Redesign and optimization of Oracle inventory process

My role

UX/UI designer, researcher

Conceptual project, April 2024

Project overview

This project aims to redesign an existing inventory app to improve the user experience for its target audience. The redesigned app will be more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly, allowing users to manage their inventory with greater ease and accuracy.

Problem statement

The current inventory app suffers from UX issues that hinder its effectiveness for users.

Confusing interface: The layout is a bit cluttered and lacks clear visual hierarchy, making it difficult for users to find what they need.
Inefficient workflows: Adding, editing, and searching for inventory items is cumbersome and time-consuming.
Limited functionality: The app lacks features that users find essential for managing their inventory effectively (e.g., barcode scanning, low-stock alerts, reporting tools).

This redesign project will address these problems by creating a user-centered design that prioritizes:

Clarity and ease of use: The interface will be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing users to complete tasks quickly and efficiently.
Streamlined workflows: Adding, editing, and searching for inventory items will be optimized for minimal effort.
Enhanced functionality: The app will offer features that meet the specific needs of the target user group.

By addressing these issues, the redesigned inventory app will empower users to manage their inventory more effectively, saving time, reducing errors, and ultimately achieving their business or personal goals.

Field observations

I cannot emphasize enough how many times my coworkers and I clicked on the "Back" button instead of the scanner because of how tiny they both are and how close to each other. And when that happens the app offers you a very unexpected question in a pop up form. It askes you if you want to cancel your changes instead of saving them as pretty much any other app. And when you click "Yes" naturally all your changes are lost and you have to spend tons of time to recount everything again.

User persona

As a day to day worker Maya is sometimes overwhelmed with the amount of tasks she has to perform. Inventory is one of them and one of the most crucial ones because it impacts pretty much every aspect of the business. So Maya has to be able to conduct inventory as fast and efficient as possible and at the same time help all the customers coming to the store.

Before and after

Before: Login box is crowded with all the info there. And then you have to go to a second screen.

Before: Input box is too small for a lot of users, "OK" button needed to be larger as well. Design is inconsistent for both screens.

After: One screen, clear directions, less clicks.

I have redacted some unnecessary screens to reduce the amount of clicks. So now login and password are on the same screen and the input boxes are slightly larger. I took in consideration the wide age range of people working at this company, and some users complained about input boxes and keyboard's buttons being too small for their fingers. And I wanted to increase visibility for people with vision challenges.

Before: Keyboard being on the top is very inconvenient to hold the device and input numbers at the same time if you are trying to hold the device in one hand and product in the other.

After: So I moved the list of the products to the top and put keyboard on the bottom. Plus I added scanner to the bottom as well and further from the "Back" button.

Before: To save your changes you had to go to a hamburger menu which had only one thing to click on "Save & Exit".

After: I put "Save changes" on the keyboard for an easier access.

Before: The most frustrating part is this screen where you expect to see "Do you want to SAVE your changes" and click "Yes" cancelling all the inventory changes you just made.

After: So instead I gave users a choice between saving changes or going back and continue counting.

HI-FI prototype

A quick look at the most important user flow that every store employee uses on a daily basis.

Main takeaways

It is very important to be able to conduct inventory very fast and do not have to do it all over again.

It is also substantially important to have a very simple and intuitive interface so the app could easily be used by tenured employees as well as newly trained ones.

Future goals

Conduct A/B testing comparing two versions of the app, the original one and my first prototype.
Increase contrast for the text and buttons to help vision impaired users to be able to interact with the app at ease.
Do another round of user testing to improve usability.

Check out my other projects:

Responsive redesign of a non-profit website

Community based plant share & exchange app

Responsive platform for generating DnD quests

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