Nebula - Search and Edit Order Codes
What is Nebula?
Nebula is a tool that is used as a repository for order codes. This tool is used by three different user groups - the Merchandisers, the MerchOps team, and the Quality team.
Nebula is one tool in a whole network of tools run by this team that deals with Dell products in the backend. The users for this tool are spread across a range of different time zones.
This project goes into the research, prototyping, and testing of a search and edit function within the tool.
Kickoff
To start with, I had a meeting with my product managers to get a general understanding of the tool and its users.
Some of the asks of the project were -
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Users need to be able to export the information as an Excel file.
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Users should be able to search by specific codes and also be able to browse the previous codes
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A long term goal is to unify Nebula and Nebula DB.
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The designs need to be DDS (Dell Design System) compliant.
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Stakeholder Map
User Groups
Merchandisers
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Create Order Codes (products).
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Define pricing.
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Write the tagline and short description.
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Create documents of the order codes and upload them on Nebula UI and raise a Jet Case
MerchOps
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They download the excel document through Jet given by the merchandisers.
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Publish the order code data on the website through Nebula database.
Quality
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Audit the information on staging and production.
Primary User Research
- Qualitative Interviews
Research Scope and Focus Area
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Understand the user's current work flow
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Identify any roadblocks or pain points faced by the users.
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Understand users' need to search for previous order code based on role.
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How do the users perform their tasks in place of this functionality.
Main Interview Topics
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Background - An initial understanding of the user's experience with the product and company.
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Experience with the tool - A general understanding of the user's role and everyday tasks(think-aloud walkthrough)
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Pain Points - Are there any roadblocks or errors users face or make during the completion of their task and understand why
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User Flow - Are all of the steps in the process easy for the user to understand and navigate?
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Searching - Do they need to search for order codes? How do they currently search for them? Why do they not refer to JET history for this information?
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Filters - What filters would they use if they needed to search for previous OC files?
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Useful features - Is there any feature or step of the process that they find particularly useful?
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Additional Thoughts - Their general feelings about the current design and thoughts about anything they feel could be improved.
Current Import Flow
Current Designs
User Personas
Analyst in CSB Merchandising team
Maria Paul
Location: EMEA Region
Duration of use: 2 years
Main Tasks
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As a merchandiser it is her responsibility to create and update pricing docs and order codes. She will import her files into Nebula and enter a go live time for a Jet case that will be assigned to Nebula.
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She has to update the information in Nebula for eg. during campaigns when she has to amend money offs she will look through her previous files for the pricing information.
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She has to coordinate with the MerchOps team in case of any corrections to be made in the OC files.
Motivations
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She wants to be able to search for input docs easily without having to sort through too many files.
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She would prefer that only the latest version of the file is shown to her.
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She should easily be able to make changes to her order codes in terms of pricing and other content on the timeline that she has decided.
Frustrations
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If she has to make changes to the order codes, she has to upload a new file every time which creates a new jet case which creates a Nebula Report. She has to sort through too many files to be able to refer to any of the previous files.
MerchOps team member
Sita Sharma
Location: AMER Region
Duration of use: 1 year
Main Tasks
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She has to download the briefing file from the Jet case she is assigned from the merchandiser and then processes it through Nebula DB. If it passes all the checkpoints she then shares it with the rest of the team
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In the case of any error with the file they reach out to business or write to admin
Motivations
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She wants to be able to find the latest file.
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She wants to be able to find specific OCs.
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She wants to be able to complete checks on order codes.
Frustrations
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There are too many files uploaded by the Merchandising team which makes it confusing to sort through and find the correct file.
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She occasionally needs to search for specific order code files for troubleshooting purposes right now for which there is no functionality.
Analyst in CSB Merchandising team
Kento Oguri
Location: APJ Region
Duration of use: 2 years
Main Tasks
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He will access Nebula through the backend API for staging and production audits.
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He will upload the document to Pdart which will grab information from Nebula (this will be automated in the future)
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He will sometimes download a file for investigation on an ad hoc basis. This will not fall under the regular staging and production.
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If OCs have been inactive for more than seven days, he will not consider it in validation anymore.
Motivations
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He wants to be able to find the latest file..
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He wants to be able to find the coupon conditions.
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He wants to be able to complete checks on order codes.
Frustrations
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He has to download the entire file from Nebula even if they want the information of just one order code.
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If there is a discount in the form of a coupon, the conditions attached to this coupon are scattered and not in one place.
Task Flows
Search OC/ Jet ID - MerchOps and Quality
Iterations
I went through five stages of iteration before I formally created interactive prototypes to test with users. Throughout this process of iteration, I was constantly in touch with my users and making changes based on their feedback.
The main points to keep in mind were -
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Some data points in the table were of greater importance than the others, so, to reduce cognitive load of my users I created a "list view" and an "expanded view".
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Bulk Editing was a key feature required for the user flows if only a few order codes needed changing depending on performance.
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Order codes need to be separated into production and staging view.
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Merchandisers are the only ones able to edit Order Codes.
Task for Testing - Merchandisers
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Task 1 - The XPS 14 2 in 1 laptop(BN37715) in the business segment is back in stock. Please update this information.
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Task 2 - Apply a discount of 15% to all Inspiron 3000 series laptops in the business segment for the second week of August 2021.
Task for Testing - MerchOps and Quality
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MerchOps - Download the order code information for Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop(BN37715) in the business segment in the US.
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Quality - Add a comment that tells DMA to ignore the option discount of Inspiron Laptop 15 3000(BN37725) in the business segment in US.
Search OCs
Since MerchOps and Quality members are not allowed to edit order codes, search is the main feature they require.
Affinity Mapping
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Main Insights and changes from Affinity Mapping
Edit OC Location
Most users assumed that the edit OC option would be in the three dot menu.
Interstitial Screens are too similar
Users did not realize that they needed to go ahead to the requests and actually submit the requests to complete the task.
I changed the visual design of the screens to make it appear differently to the Search OC page. Users can also submit requests without having to enter a specific request.
Home Screen needed
The Search OC page puts forward a lot of information to the users to digest without any introduction.
I created a home screen that moved the subpages of lines of business from the nav bar to the main page. Users can go to any other line of business through the nav bar in the rest of the pages.
Options bar was not noticeable
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Most users did not see the bar as the color was the same as the background and they blended with each other.
User flow is not completed
The success bar was a notification that users didn't read
Comments in Quality flyout
Since the comments in Quality are set instructions, the input field is now a dropdown list.
