Brightpearl
Project Description
Brightpearl are the industry-leading operating system for retailers. They are involved with inventory management, order management, warehousing, fulfillment, shipping, purchasing, accounting, retail, and more.
We were tasked, in the beginning, to update their general ledger and filter options. As we did our research and analyzed our data, we noticed that the issue we needed to focus on was on the accounting side. From here we focused on updating the purchase order and billing process.
Role: UX Research and Design
Tools: Figma, Figjam, Google Docs, Excel, Netsuite
01
RESEARCH
User Interviews
When we conducted our user interviews, we did them in two rounds. The first round was done with two stakeholders and the second was with three of Brightpearl's customers.
After conducting our interviews we quickly noticed that there were some repeating patterns.
The First, was that the software needed to be updated in general. There haven't been any updates in 10 years and customers felt that it was being neglected.
The second, was that customers felt that they had to complete more steps than they needed when trying to complete tasks on the accounting side
Apart from reaching to stakeholders and their customers, we also looked at how Brightpearl's competitors compared to them.
Here we were able to analyze features that other companies had that Brightpearl didn't offer.
DEFINE
Persona
With all the information we gathered, we were able to create our main persona Crystal. Here we have our profile that was created.
User Flow
Through our user interviews we were able to come up with a user work flow.
02
IDEATE
Once we created out Persona and knew that we needed to focus on updating the accounting side of the software, we sketched out a few ideas and created wireframes to help us test out our ideas.
Sketches
Wireframes
03
04
USABILITY TESTING
After we created our wireframes we were able to find a few users to test them out and they were able to give us feedback on things that worked or things that could still use some more improvement. This is some of the feedback that we received.
Users mentioned that they would like to see is more information for items that are on the purchase order.
We added a separate tab that will allow the user to see the information that they personally want to see.
One issue that the accountants have to deal with is not being able to view the remaining balance of an open purchase order. A box on the right gave that information.
A status bar was added at the top the of page to allow the user know what steps need to be completed before moving on.
With high dollar purchase orders, some vendors require a payment up front. They did not have a way to complete a prepayment so a solution was to add that function below the status bar for, easy access.
Users reacted positively to the added functions that we would like to implement in Brightpearls next update. These updated functions would help their customers work efficiency tremendously.
During user testing we noticed that some users clicked on the receive button prior to check marking the items on the purchase order first. For this, we made the "receive" button inactive. This would alert the user to select the items first before selecting "receive"
On another positive note, their customers liked the consistency of the new layout and that the color scheme also represented the company's identity a lot better.
05
PROTOTYPE
06
CONCLUSION
Next Steps
We weren't able to add many functions that we thought would benefit Brightpearl. Some of these features we would add next would be:
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Make the columns move horizontally on the general ledger
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Enhance other workflows
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Improve and add features to the general ledger filter
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Minimize the spacing in the financial statements
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Add a collapsible option in the financial statement page to expand accounts in detail
Many companies that use this software are mid sized and these updates will help them to save 50 to 80 hours working each week. These extra hours can be used for completing other important tasks or be able to add temporary positions.
Reflection
This project taught me a lot from communication/time management to understanding what accountants deal with on a daily basis. We had many stumbling blocks from the start and for only having one week out of three to complete this project, I think that we managed to make the most of what we could and create a great starting point for Brightpearl to continue updating their product. It was also helpful that one of our group members had an accounting background and helped us to understand each issue in depth.
Our team worked cohesively and we were able to find the bigger issue by reaching out to stakeholders and customers of Brightpearl. The users were our top priority when we were thinking of how we can better update the software and what could we do to make each step as efficient as possible so that they aren't having to create extra steps for themselves just to solve one problem. Due to our limited time, we were only able to focus on one task, even though we know that there are still many updates to be made. We believe that there is a "One Button, One Million Solution" that will help save time and make everyone's work more efficient
This was a great experience in my journey to becoming a UX Designer. We pushed ourselves and we were able to meet our deadline and present a design that we think would help Brightpearl and their customers. Seeing first hand, what potential problems could come up and trying to find a way work around those problems was a valuable experience. This is a project that I will always remember and I am lucky that I got to work with an incredible team.