Optimizing Manufacturing Excellence with Epicor
Epicor is a powerful software suite used in the manufacturing industry, particularly by companies producing complex, high-precision products like Formula 1 cars, submarines, and aircraft. Its capabilities streamline operations, optimize supply chain management, and enhance efficiency in the production of these advanced products.
Overview
Understanding the process from quoting for a job to receiving payment in manufacturing industries can be quite complex. To simplify this journey, we collaborated closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to gain valuable insights.
Through a comprehensive analysis of the existing system and user behavior, we identified opportunities for improvement. Our findings led us to focus on creating a streamlined, user-friendly experience that would serve both novice and experienced users.
My Process
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Collaboration with SMEs: Gained in-depth knowledge about the intricacies of the quoting-to-payment process in the manufacturing industry.
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Analysis of Existing Screens: Carefully examined current system interfaces and identified usability issues through heuristic evaluation.
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User Observation: Observed how different user types interacted with the system to identify pain points and areas for improvement.
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Simplification Focus: Prioritized simplicity and ease of use to ensure that both novice users and seasoned professionals could navigate the system efficiently.
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Intuitive Design: Developed a design approach that minimizes complexity while ensuring the system remains powerful and feature-rich.
Discover
We established key principles to guide the system's design, ensuring consistency and a cohesive end-user experience.
Simplicity
The system should feature simple, intuitive elements that enhance user efficiency.
Intelligence
The system should be intelligent, support users in their daily tasks and ease their work.
Modularity
The system must be modular, allowing users to customize it to their needs for a personalized feel.
Design & Ideation
Our design was inspired by the simplicity and clarity of an invoice template, where understanding information is paramount.
We began by listing all the fields, breaking them down, and prioritizing them. While the SMEs considered all fields essential, we made thoughtful compromises to streamline the experience.
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Initially, we identified 75 fields on the first screen—the sheer volume of information overwhelming the user. To address this, we drew inspiration from traditional billing formats, simplifying the process and reducing cognitive load for a more intuitive user experience.
Due to a confidentiality agreement, all of my work with Epicor is protected. The case study below is intended to highlight my design process, so not all screens and actions are displayed. If you have any questions or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.
Final Solution
In designing this system, we focused on four core principles to enhance usability, efficiency, and consistency. These principles guide both the user experience and the design process, ensuring that the system is intuitive, adaptable, and scalable. By aligning with these principles, we aimed to create a seamless experience for users, regardless of their expertise level. Below are the key design principles that shaped our approach
Streamlined Experience
Information is thoughtfully grouped into logical sections, ensuring faster access to key data and reducing cognitive overload for users. To streamline the interface, rarely used fields are tucked away or hidden by default, while only the most essential and relevant fields are visible upon landing. This deliberate design choice allows users to focus on the tasks at hand without distractions. Additionally, breadcrumb navigation is seamlessly integrated into the layout, providing a clear and consistent path for users to follow. This feature ensures smooth transitions between screens, offering users an intuitive way to track their location within the system and easily navigate backward or forward. Together, these elements create a more efficient, user-friendly experience by improving access to information and making navigation feel effortless and natural.
Smart functionality
Filters are designed to be consistent across all grids, ensuring a seamless user experience throughout the interface. They are fully customizable, allowing users to tailor the data view to their specific needs and preferences. Additionally, these filters can be set as defaults, so that when users land on a page, they are immediately presented with the most relevant and prioritized data. This not only enhances user efficiency by eliminating the need to manually adjust filters every time, but also saves valuable time by presenting the most pertinent information upfront, making the overall experience more intuitive and user-friendly.
Flexible and Scaleable
Each page component is meticulously designed as an independent unit, offering maximum flexibility and ease of customization. This modular approach allows users to make changes to individual elements without affecting the overall structure or design of the page. Whether it's altering the layout, color scheme, or typography, each component can be tailored to meet specific needs, making the system highly adaptable. Additionally, changes made to the design language, such as updates to branding, fonts, or color palettes, are automatically propagated across all pages, ensuring that the entire interface remains visually cohesive and consistent. This seamless integration guarantees that any adjustments made in one part of the system are reflected throughout, streamlining the design process and enhancing the user experience by maintaining uniformity across the entire platform.
Unified Designs
Our designs are carefully crafted to be highly adaptable across a wide range of products, ensuring that users can experience a consistent and familiar interface regardless of the platform or device they are using. This adaptability not only streamlines the design process but also guarantees that the user experience remains seamless and intuitive, whether users are interacting with a mobile app, desktop application, or web interface. By maintaining design continuity across various touchpoints, we minimize the learning curve and allow users to feel comfortable navigating different products without confusion. This consistency fosters a deeper sense of trust and confidence in the product, ultimately boosting user comfort and satisfaction. As a result, users can engage with the product more efficiently, improving overall usability and enhancing their interaction with the brand.
Validation
This project is still in progress, but the insights gained have been invaluable. Designing complex systems is incredibly rewarding for designers, as the challenges are unique. The key is to create solutions that are simple, intuitive, and memorable, as these systems are used daily, and mistakes can have significant consequences.
