General Motors: Building the Workload Management Dashboard
Project Overview
During my internship at General Motors, I led the design and development of the workload management platform to create a centralized platform for managers to monitor the team's workload, make informed decisions on effective resource allocation, and increasing visibility across different teams.
However, the current database was inefficient and lacked accuracy; many managers stopped using the database and created their own siloed versions.
Challenge
The existing database suffered from slow response times and confusing navigation, preventing efficient use. Managers needed a replacement system, preferably in Excel, that could handle large data volumes with an intuitive UI.
"The current database is cumbersome and time-consuming to work with." - Manager Feedback
How might we...
help managers assign projects to their team quickly, and make more informed decisions about resource allocation?
Outcome
- Improved user adoption by 3.5x (from 11% to 77%)
- Increased database refresh speed by 80% (from 45s to 16s runtime)
- Reduced occupied space from 46MB to 3MB
- Gathered 40+ high-impact improvements from 5 in-depth UX tests.
Team
- Lina Lam: UX designer & engineer
- Sissi Ke: UX mentor
- Mark Campbell: manager
Learning
Wearing both the developer and designer hat.
Redesigning and coding the database from scratch was a major roadblock as the original code base was unsalvageable and undocumented. I learned Excel VBA with no prior coding experience.
Lots of process and research guides my designs for FHSA — the rest of the case study covers wonderful research, creative problem solving and architectural redesigns. But if you're in a time crunch, feel free to:
01 Diving Right In: Auditing the Platform
I interviewed Mark Campbell, my manager and a main user, to understand his pain points. The key issues were slow response time and confusing navigation.
Business Needs: Replace the Access database with an Excel-based solution (Userform and VBA) due to managers' familiarity with Excel and the need for large volume data processing and an intuitive UI.
02 Identifying Gaps
Managers had stopped using the database due to its inefficiency, creating siloed versions. The core need was a way to quickly assign projects and make informed resource allocation decisions.
03 Co-creating an Ideal Flow
To ensure intuitiveness, I co-created an ideal user flow with 3 managers. Goals: simplify task assignment and reduce input time.
04 Addressing Pain Points
04.01 Confusion with Buttons
"I don't need these buttons... all I need is to manage my projects, add a new project, add new team members and edit their information." - Mark
Original: Unclear button functionalities. Exploration #1: Recategorized into "manage projects" and "manage teams" flows. Feedback: Needed data visualization. Exploration #2: Added dynamic data visualization updating in real-time. Feedback: Needed a two-year view for long-term projects. Exploration #3: Horizontal chart showing monthly/weekly breakdowns. Feedback: Favored by majority.
Final Design: Main dashboard uses primary + secondary navigation. Four main buttons (edit/add users, edit/assign projects) reduce the learning curve.
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04.02 Finding Project is Time-Consuming
"There are about 5000 projects in the database, and I don't always remember the project number." - Mark
Original: Required knowing the project number to search. Exploration #4: Filter designs based on familiar criteria. Feedback: Preferred V2/V3; combination implemented.
Redesign: Filters allow searching with only ONE criteria, reducing cognitive load.
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04.03 Too Many Clicks to Assign Members
"It's extremely frustrating when you get redirected every time you assign someone, it's just really inefficient." - Mark
Original: Added members one at a time, redirecting after each addition. Redesign: Managers can add multiple members simultaneously without leaving the screen.
# Placeholder
04.04 What About Other Users?
Senior Engineer Leads needed a workload overview without editing capabilities to prevent accidental modifications.
Revised Dashboard: Unified button designs. Managers must click "Edit Project" to make changes. A new filter pop-up searches projects. Read-only view for leads.
# Placeholder
04.05 Too Long to Save
"I exited the database because it took too long to save." - Mark
Learned VBA, centralized backend data. Improved project search speed by 11x (39s to 3.5s).
05 Metrics
| Metric | Original | Redesign | |--------------------|------------|--------------| | User adoption | 11% | 77% | | Occupied space | 46 MB | 3 MB | | Runtime | 45 seconds | 16 seconds | | User satisfaction | unmeasured | To be updated |
06 Next Steps
- Adaptability: Design iterated due to technical limits, always keeping the ideal user flow in mind.
- Dual Role: Balancing developer and designer roles was challenging. Would componentize designs if more time were available.
- User Testing: Plan to conduct user testing with specific tasks and measure task-level satisfaction.
07 Learnings
Function First
Creating a detailed user flow early helped maintain focus on user goals amidst visual design details.
Stakeholder Relations
Learned to back up design decisions by explaining alignment with stakeholder objectives to gain buy-in.
Aim Big, Step Small
Learned to manage overwhelming feedback by specifying needs, evaluating feedback methodically, and staying focused.
Huge thank you to the Studio North team at GM for the challenging internship. This experience highlighted the importance of unbiased questions, strategic foresight, and iterative refinement.