Designing an Enterprise ERP Experience
My leadership in the ERP transformation resulted in a cohesive, scalable digital platform that significantly reduced operational friction and improved cross-department visibility, leading to faster decision-making and reduced manual effort
Project Overview
This project involved transforming fragmented legacy tools into a unified, user-centered ERP for a global maritime service provider. The disconnected systems created complex, error-prone workflows, limited visibility across teams, and slowed day-to-day operations. The core challenge was simplifying complex operational workflows and improving cross-department visibility and support efficient decision-making for critical functions like Finance, Inventory, Sales, Purchase, and HR.
The Decision that Mattered
Rather than simply digitizing existing fragmented processes, I chose to design a modular, role-based ERP experience from the ground up, because contextual research revealed deep-seated inefficiencies and a lack of shared data. This trade-off prioritised a holistic, user-centered system over quick-fix solutions, ensuring long-term scalability and user adoption.
The Problem
The core problem was that the client relied on disconnected legacy systems, spreadsheets, and manual processes, causing users to spend excessive time on data re-entry and approval chasing. This led to inconsistent workflows, limited real-time visibility, and a high risk of errors in critical processes across various departments that directly impacted productivity and increased operational costs.
Constraints & Challenges
The project was constrained by the complexity of integrating diverse operational workflows and managing expectations across multiple departments with entrenched habits. Ensuring a seamless transition from disparate tools to a single unified platform presented a significant change management challenge
Design Process
Discover . Contextual Inquiry & Stakeholder Interviews
To understand real operational challenges, I spearheaded on-site contextual research at Khalifa Port with our core team to understand how shipyard operations actually functioned across Sales, Procurement, Inventory, and Finance. Through direct observation and stakeholder interviews, real task flows, dependencies, and breakdowns were mapped beyond documented processes. Journey mapping surfaced critical value gaps, shaping early priorities for ERP workflows and feature decisions.
Journey map highlighting cross-department workflows and critical breakdowns across planning, procurement, and job execution in an offshore work environment.
Key operational breakdowns and value gaps uncovered during contextual inquiry
Define . Aligning Workflows, Features, and Business Goals
Synthesized research into end-to-end workflow maps across Planning, Procurement, Execution, and Finance—aligning user goals, system responsibilities, and approvals. Business objectives such as efficiency, cost control, auditability, and scalability were embedded into each flow. Features were prioritized by workflow impact, and a high-level, role-aligned information architecture was defined to support scalable design.
Simplified ERP workflow illustrating how job-based material needs trigger automated procurement, approvals, and linked purchase orders for better cost and execution tracking
Feature prioritization was guided by the end-to-end workflows, mapping user impact against business impact to focus first on high-value, high-frequency tasks—while balancing operational goals such as cost control, auditability, and scalability.
Feature prioritization matrix used to balance user value, business impact, and delivery effort for ERP procurement enhancements
Design . From Insight to Structure
Design translated validated workflows and business goals into clear, usable structures. We started with low-fidelity sketches and wireframes in Axure to rapidly explore layouts, navigation, and task flows, enabling early feedback and fast iteration.
As flows stabilized, designs moved to high-fidelity UI in Figma, aligned with enterprise usability standards and the client’s brand. In close collaboration with the UI designer, I contributed to defining and maintaining the design system, ensuring visual consistency, clear hierarchy, and scalable patterns across data-dense ERP modules.
Test . Validate and Refine
Designs were validated continuously through iterative, role-based testing. Walkthroughs with PMs, BAs, and architects ensured alignment with real workflows, followed by usability testing with end users using Figma prototypes. Post-launch shadowing captured in-context feedback from live usage.
Testing insights drove focused refinements:
- Action-first dashboards
- Mega menus over deep navigation
- Customizable data tables
- Activity logs for auditability
- Centralized admin controls
- Context-aware dynamic fields
Each iteration reinforced NN/g’s test early, test often principle—resulting in an ERP that fit real operations, not system constraints.
“This ERP finally works the way we do — not how the system wants us to.”
The Outcome
Post-launch, the ERP was successfully rolled out, replacing fragmented tools with a cohesive digital platform. This led to reduced manual reconciliation, faster onboarding and approvals, quicker requisitions, and significantly improved operational visibility. This confirmed that a user-centered, strategic approach to enterprise design can drive trust and adoption, even in complex environments.
Final Reflection
Designing for the enterprise goes far beyond screens—it means untangling complex operations and respecting how people actually work. By grounding decisions in real workflows and constraints, this ERP evolved into an experience that felt intuitive, reliable, and empowering across roles—from dock supervisors to finance leaders.
