Inventory Management Software

Designing a Mobile Payment Workflow

Pioneer Seed's sellers were reliant on an outdated inventory management software that faced several usability and scalability issues. Recognizing the need for innovation, Pioneer initiated a 5-year project to develop a modern, mobile-first solution to integrate inventory management, invoicing, and a customer relationship manager into a unified mobile-accessible platform.

Client

Pioneer Seed

Services

UI & UX Design UX Strategy

Focus

Mobile Design

Date

June 2023 - Current

App Splash Screen
App Splash Screen
App Splash Screen

The Challenge

Solutions

Redesign an integrated mobile payment workflow for an inventory management system while maintaining core business processes.

  • User Research, UX Design + Strategy

  • UI Rebrand Identity

  • Native mobile App Design + Development

My Role


I was tasked with designing the payment workflow, a critical component for both the business (sellers) and consumers (growers). This case study explores the end-to-end process from understanding business processes and requirements to creating designs and testing workflows.

Initial State
Research Notes
Research Notes

Reflections and Key Lessons:

Early in the project, I moved quickly into designing workflows and wireframes. However, as I presented my work to the product team, I discovered critical user needs and business requirements that prompted multiple reworks.


Allocating more time to research and workflow design would have helped me better refine the, leading to a more efficient design process and stronger initial alignment with user needs.

When considering the information architecture, guiding users from the beginning of the workflow to the end was a constant balance of complexity and clarity. By prioritizing specific user actions and utilizing progressive disclosure, I was able to simplify the experience for users and reduce cognitive load in the earlier steps of the journey.


In the future, I would approach similar information hierarchy challenges by prioritizing specific tasks for users. Narrowing down the scope helped me focus on completing individual tasks which resulted in better alignment with user needs.

Research and Discovery

I set out to better understand the user journey by reviewing the research studies to familiarize myself with the areas of most friction, and identify opportunities for improvement. Dissecting the existing workflow helped me establish an initial state and reduce some of the redundant data entry steps.

Research Notes
Initial State
Initial State

Workflow Design


The research from the previous step guided me in creating new workflows for the payment process. Some of the challenges I solved for in this step included:

  • Designing flow diagrams for users paying single invoices (most common) or multiple at once (an unexpected request).

  • Displaying complex information structures and business processes into a comprehensible diagram.

  • Creating a history view with receipts and implementing alternative invoice payment methods through business programs.

Wireframe Creation


  • Wireframes were designed directly from workflow, utilizing assets and established patterns from the design system.

  • I designed initial wireframes to demo basic payment interactions and interactions with a focus on clarity and simplicity.

  • Designing the flow backwards starting with the payment confirmation first and ending with the landing screen helped me define a concrete end point and guide the necessary steps to get there.

Testing and Iteration


  • I validated the card-based design through several collaborative reviews with the product team, ensuring compatibility with the complex data that would need to be displayed.

  • Discussion with the product team helped reduce confusion around the time and place for payment-type selection, resulting in a more streamlined payment process.

  • Simplifying payment cards from having multiple actions to a single action button helped users complete the payment task.

Insights discovered from testing and iterating on initial wireframes:


Complex Information Architecture

  • Organizational data such as operation, payer, and invoice name had to be displayed for dozens to in some cases hundreds of users at a time. This made defining the beginning steps of the workflow especially challenging.


  • Solution: Utilize progressive disclosure for the beginning of the workflow allowing sellers to quickly scan high level information before initiating the payment process.


Data Heavy Mobile Screens

  • The payment workflow required displaying extensive information, including user data, payment details, dates, payment types, due dates, variable discounts, and several tiers of organizational hierarchies.


  • Solution: Designed collapsible sections, a tabular view that prioritized payment information, and intuitive filtering options to present data effectively without overwhelming the user.

Reflections and Key Lessons:

Early in the project, I moved quickly into designing workflows and wireframes. However, as I presented my work to the product team, I discovered critical user needs and business requirements that prompted multiple reworks.


Allocating more time to research and workflow design would have helped me better refine the, leading to a more efficient design process and stronger initial alignment with user needs.

When considering the information architecture, guiding users from the beginning of the workflow to the end was a constant balance of complexity and clarity. By prioritizing specific user actions and utilizing progressive disclosure, I was able to simplify the experience for users and reduce cognitive load in the earlier steps of the journey.


In the future, I would approach similar information hierarchy challenges by prioritizing specific tasks for users. Narrowing down the scope helped me focus on completing individual tasks which resulted in better alignment with user needs.

The Impact

The mobile pilot release of the Inventory Management System launched October 2024. The product has achieved its goal of giving Pioneer's users mobile access to run their business anytime, anywhere. The payment workflow redesign also resulted in a 42% reduction in steps for task completion and the elimination of third party software for payment processing.