From Frustration to Foundation: Rethinking a Mission-Critical Internal Tool
Challenge
A global automotive manufacturer ran its entire vehicle configuration and production data process through a single internal system: the authoritative source of record for what gets built, in which variant, for which market. Hundreds of people across R&D, Quality Management, Sales, and Manufacturing relied on it daily. But the system was slow to the point of being unusable, riddled with bugs, and embedded in a fragmented landscape of more than a dozen interconnected tools. Three distinct user groups, each with fundamentally different workflows and mental models, were all struggling with the same broken foundation. The organisation needed a research-backed answer to a hard question: what should the next version of this system actually be?
My Role
I led the engagement as Design Director at a digital product consultancy, working with a team of three UX designers over eight weeks. My responsibility spanned project direction, research design, stakeholder alignment, and the synthesis of findings into a strategic vision the client could act on.
Activities
- Multiple workshops to surface assumptions and define research questions
- Mapped the full stakeholder landscape: all departments, roles, and system dependencies
- Conducted in-depth user interviews across four sites
- Synthesised findings into distinct user archetypes including pain points and needs
- Co-creation workshop with stakeholders to identify and prioritise opportunities
- Developed three evolution stages for a future system
Outcome
The research gave the organisation something it had lacked: a shared, evidence-based picture of what was broken and why. Told from the perspective of the people doing the actual work. The strategic vision we developed became the foundation for initiating a full redesign programme, with a clear roadmap from stabilisation through to a modern, integrated platform.