Project Overview
About Cartus
Cartus is a global leader in workforce mobility, providing relocation and assignment management services for companies and their employees. With over 60 years of experience, Cartus supports organizations in managing the logistics of moving employees across the globe—whether for a short-term assignment or a permanent relocation. Their services include everything from housing and transportation arrangements to destination services, intercultural training, and compensation management.
The Challenge
The Compensation Project, or COMP for short, is a software solution developed to streamline and automate the process of generating cost projections for employee relocations, both domestic and international. These relocations, typically lasting between 1 to 4 years, involve estimating a wide range of expenses—such as airfare, language training, housing, real estate commissions, and calculating the complex tax implications of global moves.
Each report generated by COMP contains hundreds of line items detailing various expenses, so accuracy was paramount. The goal was to create a tool that would provide precise cost projections, ensure compliance with international tax laws, and deliver comprehensive, yet easy to create, user-friendly reports that could be quickly understood.
Prior to COMP, Cartus was using an external solution that was both costly and inefficient. This previous software lacked flexibility and scalability, causing significant operational challenges. It was a priority for Cartus to build an internal solution that would allow them to better control the user experience, reduce costs, and provide thier own competitive offering to the industry.
My Role
I was brought in, on contract, as the Lead Senior Product Designer and was responsible to get this project quickly in motion as it was Cartus's main priority that year and they were a bit behind schedule. In addition to driving the overall design strategy, I managed four design teams simultaneously, ensuring cohesion across all work-streams and maintaining a strong focus on timely, high-quality delivery.
Project Definition
Defining Business Objectives
A crucial starting point for every design project should be making sure you throughly understand all business objectives held for that project. I learned this the hard way a time or two and usually now go the extra mile to make sure all voices are heard early on and through out the entire process. So in this stage I focused on identifying key business stakeholders and engaging with them to gain a comprehensive understanding of the project’s potential value. Through a series of group and one-on-one meetings, I gathered insights into their visions and expectations for the solution, ensuring my approaches align well with their collective business objectives.
Key Findings:
Compensation was originally developed by what later became one of Cartus's biggest competitors.
So it was not only important to move it internally but to make it a competitive and superior product.
Comp did not work well with the other Cartus systems, they wanted to make sure it was intergrated with all Cartus products.
There was a lot of room to improve on workflow and scalability. Many things in the system were extremely tedious, they were not built by designers and could great be improved.
Injecting automation were ever possible was important to top executives.
They wanted to show off a functioning prototypes an up coming convention.
Mapping out a Complex system
Cactus had many products and offered many services that involved multiple teams. It is always wise to have a firm understanding of previous systems before interviewing users and business owners so you're not in the dark as to what they are referencing when mentioning pain points, navigation etc. Two of the main focuses of this project were to get access and an understanding of exactly how the previous solution/software worked. The other first priority, was to get help and map out exactly who did what, when everything happened and map out all components of the processes involved. Cactus had many legacy systems that were intertwined with every solution that needed to also be considered in the redesign
User Research & Analysis
Understanding Current Work Flows & Processes
In this critical phase, I concentrated on throughly understanding IGS Energy’s existing processes and workflows, particularly how teams interacted with service contractors. By meeting with team members across various departments, I gained valuable insights into operational challenges and the overall workflow. This exploration helped identify key pain points and areas for improvement, laying the groundwork for the subsequent user interviews. Understanding these dynamics was essential in ensuring that the new solution would be relevant, scalable and effective in addressing the needs of everyone in the organization.
Defining and Interviewing Core Users
To ensure our design solutions would met the needs of IGS Energy’s diverse user base, I began by conducting an in-depth analysis of the main user types. I identified several key roles, including Clients Admins, Operations, Call Center Representatives, and the main users, the Field Technicians. Each user type brought unique perspectives and requirements.
