics like variance
Improve the IA and navigation structure for CU pages
Validate the mental model of real users through structured research

02 — The Approach

STRATEGIC METHODOLOGY

01
User Interviews: Engaged planners, engineers, and internal SMEs to map real workflows and identify friction points.
02
Personas: Created role‑based personas for the CU ecosystem (e.g., CU Librarian, Design Engineer, Project Planner).
03
Storyboarding: Illustrated end‑to‑end task completion journeys.
04
Card Sorting Workshops: Conducted multiple card sorting sessions to restructure CU navigation.
05
Tree Testing: Validated revised navigation hierarchies for findability.
06
Redesigned information architecture based on task frequency.
07
Ran several rounds of moderated usability tests to validate: Task clarity, Widget interactions, Cost‑variance comprehension, Navigation intuitiveness, Labeling and terminology.

03 — The Solution

DELIVERING IMPACT

Reimagined CU Navigation: A simplified, persona‑aligned structure emerging from card sorting insights & Clear separation of Templates, Configuration, Execution, and Basic Data.
Two New Home Widgets: Compatible Unit Discrepancies Widget - Highlights highest variances instantly & Quick access to detailed CU navigator - Graphical breakdown of material & labor variances.

04 — The Results

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

40–60%Reduction in misclicks