Automating roadmaps for supply chain teams

Problem

The business provided roadmaps to help supply chain teams prioritize spending decisions, but the process was highly manual and time-intensive—essentially a consulting service. The internal workflow for generating these reports required significant effort, making it inefficient and difficult to scale. The deliverables were static, primarily in deck and spreadsheet formats, which meant data updates were slow, delaying decision-making and limiting access to the most current information.

Additionally, the complex prioritization factors—such as total spend and contract expirations—were difficult to navigate within the existing format, which often resulted in cluttered and hard-to-interpret reports. To improve efficiency and decision-making, the business needed a way to automate data processing and translate the existing logic into a functional algorithm.

Goals

Research

Due to limited user access, primarily caused by restrictions from an isolated department and the internal reliance on manual processes, research focused on understanding the challenges supply chain teams faced with delays, inefficiencies, and difficulties prioritizing spend categories. The research was mainly conducted through stakeholder discussions, which highlighted issues that affected both internal operations and customer outcomes, with the manual process creating bottlenecks. 

These insights helped shape the initial design direction and feature set. However, the lack of direct user access made it challenging to fully refine the solution and ensure it met all user needs.

Design

I created wireframes to map out the user flow and address core user needs, focusing on simplifying the roadmap creation process, automating data integration, and creating an intuitive interface. Early collaboration with the engineering team ensured feasibility, as I shared wireframes for critical screens and iterated based on their feedback. This proactive approach allowed us to identify and address potential challenges early on, refining the designs before moving to high-fidelity versions.

A significant challenge arose when a siloed team, which came in late in the process, required the ability to manually add categories. This conflicted with our core product requirement of maintaining logic-based roadmaps and bypassed the established product development process. This late intervention forced additional iterations, as I tried to align the product with both user needs and the fundamentals of its design.

While the product was launched, it wasn’t fully rolled out to customers due to significant internal interference. Despite this, the team made valuable progress in automating and streamlining the roadmap process. The project faced multiple challenges from the outset, including limited user access and interference from internal stakeholders, which made it difficult to validate and refine the design. Late-stage changes to the product conflicted with its original foundation, resulting in delays and a lack of alignment on key objectives. This disruption was further compounded by the absence of a traditional product development process, which left the product without the necessary customer feedback to guide its evolution.

Indecision between automation and customization clouded the product’s direction, creating confusion about its core vision. These challenges ultimately hindered the product’s consistency and prevented it from reaching its full potential. Despite these setbacks, I’m proud of the work we accomplished. We received valuable feedback, including requests for expanded export capabilities and more detailed contract insights, demonstrating strong user engagement and highlighting opportunities for future growth.