With a clear understanding of the user types, I implemented targeted efforts to gather insights from each group. I conducted 1-on-1 interviews and held group discussions to better grasp how each role functioned and what they needed in a new system. While I typically involve a broader range of participants and use tools like Dovetail to capture detailed insights, the time-sensitive nature of this project required a more streamlined approach. I limited the interviews to a few representative users and included the Business Analyst (BA) on calls to ensure alignment with business goals and deepen our understanding of user pain points.
Synthesizing the data
After conducting a series of user interviews, I led a collaborative affinity mapping session to synthesize the insights gathered. During the session, we organized the interview findings into key themes, pain points, and user needs, prioritizing them based on their relevance to the product’s goals. By clustering similar feedback, we were able to uncover recurring patterns and areas of opportunity that would inform the design direction. This exercise helped ensure that we addressed both the immediate user challenges and broader strategic objectives in the final design.
The insights from the interviews directly shaped the next steps in the design process, guiding decisions on feature prioritization and design solutions. By aligning the team on user pain points and desires, we were able to move forward with a clear, data-driven approach that balanced user needs with business goals.
Core Findings:
Centralizing all job details and data into one single app and making it all readily available was paramount.
The solution needed to work efficiently out in the field. It needed to work well on tablets, and easy to update quickly.
The solution must highlight top critical needs, then sort remaining priorities, while also allowing access to other lessor needs.
For the MVP, an invoicing feature was essential. They wanted it early to establish it as a routine part of the new system.
They wanted a detailed history panel or work log to reduce calls and eliminate disputes with EPCs.
It was also expressed they wanted EPC’s to be able to setup and manage their own users to also help alleviate continuous requests.
Collecting multiple data points was crucial. IGS met weekly with management from each partner, and more data would help shape performance and set desired behaviors in these meetings., but until then, they had limited data to work with.
Initial Designs and Ideation
Creating Process Maps to Secure Early Approval
Creating process maps allowed us to collaborate in clarifying future workflows and identifying key touchpoints early in the project. This visual approach facilitated discussions with stakeholders, helping us secure early approval and alignment on project goals. By encouraging input from team members during this ideation phase, we can easily realign our design vision to meet user needs and ensure successful outcomes.
Streamlining Ideation with an Advanced Design System
The product design team at IGS worked closely to develop a robust, advanced design system that played a pivotal role in shaping our design process. Leveraging the MUI component library, we collaboratively built a well-structured framework that enhanced design consistency, scalability, and significantly reduced time-to-delivery across all projects. The system also introduced key efficiencies in development, helping to minimize the accumulation of technical debt.
With this comprehensive design system in place, we were able to ideate more rapidly, eliminating the need to invest valuable time in building traditional wireframes. By leveraging our pre-defined components, including navigation, sidebars, and other essential elements, we could prioritize areas needing ideation while remaining flexible in our mid-fidelity approach.
As concepts were approved, this approach brought us much closer to final deliverables for development, eliminating the need to start high-fidelity design from scratch after wire-framing. This not only saved significant time but was a key factor in our ability to deliver ahead of schedule, exceeding expectations from both management and stakeholders.
Interactive Prototypes
After completing the research and ideation phases, I transitioned into creating high-fidelity prototypes to better visualize and test the concepts. These interactive prototypes provided a realistic, tangible representation of the final product, allowing us to gather more meaningful feedback from users and stakeholders. By simulating the full user experience, I was able to test key interactions, UI components, and design elements in a more dynamic and realistic way, ensuring that the concepts resonated with all of the designated user types.
Dashboard Design: Using Data-Driven Visuals to Influence Behavior
The Dashboard offers a personalized, role-based experience, providing users with key performance insights tailored to user’s specific needs. Whether you’re a Client Admin, Operations Manager, or Field Technician, the content displayed is designed to support the unique tasks and responsibilities of your role. With a focus on data-driven visuals, the dashboard transforms complex metrics into easy-to-understand graphs and charts, enabling users to quickly assess performance, track issues, and make informed decisions at a glance.
For Operations users, the dashboard provides a high-level overview of all partners' monthly progress, with key metrics like open and closed tickets, average days open, and average invoice amounts. Managers can quickly assess performance trends, identify areas needing attention, and drill into partner data for deeper insights. This allows them to optimize partner performance, and influencing desired behaviors.
