CONTRACTS
Product design and research to make contract management more productive, intuitive, and efficient across the firm.
October 2023 – Present
Summary
Challenge
Managing contracts during a construction project may sound simple, but in a AEIP firm of 1,700+ employees with 200+ active projects, it can feel like the wild wild west. Leaving the people who rely on these contracts everyday to do their job in a world of confusion. When a small midwestern firm with a few offices grows into a global firm with projects happening across every time zone, DLR Group made a conscious choice to leverage technology to help their admin better manage project contracts.
DLR Group’s contract management process is fragmented across software, files, and emails, making contract location and status extremely difficult to track.
My Contributions
DLR Group Administration approached our team with an idea to improve the overall contract management experience. The core of the challenge was to “improve how contracts are being managed across the firm” which first involved creating a singular location for different internal parties to go to locate and browse a contract. The second half was to understand how legal and finance interact with a contract throughout the course of a project and ensure this tool will accommodate every step of the process.
Client
DLR Group
Omaha, NE, US
Services
- Redlining
- Heuristic Analysis
- User Research
- Interviews
- Persona Development
- Journey Mapping & Userflows
- Wire-framing & Prototyping
- Usability Testing
- Findings Analysis, Synthesis, & Implementation
- Visual Design
- Interaction Design
- Motion Design
- Development Handoff & Coordination
Impact
Both the initial launch and further iterations produced great results and helped the company become profitable.
+30%
Faster Contract Retrieval
~10-20 min
Saved per Contract
~$
Saved a Year
100%
Coverage of Contract Lifecycle Stages
87.5
Net Promoter Score
89.4
System Usability Score
Solution
Our solution not only increased productivity but was able to improve the overall workflow. We were able to take a rough proof of concept engineering had created, and transform it into a web app that felt familiar, intuitive, and efficient.
Desktop View
Mobile View
CASE STUDY
Coming Soon!
01
Introduction
Project Background
Managing contracts during a construction project may sound simple, but in a AEIP firm of 1,700+ employees with 200+ active projects, it can feel like the wild wild west. Leaving the people who rely on these contracts everyday to do their job in a world of confusion.
DLR Group Administration approached our team with an idea to improve the overall contract management experience. We were able to take a rough proof of concept they had created, and transform it into a web app that felt familiar, intuitive, and efficient. Our solution not only increased productivity but was able to improve the overall workflow.
The Client
DLR Group Admin is a small but mighty part of the overall enterprise department. They are a lean, mostly senior group of individuals that are responsible for managing the financial, legal, and staffing needs of a global architecture firm that has well over 1,700 employees and 200+ new projects a year.
When a small midwestern firm with a few offices grows into a global firm with projects happening across every time zone, DLR Group made a conscious choice to leverage technology to help their admin better manage project contracts.
The Problem
DLR Group’s contract management process is fragmented across software, files, and emails, making contract location and status extremely difficult to track.
The core of the challenge was to “improve how contracts are being managed across the firm” which first involved creating a singular location for different internal parties to go to locate and browse a contract. The second half was to understand how legal and finance interact with a contract throughout the course of a project and ensure this tool will accommodate every step of the process.
Evaluation of the Proof of Concept
Redlining, Heuristic Analysis, Usability Testing
Research & Discovery
Interviews, Persona Development, and Journey Mapping
Ideation & Design
Userflow, Sketches, Layout & Flow, Prototypes
User Testing
Usability Testing, Findings Analysis & Synthesis, Feedback Implementation
Design Refinement
Visual Design, Interaction Design, Motion Design
The Approach
After meeting with the key stakeholders, we found out they already had a proof of concept developed for a tool that they envisioned would reshape the contract management process. Keeping this in mind we came up with a plan that was part discovery and part validating their existing idea.
02
Evaluation
Interface Redlining
Having a proof of concept as a starting point was a huge head start for us. Not only did they have a clickable piece of software but a requirements document that was a mile long. As I started recruiting people to interview about to better understand the contract management process and test the current tool, I took some time to do my own redlining and heuristic evaluation to get a feel for the decisions that had been made up to this point.
Home Page
Search Results
Project View
Document View
Summary
One general search for everything.
03
Research
Initial Discovery
Before attempting to redesign the interface based off redlines alone, I decided to do some research to validate my findings. I also wanted to understand who our key user groups were, if CMS was currently solving any problems for them, and also get a feel of the overall usability of the proof of concept the team had put together.
Research Goals:
- Understand who our target user groups are
- Understand what problems CMS is currently solving / what benefits it offers our user.
- Get a picture of how well CMS can integrate into a user’s daily workflow and it’s overall usefulness.
- Identify how effectively users navigate and utilize the features of CMS for managing and tracking contracts.
- Understand the how efficient the search and filtering system is for projects and documents.
Read the entire research plan and questions.
