From scattered documentation to a single interactive platform
A single digital platform replacing scattered process documentation across spreadsheets and documents.
The Gist
The Problem
In a large, multi-country organization, the knowledge needed to open a new store was spread across Word documents, spreadsheets, PDFs and shared drives. Often in several versions at the same time. Finding the current version meant looking in different places and then asking someone who'd know.
The business wanted a single digital platform that would make that information both easier to keep updated and easier to find.
One constraint shaped most of what I did. The structure of the underlying process, how each step connects to the next, was defined by the organization. My part was how people find their way through it.
Expansion knowledge lived across Word docs, spreadsheets, PDFs and shared drives, often in several versions at once. Finding the current one meant looking in several places.
The Journey
Learning the organization before designing anything
I interviewed users and stakeholders to understand their day to day needs. Two findings where consistant. People struggled to reach detailed information without feeling overwhelmed. And because it all lived in manual documents, there was no version anyone fully trusted.
At the same time, I did desk research to understand how the organization itself was structured and how information across different processes connected to each other.
From that I defined three user types, based on how differently people need to engage with the same content.
I also set up a recurring group of stakeholders from different functions and countries. This gave me fast feedback throughout the project.
Designing Navigation Around Different Needs
Based on the user types, I designed three ways to move through the same content. An interactive view for exploring the wider process. A menu for jumping straight to a known area. And search, for people who already knew what they needed.
As more content was added to the platform, search became a bigger focus. I worked with the developers to improve keywords, refine how results were ranked and rework how results were presented, so people could find one specific detail quickly.
Making shared content feel personal
The goal wasn't just to put documentation online. It was to make it feel relevant to each person using it. I designed a personal layer on top of the shared structure: saving specific items to your own list, notifications when something you care about changes and filtering by role.
Redesigning the Entry Point
In the earliest version, there was no dedicated homepage. People landed directly in the interactive process view. Feedback showed this made it hard to get oriented, especially for people newer to the process. I redesigned the entry point to orient people first. A welcoming overview, quick access to favorites and recent changes and clear paths for anyone who isn't sure where to start.
Designing the Admin Side as a Core Feature
One of the original problems was that the same piece of information often needed updating in more than one place and the updates didn't reach everyone who needed them. Fixing that properly meant one thing had to be true from day one: update it once and it updates everywhere.
So the admin tools were core functionality from day one. Updating content, tagging it for filtering, controlling access and communicating changes, all from one place.
The tagging turned out to matter well beyond this platform. Because the documentation is tagged and structured consistently, other internal tools can pull the same information into their own flows.
Outcome
I ran usability tests and a survey with users both before and after launch to validate direction. Both the tests and survey pointed the same way. New people got up to speed and there was one source of information in place of copies scattered around the organization.
Years after launch, the platform is still active and still evolving.
- Onboarding - new people got up to speed without being walked through it manually
- Navigation - less friction in a complex process
- Trust - one source instead of documentation spread across the organization
- Longevity - still active and still evolving.
Takeaways
Learning how a large, multi-country organization actually works
A big part of this project happened before I designed a single screen: getting into the organization and learning its "lingo." Without that, I couldn't have asked the right questions.
Building trust
Many people were used to working in spreadsheets and document and this asked them to trust a web-based platform instead. That's a big shift. Building trust meant communicating differently: less "here's a new tool," more "here's how this makes your day easier,". Using visuals and involving users and stakeholders in the design process.