Quick and Easy Search for Contractors in the Field
To streamline access to essential information, I designed an intuitive responsive interface that helps field contractors stay ahead of priorities by allowing them to quickly search, filter, and easily find their most pressing tasks. The simplified search function allows them to locate relevant work orders in just a few taps, while a dynamic drawer provides easy access to detailed project information—without disrupting their workflow. This seamless process minimizes downtime and empowers contractors to stay focused on their work, no matter where they are.
FSD Details Page: Streamlining Workflows for Contractors
The FSD Details Page brings all job-related information into one unified interface, making it easier for field contractors to manage their tasks from start to finish. This page allows contractors to quickly view critical job information, including work specifics, diagnostic reports, and related tickets. This streamlined approach helps contractors stay organized by providing all the context they need to efficiently complete their tasks, without the hassle of navigating between multiple systems or screens.
The History Panel (on the right) provides an intuitive timeline of each job, showing task completion, ticket updates, and overall work order status. This feature helps contractors track progress while allowing IGS Energy’s team to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement. With detailed insights, IGS can have more informed discussions with contractors, driving accountability and continuous performance improvement.
Shifting User Management Efforts to the Client
As part of the overall project’s goal to improve efficiency for IGS Energy’s internal team, I focused on addressing a key challenge: the frequent annoying requests to add users. I wanted to free up time for their team and pushed tasks to the client wherever possible. With the new User Management screens, internal roles can create groups (partners), who can then create and manage their own users as needed. This self-service functionality reduces bottlenecks, giving clients greater control and ensuring that their teams have the access they need, without waiting for internal support.
Simple and Secure Login with OKTA Integration
The login screen was designed with simplicity and security in mind. We implemented OKTA verification to provide a seamless authentication process, allowing users to easily sign in using their existing credentials from other IGS Energy applications. This integration not only enhanced security but also streamlined access, ensuring that contractors and employees could quickly get to work without unnecessary barriers. The simple, intuitive design minimizes friction, making it easy for users to securely log in, even when out in the field.
Handoffs and User Testing
Dev Handoffs
The final phase of the project involved continuous collaboration with the development team and iterative usability testing to ensure design decisions were validated and refined at every step. Instead of a traditional handoff, we worked closely throughout the entire development cycle. One new approach we implemented was setting up Teams Design Review Meetings before each developer completed their sprint work and made a pull request. These meetings provided an opportunity for me to review the work in progress and offer instant feedback. This allowed the development team to address potential concerns early and ensured they were focused on the details I would be looking for, that they tend to overlook. It was a highly effective practice that helped shape the development process, aligning the team more closely with the design vision and preventing many small issue that might ever really eve get addressed.
In parallel with this collaboration, we conducted usability testing with both internal users and field contractors. These testing sessions provided critical insights into the user experience, highlighting pain points in navigation, content clarity, and overall usability. Based on this feedback, we made targeted adjustments to refine the product and improve the interface. These iterative refinements, driven by continuous collaboration and user feedback, resulted in a product that was both technically robust and tailored to the specific needs of the contractors who would rely on it in the field.
Usability Testing
In parallel with this collaboration, we conducted usability testing with both internal users and field contractors. These testing sessions provided critical insights into the user experience, highlighting pain points in navigation, content clarity, and overall usability. Based on this feedback, we made targeted adjustments to refine the product and improve the interface. These iterative refinements, driven by continuous collaboration and user feedback, resulted in a product that was both technically robust and tailored to the specific needs of the contractors who would rely on it in the field.
In Conclusion
Key Takeaways
Assemble.inc delivers a compensation platform that helps organizations plan and execute systematic compensation decisions to attract, motivate, and retain employees while eliminating inequality pay. Assemble integrates with an HRIS, ATS, and Cap Table to ensure accurate data. Company’s broader vision is to bring an end-to-end total compensation and benefits management platform to its customers.