Key Learnings
After synthesizing my research results, some key finding surfaced as focus areas for the solution. Some are more user focused and some relate to the current functionality of the proof of concept.
User Insights
Create a Single Source of Truth
Project contracts are scattered across different platforms, folders and email threads. Users need one place to go to find project contracts.
“I find myself always needing to track down contracts. Different teams save them in different places” – Interviewee
Eliminate Inconsistencies
Things like naming conventions, document versioning, use of dash numbers and what’s considered an amendment is inconsistent across different regions, offices, and employees.
“Naming conventions are inconsistent at best, versioning gets out of control, and there’s lots of dash numbers and amendments” – Interviewee
Incorporate the Entire Process
The platform should be able to incorporate all of the steps of a contract like a checklist. Starting with it’s first draft, all the amendments, and approvals, to finally being fully executed.
“We need to know at any given moment who has reviewed a contract and what stage of the process it sits.” – Interviewee
Usability of Current Proof of Concept
Improve Global and Interior Navigation
The document view is buried three pages into the navigation. The purpose and function of the tabs at the top of the project page is unclear. Tabs include views, sort and an action.
“I just want to find the document quick!” – Interviewee
Improve Ability to Find Projects & Documents
Users are unsure if they need to populate all fields before they search, it’s not easily accessible from all pages, must click search button to trigger. No way to filter down document list within a project.
“Why isn’t my search loading?” – Interviewee
Create an Intentional Visual Hierarchy
Document headers are buried in a small type size within a grey bar. The inputs take up half the document page. Actions are below the fold.
“The header should pop more, I had a hard time finding the information” – Interviewee
Persona Development
In talking with the primary stakeholder and deeply familiarizing myself with the contract process in DLR Group, two key personas surfaced as the main user groups for CMS – Financial Admin and Legal Admin.
Reframing the Problem
How might we streamline DLR Group’s contract management process so users can easily locate, track, and manage contracts across systems without confusion or delay?
Document Management Process Using the Proof of Concept
Mapping out the user journey for managing a document within the team’s proof of concept helped me to identify some key pain points and also improvement opportunities for a future solution.
Potential New Features
Singular, global search.
User specific project list with recents and favorites.
Extensive document filtering and sorting.
Document categorization within a project.
Consistent document naming conventions.
Project level document management options.
Document routing system.
Notifications to communicate document status.
04
Ideation
User Flow
As a user, I want to find a project specific contract and update its information. I also want to be able to share a link to the contract with my team and upload additional contracts to the project.
Sketches
I sketched at least 5 versions of each screen before I chose final layouts, ensuring I explored a range of possibilities before deciding on that I would bring to digital. The majority of the screens address at least 1 pain point from user research.
Initial Design Decisions
As I brought the designs into Figma, I worked to further flesh out screens based on all feedback and findings from the user research.
Project View
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Contract Info
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Project Search
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Sharing a Contract
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Contract Upload
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Contract Management – Iteration 1 – Desktop
Mobile Adaptations
In translating the interactions to mobile, I had to make a couple adaptations outside of resizing and re-stacking. The mobile and search functions needed to work in a way that felt more native to mobile.
Navigation
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Document Info
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Contract Management – Iteration 1 – Mobile
05
Testing
Usability Study
Now it was time to get some user feedback on the design. I conducted live 1-on-1 usability studies with 6 participants where they were encouraged to explore the tool and also complete a series of tasks while I observed their behavior. I wanted to evaluate the navigation of the platform, their overall understanding of the content and terminology, the usefulness of the different features, and finally uncover any challenges.
Research Goals:
- Understand how intuitive it is for a user to navigate through the platform, specifically locate a document within a project and access additional information.
- Get a feel for their overall understanding of the ux writing including labels and also any iconography being used.
- Indicate the usefulness of the different features like upload, share, dash view and how much value they bring to a typical workflow.
- Uncover any challenges or pain points in a user’s workflow as they are using the tool.
KPI’s:
- Time on Task
- Task Success Rate
- User Error Rates
- Error Recovery Rate
- SUS
- NPS
Initial Reaction
- Users stated the tool is easy to understand, navigate, and visually appealing.
- Users appreciated the clean interface, intuitive menus, and diverse colors in the toolbar.
- In comparison to Vantage Point(current ERP), the new tool stands out positively.
"Very easy to understand and very easy on the eyes."
Employee Owner.
"I think its a very clean looking system."
Employee Owner.
Metrics
Net Promoter Score
Key Findings
After synthesizing and analyzing all of the user feedback, a few key findings surfaced.
Search Not Discoverable or Extensible
Participants (primarily Microsoft Office users) found the search bar hard to find and were frustrated by needing to tap enter to reveal any results.
“I don’t see a search feature, which I would normally use” – User
Approval Process is Not Yet Present
Currently, the tool does not offer users a way to initiate and move through the contract approval workflow.
