Automated Global Shipping Forecasts

A leading sea shipping logistics company in Singapore, operating in 100+ countries, struggled with manual Excel-based forecasting, leading to thousands of human errors and delayed decision-making. To enhance forecast accuracy and operational efficiency, they sought an automated solution.

Working with a development team in India, I led user research and problem definition to establish clear requirements before development.

  • Logistic backend dashboard for 100+ nations.
  • 1 UX researcher+ 2 Designers
  • Increase task efficiency for 100%
pil screen mockup

The Challenge

The operations team struggled with manual data extraction from their Logistics Management System (LMS) into Excel, a process consuming over a day. This inefficiency resulted in delayed business decisions, frequent human errors leading to financial loss, and a critical lack of real-time insights for proactive action. My goal was to transform this chaotic system into a streamlined dashboard solution.

My Role

To tackle these challenges, my role was to lead the UX research and define the scope of a new digital forecasting tool, working closely with the engineering team in India. Our aim was clear: to reduce manual effort and errors, improve data visualization for quicker insights, and enable real-time updates for better decision-making.

Brainstorming

Key Research

Identifying Pain Points through Interview

To gain a deep understanding of user challenges and inform my design strategy, I initiated a comprehensive research phase. This involved conducting interviews with seven individuals across key roles: three field agents and four HQ agents. This distinction was crucial: field agents provided insights from the ground, where they directly managed operations, while HQ agents offered a broader perspective on centralized processes and data aggregation.

My research revealed that data accuracy problems were primarily due to inconsistencies in the data entry process.

Understanding Data Process by Contextual Inquiry

I performed contextual inquiries with HQ agents to really see how they manage data in the excel sheet. I observed their daily routines of generating and reviewing information, noting that each agent is responsible for monitoring over 20 countries. While I occasionally asked questions for clarity on specific numbers, I made sure to step back and let their natural process unfold, allowing me to understand their everyday data capture methods.

This shows the possible manual errors while  investigating the numbers between systems.

Structuring Information by Card Sorting

To collaboratively define dashboard concepts and understand feature categorization, I led a remote card sorting workshop with stakeholders on Miro. This approach ensured alignment and informed the logical grouping of functionalities.

Define

Key Action

To ensure a shared understanding and technical feasibility, I kicked off the design process by drafting a sitemap. This helped clarify the dashboard's scope and facilitated crucial discussions with internal engineers regarding potential technical challenges with the existing database.

During these discussions, I also evaluated technical constraints related to capturing real-time data, particularly considering potential latency from the current Logistics Management System. To effectively communicate the research-backed design direction to stakeholders, I developed and used low- fi wireframes. These visualizations were invaluable in illustrating the intended user experience and aligning everyone on the desired outcome.

Developing Style Guide

I created a comprehensive style guide for the design, incorporating the organisation's existing brand colours. This guaranteed alignment with stakeholders' vision and delivered the essential flexibility and scalability needed for future solutions.

RESULTs

Feedback

Brought In
£20K
Field Agent Tracking APP Design
Brought In
£13K
Logistic Tracking Research Project
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£22K
PIL ECR Data Visualisation Phase 2
Brought In
£30K
Shipping automation Phase 2

Concept of Art

Pil bar chart image PIl pie chart image Pil line graph

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