I work as a Creative UX designer of I+D in Advanced analytics management of Cencosud. The biggest retail company in Latin America.

During this time I was part of a team where we develop an app able to communicate complex messages, through data visualization. Enabling users to make strategic decisions driven by data and an analytic point of view.

To achieve this, we focus on a user-centered design process. Working closely with stakeholders, users, and engineer teams since the early stages.

Problem Statement

The company was unable to analyze in realtime all the results of the sales actions and campaigns. They lack pertinent and robust metrics, that can align product managers to develop a data-driven mindset. In addition to this, data is available in several places, which results in a time-consuming process accessing it. Ultimately decreases dramatically the time for the reaction to making decisions.

Our Goal

Provide an application, that deploys all the information, in one place, through a concise flow and synthesis visualization. To allow users identifying effectively tendencies, anomalies, and behaviors of selling results in supermarkets. Creating the possibility to measure a
relevant percentage of the sellings and the impact on the other percentage. While enhancing a data-driven mindset to make strategic decisions in real-time.

Improving directly on finally clients service in the stores.

Sales analytics App

The new digital platform now provides the users:

• An intuitive UCD platform, which enables users to identify anomalies, tendencies, and behavior of the selling results.

• Simple and clear data Visualization, that synthesis main insights. Helping the understanding, to make data-driven decisions in less time.

• Concise flows that help users to start with an overview of sells results to easily get a deeper analysis

The video below shows a quick resume of the main screen, released for the MVP 1 on June 2019.

Approach

Working methodology

• Agile framework Scrum

• Team: Scrum Master, Business owner, Product Owner, Tech lead, Backend dev, Frontend dev, Data scientist, Product designer.

• Time: 7 months.

• Focus on Design Thinking and dual-track.

 Steps we follow

And then..... steps for the design process and development.

Because this is an internal project, for the design process I would focus on sharing the workflow and the main things I learn. Instead of diving into specific sensible data.

When I started working with the team I was very lucky to have an onboarding that considers 3 weeks with Coni. She was the Ux designer for another team, but she supported the team I was working for, for 2 months, one day a week. So she was able to introduce me to the key concept of the project.

This allows me to facilitate, during the second week, a working dynamic. The main goal was to ground the business needs and expectations, feasibility and introduce collaborative dynamics. Since they didn't have previous experience working either with agile or a UX designer.

This dynamic consist of 2 phases of 2.5 hours each. For the first phase, I invite Coni, the Product Owner, and the Business Owner. The specific goal was to break the ice and agree on a general vision and users.

For the second phase, we added, the scrum master and the tech lead. The specific goal was to create a first whiteboard version of a concept map. Creating a hierarchical flow of the visualizations and how users would navigate and understand them.

The session concluded with a deliverable that we iterated several times during the project. This helps us to understand and prioritize features o visualization to focus on what to work on.

Next, we start researching our users. Because of the internal nature of the project, the spectrum of potential users was already identified. It was estimated in 90 users, but, with different characteristics, frequencies, needs, and profiles, and this was a blind spot.

I design a research plan to focus on defining the nature if this internal users. And worked closely with the product owner, since she has experience working with them in her previous daily work. This also was a valuable opportunity to enhance a user-center approach.

Plan steps and objectives

1. Design Proto personas for each posible user. Goal: Raise a Hypothesis.

2. Conduct 4 group interview, with 3 possible users each. Goal: Understand what they do, say and feel.

3. Complete real task stories with key inputs. 10 users. Goal: See what users do, and raise possible testing scenarios.

4. Conduct 4 individual interviews. Goal: Understand and solve in-depth some blind spots.

5. 3 shadow sessions of 3 common tasks users mainly do. Goal: See how they solve tasks, meassure time.

6. Synthesis and puzzle all the information. Goal: Target and define our 4 User Personas.

With all this information we define 4 user personas, and define their golden path on our concept map. 

At this key point, I presented all this information to the team, so we could align and focus on a solution.
Henceforth, we start a design process to solve one by one each visualization in depth.

Design Process

Conclusion

Results

We designed and developed a digital platform to visualize the results, tendencies, and behavior of sales campaigns and actions. This enables the business to make a data-driven decision, to maximize revenue and promote clients loyalty.  

We provided users a customized and intuitive, data visualization app, which allows them to have a delightful experience while making better decisions.

Most important things I learned

• When designing data visualization is critical to understand “the story” users need to read on one screen. The solution lies in delivering one key complex synthesis in a simple way, and that´s a is a unique challenge.

• Working with multidisciplinary teams in the ideation phase makes an immense improve in prototyping phases. Integrating different perspective in early phases results in a better, simpler and feasible solution.

• When a process works do not rush to implement a new one. Sometimes is better to refine that process to have better results. This was clear to me when working with people that didn´t have experience working either with a UX designer or agile, so when we develop one methodology that had good results, we kept it for a while, which help us to communicate better.

• When research is done as a dual-track methodology, is much easier for everybody to align with a user-center design. Especially if it is communicated continuously to all the team in easy to read deliverables as personas and decision flow. 

• Prototyping and test every single part helps, in the long run, to reduce time and increase the quality of results. But also ca be used as a strategy to overcome the natural resistance to change with internal users.

• Being able to work closely with engineering and data science is a wonderful opportunity to learn constantly new and different things, so never underestimate the opportunity.

• When a team transforms to a more inclusive culture and agile methodology they enhance their performance, but this process needs constant work. Culture, product design, diversity, and team building are equally important.

• Is not enough to build the product. (if possible) There is a universe of iterations, understanding, and measuring after a release, that provides infinite value.

• Always keep learning. Details matter.

  
  

"I'm amazed how data visualization can be so complex, interesting, and beautiful. Working with a multidisciplinary team from early phases is key to develop a simple, useful and feasible solution. Achieving this allows the team to deliver a complex message through simple and delightfull data visualization."