Details

Scope of work

Heuristics audit
Competitive landscape analysis

User interviews
Information architecture and wireframes

UX/UI Design
Developer handoff

Challenges

Film production companies often spend the production budget prior to the beginning of shooting in a very short amount of time. Purchase orders allows these businesses the flexibility and control needed when purchasing products and services from external vendors.

Business Goals

Switch to a web-based platform that allows access via multiple device types without special setup or training
Create a flexible purchase order approval process
Give users actionable real-time feedback through multiple electronic channels
Optimize crew onboarding per project

Pain Points

Through interviews and user journey mapping, the following pain points surfaced:

Different approval processes between production companies and projects (e.g. Game of Thrones vs Veep)
Surprise, unknown invoices; going over budget
Difficult to use purchase order systems, especially for the non-accounting user groups
Restrictive distribution channels (often only paper - leading to complicated paper trails)

Approach

Early discussions with the business stakeholders revealed internal teams were not entirely aligned on processes and the difficulties customers experience when working with purchase orders. In order to bridge the gaps in knowledge and help drive consensus for all parties involved, I started with:

Heuristic audit of involved personas and channels
Competitive landscape research
Information gathering of known technical constraints
Interviews: I spoke to half a dozen people from film production companies from each of the preliminarily identified persona groups.
Mapping the current user journey

Building persona-based flowcharts to map out the overall architecture of the MVP enabled collaboration, engagement and discovery of opportunities with client stakeholders.