Inventory Management App
Project Outline
The Assignment : As an inhouse experience designer in an Inventory valuation and management SaaS organization, my first task is to understand the product and improve application data input accuracy and task efficiency.
The product required users to go to hospitals and pharmacies, and correctly count active inventory for valuation report purposes. They record count quantity , unit of measures, item expirations, quantities owned and many other data fields.
These metrics are noted for each department and submitted to the healthcare financial department for analysis and planning of expense funds.
Duration - 4 weeks
UX Methods used - App Heuristics, Contextual inquiry, User Research, User flows, Ideation, prototyping, User Testing
Tools used - Figma, Miro, Google Spreadsheets, Zoom, Loom
About the Application
The Application is used to count, audit and reallocate Medical inventory in hospital systems. This is targeted towards Counters. Counters are employees and independent contractors who are hired to visit hospitals or pharmacies to count inventory. As the items are recorded, a manager sees project progress and reports valuations , slow and excess items, expired items for further budgeting and financial planning.
Native App Heuristics
App (Count) Goal :
Enable Users to correctly identify items and update counts correctly. App needs to improve must enable counters to be efficient , faster without compromising accuracy of data.
Methodology:
Heuristic Evaluation: is a process of comparing a digital product (like app / website) to a list of pre defined design principles. the most commonly used standards being NN/g 10 Heuristics guidelines listed below.
Usability Issue Measure:
I have broken down count process task steps and analyzed each step on a scale of LOW, MEDUIM and HIGH severity.
LOW : Mostly Cosmetic. Our User is still able to accomplish the task.
MEDIUM: High usability issue, User is able to accomplish task with difficulty.
HIGH: Usability catastrophe. This is a design Flaw and must be addressed immediately.
Follow link for App Heuristics in Figma- Native App Heuristics In Figma
Contextual Inquiry and User Research
Following heuristics was the site visit and User research. I went to a hospital facility and analyzed product usage in Realtime. this was followed by user interviews to identify product inefficiencies and user pain points.
Final Designs
The following are the final designs for the Native Application to accomplish Count/ Audit and reallocate tasks.
Retrospection
This project was one of my initial experiences working with Z5 Inventory, and it significantly deepened my understanding of the company, its product offerings, and solutions—far beyond what I gained from orientation sessions. Through the redesign process, we successfully achieved our goal of creating an efficient design and closed any gaps in the workflow, making the process of recording and auditing inventory counts much more seamless.
One of the aspects that greatly facilitated my work was the abundance of target users available for research and testing. Additionally, the opportunity to observe the product in use in real-time within a hospital setting was invaluable. Without the site visit, I would have never realized how complex and confusing hospital navigation can be, which was a critical insight for the design process.
The continuous cycle of feedback, testing, and iteration during this project greatly boosted my confidence in my design abilities. It was also my first experience handing over designs for development. After encountering a few initial glitches, I quickly learned the importance of thorough annotations and clearly explaining the design to the development team. It was their first time using Figma, and after some initial hesitation about communicating through Figma comments, we were able to collaborate effectively and bring the project to life.
The biggest lesson I took away from this project is the critical importance of testing—constantly testing to ensure the product aligns with users’ mental models. Additionally, I learned the value of patience, understanding that as professionals, we are all continuously learning, whether it's mastering a new software or collaborating with teams and individuals we haven't worked with before.