Reducing Contractor Wait Times, Automating Order Status Updates, and Centralizing Store Operations with Customer-Centric Design.

The order history component of the OMS project was originally released as a standalone pilot, separate from order creation. However, the final integrated solution merges order history with order capture, allowing store associates to:

• View order history by account within the order creation flow.
• Access order history as a separate entry point without spinning up a new order.

Because of this evolution in scope, we will address order history UI flows in the Ideate stage, where we present assembled screen designs and flows.

Reevaluating the Order Management Experience for Real-World Efficiency

With a clear understanding of the challenges facing order management in Sherwin-Williams stores, we moved into the ideation phase.

At this point in the project, I stepped into a unique role—not just as a designer but as an advocate for user-centered problem-solving. The team I was working with included business analysts, product owners, and domain experts—all highly knowledgeable in their respective areas but not trained in software design, information architecture, or interaction design.

Much of the early work on this system had been shaped by business requirements and assumptions about how software “should” work rather than how employees in stores actually needed it to work. My job was to bridge that gap—not by dictating changes but by guiding the team toward a more effective solution through visual exploration and explanation.

This first Figma board presents a critical moment in the ideation process—the point at which I began to unwind the inherited design and shift the team’s thinking toward a more streamlined, task-focused solution.

At the core of the inherited design was an Account Profile page that functioned more like a dashboard than a workflow-driven interface. The issue wasn’t just that it contained a lot of information—it was that it attempted to support too many interactions within a single screen.

The original comp included at least 11 different interactions on the page, giving users access to:

Context of Use: Why Order Capture Must Stand Alone from Order History, Open Orders, and Returns

The order capture workflow is the single most used workflow across Sherwin-Williams brick-and-mortar stores. It is the primary software interaction for processing every phone call and in-person order, meaning that it must remain as streamlined and focused as possible.

While order history, open orders, and returns are important tools, they serve a different function—they are stand-alone information retrieval workflows that must be accessible from the top level of the application. When the system loads, store employees need clear entry points for:

• Creating an order
• Viewing order history
• Viewing open orders
• Managing returns

These workflows are designed to be quick, task-based stand-alone applications, allowing employees to retrieve the specific piece of information they need, complete the task, and move on—all while handling real-world constraints like customers standing in line or calling in with urgent requests.

Why These Workflows Should Not Be Embedded in Order Capture

Since order history, open orders, and returns already exist as dedicated workflows, there is no reason to duplicate them inside order capture. Embedding these workflows into the most critical workflow of the entire organization would introduce unnecessary complexity for the following reasons:

2. Unnecessary Duplication Creates UI and IA Bloat

• Since order history, open orders, and returns already exist as top-level workflows, embedding them into order capture would duplicate functionality in an unnecessary way.
• Instead of adding complexity to one workflow that is used across all stores, it makes more sense to let employees access these workflows separately when needed.

Design Implication: Keep Order Capture Streamlined While Enabling Smart Workflow Transitions

Rather than embedding order history, open orders, and returns into order capture, a better solution is to:

• Keep order capture a focused, high-speed order entry tool without unnecessary distractions.
• Provide clear top-level access to information retrieval workflows so they can be used as needed without interfering with order creation.
• Enable seamless transitions from information retrieval workflows to order creation when necessary—without disrupting the efficiency of the core order capture workflow.

By structuring the system this way, we maintain a clean, efficient user experience while still allowing for convenience when retrieving past order information. This ensures that order capture remains the most optimized, high-frequency workflow in the organization while still supporting other necessary but secondary functions in the system.

Refining Order Capture: A Convincing Solution for Efficiency

Optimizing Order Capture for Speed and Efficiency

Introduction to the Final Round of Design

With the final solution defined, my focus shifted to demonstrating how this design capitalized on the strengths of Sherwin-Williams’ workforce—speed, memorization, and efficient keyboard-driven workflows. Rather than producing an interactive prototype, I created a journey map and flow visualization to illustrate the tool’s usability in context.

This deliverable effectively communicated how the new order capture system streamlined key interactions:

The prototype addressed several critical challenges, including:

1. Improved Communication: By integrating feedback loops into the UI, we reduced reliance on external tools for collaboration.
2. Streamlined Information Architecture: This enabled users to navigate effortlessly between pending and historical requests while maintaining focus on priority actions.
3. Optimized Decision-Making Processes: Enhanced filters, search functionalities, and visual indicators ensured users could approve or reject requests with confidence and speed.