Description:
The Source to Contract (S2C) product is a procurement and contract management platform designed to streamline the sourcing process for government agencies and suppliers. It facilitates the creation, management, and tracking of procurement opportunities, ensuring transparency, efficiency, and compliance with sourcing regulations.
Target Audience:
Internal Users – UK and Australian government agencies who create and manage procurement opportunities.
External Users – Suppliers and retailers responding to procurement opportunities and seeking new business partnerships.
Objective & Challenges:
Business Goals: Enhance usability, establish a user-centric design, and create a consistent interface through a well-defined design system.
User Needs: Save time on documentation, streamline supplier and contract management, and ensure fair access to procurement opportunities.
Key Challenge: Users were accustomed to traditional paper-based processes and needed an intuitive digital experience.
Pain Points:
Users required an efficient way to manage contracts, suppliers, and agreements.
Needed a transparent platform to connect with potential new suppliers.
Compliance with government regulations and accessibility standards was essential.
Business Objectives:
Increase usability to drive higher retention rates.
Expand the platform’s adoption beyond government entities to enterprises and universities.
2. Your Role & Responsibilities
Role: Lead UI/UX Designer
Key Contributions:
Wireframing, Prototyping, UI Design, and Accessibility Compliance (WCAG).
Creating a new design system while integrating it into the existing system.
Collaborating with developers, product owners, and business stakeholders to align goals.
Tools Used:
Sketch, Marvel, Zeplin, Miro, Jira/Confluence, Illustrator.
3. Research & Insights
User Research:
Due to confidentiality restrictions, direct user research was limited. However, insights were gathered through internal stakeholders, sales teams, and product leads for key roles:
Risk Manager (Governance Team) – Ensuring compliance with regulations.
Supplier Manager (Procurement Team) – Managing and evaluating supplier relationships.
Contract Manager (Business Unit Member) – Overseeing contracts and agreements.
Competitive Analysis:
Market Insights: Similar procurement platforms exist in the UK and Australia, including Ariba, Coupa, and Jaggaer.
Key Differentiators: Needed a more user-friendly and accessible design tailored to government users.
Opportunities: Improve usability, reduce paperwork, and integrate AI-based supplier recommendations.
Personas & User Journey Mapping:
Internal User (Government Employee)
Goals: Create procurement opportunities, ensure compliance, manage suppliers.
Pain Points: Complex paperwork, inefficient workflows, difficulty finding new suppliers.
External User (Supplier/Business Owner)
Goals: Respond to procurement opportunities, establish credibility, secure contracts.
Pain Points: Complicated application process, difficulty accessing government tenders.
4. Key Design Decisions
Accessibility Compliance: Applied WCAG standards to ensure usability for diverse government employees.
Color & Typography: Conducted research to ensure compliance with accessibility guidelines while maintaining a professional aesthetic.
Design Trade-offs: Due to time and resource constraints, only 50% of the new design system was implemented initially. A phased approach was taken to ensure gradual adoption while maintaining consistency.
Collaboration Challenges: Due to strict regulations, I had limited access to user feedback and had to rely on internal teams for insights. Additionally, collaboration with developers and POs was complex, requiring compromises in some design elements.
5. Impact & Results
Increased conversions by 15%.
Improved usability by 45%, resulting in better adoption rates among government employees and suppliers.
Expanded client base by signing contracts with 15 additional government agencies and enterprises.
Users reported higher efficiency and productivity, reducing time spent on contract management.
6. Reflection & Learnings
Stronger Design Governance: I learned the importance of maintaining design consistency and enforcing UI standards to prevent fragmentation.
Advocating for UX Research: If given more time and resources, I would conduct user interviews and usability tests to gain deeper insights.
Enhancing Collaboration: Strengthening communication with developers and stakeholders earlier in the process would help reduce the need for compromises in the design system.
7. Future Improvements
Conduct a proper user research study to validate assumptions and refine usability.
Enforce stricter UI consistency across all product phases.
Implement a structured accessibility testing process to enhance compliance further.
Bonus:
Interactive Prototype Link (if applicable)
Behind-the-scenes visuals (wireframes, brainstorming sessions, design iterations).
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