Cetec ERP
Internship Project
Duration
3 Months
My Role
Concept Development
Design
UX Research
Dev Handoff
Teammates
Director of Design
Executive Leadership
Staff Engineer
Front end developer
Making the Work Order Less Work
Led the end-to-end redesign of the Work Order experience, one of the most heavily used workflows in Cetec ERP
Background
Understanding the Product
What is Cetec ERP?
Cetec is an ERP cloud software system built for manufacturers.
You can think of it as a factory's digital 'brain.' It handles everything from orders, inventory, labor, parts, accounting, and more.
Simply put, it's a lot of complexity in one system.
The Feature In Question
At the Heart of It All: The Work Order
The Work Order is one of Cetec’s most-used pages. It's like a recipe, punch card, and progress tracker all in one place.
It is where work actually happens and things are built on the factory floor
Floorworkers, supervisors, and managers all rely on it every day, which made it a high-impact UX opportunity.
The Problem
The Current Experience was Functional but Clunky
Users struggled to find the information they needed, and the interface felt overwhelming.
Managers couldn't quickly track progress or see a part's location on the floor. Floorworkers often opened multiple tabs to follow instructions.
Everyone wanted the information they needed in one place, at their fingertips.
Our Goal:
Make the Work Order simple, intuitive, and easy to use.
Research
Internal Stakeholder Interviews
I met with people across Leadership, Engineering, Sales, and Marketing to understand how the business thinks about the Work Order and what technical or strategic constraints I’d need to keep in mind.
Stakeholder insights:
1.
The Work Order is one of Cetec's most used experiences
2.
There are two main users: Managers who want clear digestible data and Floorworkers who prioritize ease of use
3.
Sales often uses the Work Order in demos, so the new design could impact new business
Watching real work happen
I created a prototype and organized feedback sessions with 4 Cetec users, 3 virtual and 1 in-person. I walked users through task flows with the new design and heard their feedback about understandability, usefulness, and practicality.
User 'Show Me' Session Insights
1.
Many users open multiple tabs to give themselves easy access to essential information
3.
Industry-specific regulations can affect workflows and feature usage
5.
Companies vary in their instruction format needs
2.
Managers want to easily track progress at a glance
4.
Some Floorworkers complete an entire Work Order from start to finish, while others handle only one step
Scope
Focusing on Where We Could Help the Most
With a clearer picture of user needs and opportunity areas, it was time to narrow the focus.
I reviewed the findings with my manager, and we decided to focus the redesign on floorworker users, whose needs are more specific and consistent.
We agreed to address manager needs in a future project. However, improvements aimed at floorworkers will benefit all users because of the improved access to information and better process visibility.
Defining our Core Goals:
Goal 1:
Give users everything they need in one place
Goal 2:
Improve how instructions are displayed and how forms are filled out
Goal 3:
Make it easier to see where a part is on the shop floor
Narrowing down functions and features
We couldn't tackle the entire Work Order UI, it made sense to focus just on the key homepage features that Floorworkers interacted with most
The Project Scope highlighted in pink
Discovery & Iterations
Assessing the Current Design
Understanding What We are Working With
I started by diving into the user interface to understand challenges that users face
The Problem
Difficult to Access Images and Essential Documents
Instructions, referenced documents, and supporting images live in seperate disconnected places
To access images and documents needed to get their job done, users must leave their context and hunt for information
Difficult to read and understand
Clunky Instructions
Instructions are awkwardly formatted and difficult to follow
Instructions are hard to access and understand
No ability to include images in instructions, only text
Primary Actions Hard to Find
No Clear Call to Action
The primary actions of the Work Order are to log time and move location, but these buttons are tucked away
Buttons to start the work timer and move locations are difficult to find
Buttons for key actions don't include labels, only icons that not everyone understands
The Problem
Limited Ability to Get the Big Picture of the Work Order
Managers and those responsible for end-to-end processes must jump through multiple hoops to get the information they need
Users must scroll the carousel to see the full scope of the Work Order, requiring them to hold information in memory
Iteration & Feedback
Early Iterations & User Feedback Sessions
I created a prototype and organized feedback sessions with 4 Cetec users, 3 virtual and 1 in-person. I walked users through task flows with the new design and heard their feedback about understandability, usefulness, and practicality.
Illustration with an early Work Order iteration
User Feedback Insights
People appreciated being able to preview documents and see images inline
People appreciated the ability to expand and collapse operations and instructions as it gave them control and made the page feel less overwhelming
The new 'Start' button was a hit because it would help prevent common mistakes
Several people encouraged me to keep simplifying; many floorworkers aren't tech savy, so a streamlined, task-focused layout made them feel more comfortable
The Final Designs
Introducing a New and Improved Work Order
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Goal 1: Everything in One Place
Information at Your Fingertips
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Documents and images can be accessed inline and previewed while maintaining the ability to download, if needed
Goal 1: Everything in One Place
Information at Your Fingertips
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Documents and images can be accessed inline and previewed while maintaining the ability to download, if needed
Goal 1: Everything in One Place
Essential functions easy to access
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Floorworkers can easily understand where they are and what's left to be done on the Work Order
Goal 2: Improve Instructions & Forms
Information at Your Fingertips
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Steps can be further expanded to show relevant instructions
Goal 2: Improve Instructions & Forms
Supporting Custom Needs
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Companies with strict regulatory requirements can easily customize and embed forms to meet their specific needs
Goal 3: Improve Visibility of Progress
Always Available Time Spent
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At a glance, Managers can assess a Work Order's progress
Goal 3: Improve Visibility of Progress
Always Available Chronological Progress
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Floorworkers can easily understand where they are and what's left to be done on the Work Order
Dev Handoff
Time to Build
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