Bosch Contract Management Platform

Summer internship 2023 - The B2B contract platform is built from 0 to 1 and is applied for invoice and contract matching, cross-department communication, and contract management systems.

It finally got user satisfaction rate 4.5, UI satisfaction rate 4.3.

→ Final Prototypes

My role

UI/UX designer, UX researcher

Team

2 UX designers, 1 UI designer

Duration

April - July 2023

Tools

Figma

Every month, the Accounts Payable (AP) department receives over hundreds of invoices. They need to clarify the invoice service type, match it with the existing contract, and then make the payment on time. The AP department often experiences payment delays due to contract issues. This can affect the AP’s monthly KPI and cause delays for our clients in receiving their money on time.

Pain 1

Too many contracts from different sources prevent AP from matching them with current invoices

Pain 2

AP can't find responsible people through the invoice and OA system

AP needs to use up to 15 platforms to communicate, find invoices, and check information to complete their tasks

Pain 3

  • Conduct user research across different departments and tools to understand workflows.

  • Analyze users’ pain points from various departments.

  • Design the B2B platform from scratch, ensuring usability without technological barriers.

  • Develop a solution to satisfy most users; if not possible, prioritize the primary functions.

We executed a 12-week end-to-end design process to deeply understand the pain points of three main user groups and address them in one platform. Users can upload, edit, and manage invoices and contracts on this platform.

UI satisfaction rate

User satisfaction rate

Platform from 4 in 1

Structured interview script

We conducted a stakeholder workshop with 16 participants to clarify the project's target user groups. After the meeting, we aligned on the project goals and identified three main interview groups: Accounts Payable (AP), Tax, and User Department (UD).

We then interviewed 8 key stakeholders, including 3 from AP, 3 from Tax, and 2 from UD.

Interview

AP Department

TAX Department

User Department(UD)

Based on the research and findings, here are the goals I aim to achieve:

  • A platform that shows updated invoices and contracts with auto-filled information for AP

  • Auto-matching functions for existing contracts and invoices

  • Simplified cross-border communication process

  • Provide standard contract information and tips to third-party users (UD)

Understand users’ real needs, rather than just what they say

In our interview, users mentioned wanting a progress bar to check the status of payments. After designing it, we discovered they preferred to be notified when it was their turn to take action, rather than frequently logging in to check the status.

Through this process, I learned the importance of understanding the intent behind users' words, instead of simply implementing every suggestion they make.

Simplifying problems in complex B2B context

During the interviews, each participant provided different contexts for the issues they faced, making it challenging to address, especially in a B2B environment involving three different departments and an unfamiliar finance field. To tackle this, I focused on simplifying the tasks and integrating them into a single, cohesive workflow. This approach proved to be very effective.