ERP AUTOMOTIVE TECH
Turning chaos into a clean, automated system.
Converting manual labor workflow to a digitized saas tool
Spring 2022, Tekion
Introduction
At Tekion, automotive dealerships were relying on manual inventory management workflows to manage and update their automotive store inventory. The traditional way of doing things seemed slow, causing frequent delays and a poor CX.
In the early days of an organization, when we’re handling only a few clients, it’s common human psychology to set up quick and familiar workflows in each department to get the job done fast and get the business started.
But what feels “efficient” during those moments often comes back to haunt us later. Why?
Because we forget to ask: can we scale this?
This project was a successful attempt at scaling one of the already established traditional workflows at Tekion.
The Existing Process
Automotive dealerships were relying on manual workflows to manage and update their store inventory. The manual workflow is slow, causing delays and poor CX. A centralized inventory management tool is needed to improve operational efficiency in the ERP suite solution.
The Problems,
Issuing an automotive part, getting a price estimate from the central inventory, negotiating the estimate, getting client signoff, and eventually shipment tracking were done manually by inventory managers on slips.
Pain Points
(a) Excessive back-and-forth between inventory departments, slips, and approvals.
(b) Fixed no. of Inventory Managers
Business Problems,
(a) Delayed order placement
(b) Frequent billing issues
fig. Existing Manual Process FlowchartOur Solution’s Impact
Early in the project, while defining requirements & scope with the product team, I was keen on understanding how we would measure success.
I could go on and deliver 10 solutions in 10 different ways, but won’t really be impactful until it moved the needle on a meaningful metric. So I started thinking about what success would look like in this project.
While interviewing the target audience & trying to understand their concerns, a recurring feedback was “It takes too much time to complete an order with the workflow” and “during bulk orders, we are swamped with multiple order placement tasks and some orders get delayed…”
So we decided that “Setup Completion Time” is a critical metric in our case, our solution should help users complete the tasks as quickly as possible.
2 months after our solution was implemented, we received positive feedback from the team and a great deal in reducing the setup completion time, 80% improvement to be precise.
Setup Completion Time = 80% Improvement (10 mins → 2 mins)
My Role + Work Process
The success of my work largely relied on rapid prototyping and iterative testing sessions with the target audience, i.e. the Implementation and Inventory Management teams—through weekly meetings and syncs.
On a personal level, to achieve quality results, I relied on the double diamond model, taking one step at a time.
Understanding our direct users
Research started with target persona identification, which was developed based on interview sessions with 3 Inventory Managers and 1 Implementation Manager. It captured their work environment, daily responsibilities, key frustrations, and core motivations.
User Persona
Job Title
Inventory Manager/Implementation Manager
Industry
Manufacturing & Distribution
Location
Global
Technical Skills
ERP systems (SAP, Oracle Netsuite)
Primary Role
Manages inventory across multiple locations
Goals
• Maintain optimal stock levels to meet demand without overstocking
• Reduce manual data entry and paperwork
• Establish a tracking system between dealerships and Central Inventory
Frustrations / Pain Points
• Dependence on Slips creates inefficiencies
• Becomes very hectic during multiple bulk orders
• Limited Inventory Managers
Systems Thinking
After several drafts, we finalized the following workflow for the primary use case - placing an order. Created a website mind-map to better understand the structure and interactions.
By mapping out the flow, I was able to determine where critical actions, user inputs, and confirmations should be handled through modals rather than separate pages.
Research Insight: User Psychology, Eye Movement.
Users typically scan, not read, so the layout included visual anchors to immediately highlight and prioritize key content. Elements like contrast, size, whitespace, and alignment influence where the eye goes first.
Reduced Cognitive Load
Inventory Managers handle multiple orders during their shift and need to “quickly juggle” between the product list and the cart to confirm the right item in the right quantity.
First-time User Experience (FTUX)
There will be new managers in the future, but the system remains the same. So keeping “scalability” in mind, the 80/20 layout division makes the entire portal “easy to understand” and decide what to do next.
Quick Completion
Since the managers would handle multiple orders in their shift, placing the order should be in a “few clicks” and “fewer navigation patterns” to speed up bulk orders.
The idea was to divide the page real estate into an 80/20 ratio, 80% for the product list and 20% for the cart, which needed to be open and on-screen all the time, based on the stakeholder feedback.
Research Insight: Information Architechture
Out of all the different typographic and layout combinations of the card designs, the one that created a balance between “not too much” and “not too little” was selected.
No Imagery
Not all product listings in every inventory management system include product pictures, and uploading them on the portal “wasn’t a required attribute” while creating the product object.
No Description
The inventory managers are familiar with the different products as part of their job. On a busy day, they don’t have time to read through descriptions. So “descriptions didn’t add any value”
Heavy layout requires minimal components
Since the page layout is already busy with too much data, it's best to keep individual components as simple as possible, including only the information “relevant for decision-making”.
Designing for Developer Constraints
All pages of in the project were designed on the 8-pt grid on Figma. This requires changing the nudgeValue=8 in Figma preferences.
Developer Handoff
The 8-point grid system aligns with common development frameworks, reducing the need for custom spacing and making “implementation smoother.”
Consistency Across Components
The grid ensures uniform spacing, padding, and alignment, leading to a “uniform user experience” throughout the product, & also “minimizes inconsistencies.
Scalability
It aids “responsive design” by allowing scaling across multiple screen sizes, enabling adaptable layouts that maintain usability & aesthetics across “various breakpoints”
Each block of component, including the space element, margins & padding, was defined in multiples of 8 and stacked upon each other like components to create the final layout.
Design Rationale - System-wide
The goal was to enable the target users to complete the order placement task as quickly as possible while minimizing the learning curve.
Minimal Cognitive Load
Efficiency & Quick
Developer-Friendly Implementation
Simplified Data Presentation
Usability Testing with Stakeholders
Created a working prototype for the end-to-end flow as described in the Use Case.
Conducted Guerrilla Testing workshop with the same research users as participants.
Asked them to complete the entire flow without asking for help.
Observed where they stopped and what made them stop.
Did a similar exercise with multiple random participants.
Mapped the most common issues and prioritized.
Redesigned the few aspects of design, eliminating hiccups in the flow.
Sample Guerrilla Test Setup
Use Case
Placing an Order
Primary Actor
Inventory Manager
Preconditions
Primary actor detects shortage of Inventory items
Goal
To place a bulk order as quick as possible with the right items and correct deliveryaddress
Triggers
The primary actor should know the exact details of the parts to be ordered
Prototype setup for the Guerrilla Test
Words from the Manager
“Harshveen worked with me for a year at Tekion. In all that time, I have seen him progressively take on more complex tasks, projects, and challenges. And come back to me and say - what more? I have always admired his sense of responsibility and that he takes his role - of speaking for the user, seriously.
And Harshveen has a sense of humor, is well-read, and is a good designer - caring for the people who work with him. Kalsi understands the complexity, wraps his head around challenging tasks, and finds a way to balance internal pressures while not compromising user deliverables. I am confident he'll be a great addition to any team”