“There has to be an approval process. “Action” should come before “Status”. We need to know the behind the scenes workflow” – User
Additional Actions are Necessary for Document Management
Users want the ability to not only share but download and delete one or more documents at a time within a project.
What if I’m cleaning up a project and want to delete 10 documents?” – User
06
Initial Solution
Updating to the Elevate Design System
in parallel to the evolution of CMS as an application, my team was creating a design system to unify all 6 of our enterprise applications called Elevate.
Design System Implementation + Incorporating User Feedback
Because of the details of the updates, I was able to incorporate all feedback and update the CMS to the new design system at the same time.
First Time User Experience
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Project View
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Project Search Results
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Contract Actions
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Contract Approval
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Dark Mode
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Contract Management – Iteration 2 – Desktop
Mobile Adaptations
In translating the interactions to mobile, I had to make a couple adaptations outside of resizing and re-stacking. The mobile and search functions needed to work in a way that felt more native to mobile.
First Time UX + Search
Lorem
Approvals
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Contract Actions
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Dark Mode
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Contract Management – Iteration 2 – Mobile
In translating the interactions to mobile, I had to make a couple adaptations outside of resizing and re-stacking. The mobile and search functions needed to work in a way that felt more native to mobile.
07
Post-Launch Testing
UAT Product Environment Testing
Since the product had been in users hands for about eight months, myself and the Product Owner decided it was time to evaluate how well the tool was working for its key users groups. We rounded up some SME’s and ran them through usability tests designed around their workflows. The different roles we included were Project Admin, Project Accountant, and Accounts Receivable Specialist.
Research Goals:
- Evaluate the functionality and user experience of the Contracts platform by it’s core users and understand areas in which are in need of improvement.
- Understand how each key user group is using the tool in their day to day work and also get a feel for frequency of usage and any time savings.
- Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of key functions like uploading contracts, editing contract information, and submitting for approval.
- Uncover features that are not yet created that would aid a user in their workflow.
KPI’s:
- Task Success Rate
- User Error Rates
- User Satisfaction score
- SUS
- NPS
Overall Impression
- Users appreciate having a one-stop-shop for multiple departments to be able to view and interact with contracts.
- Users value the visual organization and consistent naming conventions within the platform.
- All users find the platform to be intuitive and easy to use.
- Users feel like CMS has improved contract management and the approval process.
"I love the system. It's fabulous. I don't think I've worked with anything better."
Employee Owner.
"When it rolled out and I was able to play with it, I really liked it. It was a breath of fresh air."
Employee Owner.
"The Contracts platform is extremely easy to use. I mean, it's self-explanatory."
Employee Owner.
Usage & Time Savings
- Majority of users reported using the system daily, typically multiple times a day.
- Majority of users stated that the platform saves them time in their daily workflow due to all contracts being in one place, the visual presentation / organization, and streamlining the approval process.
- Some users did report issues with the loading speed of the platform and it occasionally being down.
"I use CMS daily. Sometimes 10-20 times a day."
Employee Owner.
"The CMS system is so much more efficient, and you know exactly where the contract is."
Employee Owner.
"The visual presentation of CMS helps me know that I've completed my job."
Employee Owner.
Metrics
Net Promoter Score
Key Findings
After synthesizing and analyzing all of the user feedback, a few key findings surfaced.
Allow for Flexibility in File Uploading
Users wanted to be able to populate all contract information including project fee association and be able to initiate an approval upon upload. They also wanted to input additional information in order to help them better understand the document type.
“I think the ability to go in there and indicate the single upload is being subdivided between different project numbers wasn’t intuitive and a lot of people missed it.” – User
Increase Accountability and Transparency in Contract Approvals
100% of users stated they want to be able to track document history and activity within the platform.
in order to run reports, address accountability issues, and better understand the status of a contract throughout the approval process.
“The only major thing I would say missing right now that I can think of is contract history/activity so we can see when something’s uploaded, when it’s been submitted and when it actually gets approved.” – User
Enhance Document Management and Identification
Users stated they want additional info in the document list cell such as format, amendment number, and discipline. For some users, the relationship between single and bulk actions wasn’t intuitive. Also, to most users the dash dropdown was not discoverable.
“I would think I can go where I delete one contract to delete multiple contracts” – User
Capture & Maintain User Preferences
100% of users asked for the system to remember preferences such as if they had resized any of the panels, leaving the info panel open on a contract, and specific filters they had activated.
“Once you click show approval status, I wish it would stay that way for any and all projects moving forward because that’s a very important button for us” – User
08
Final Solution
Using 8 Months of Usage to Define the Next Phase of the Contracts Platform
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First Time User Experience
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First Time User Experience
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First Time User Experience
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First Time User Experience
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Contract Management – Iteration 3 – Desktop
Mobile Adaptations
In translating the interactions to mobile, I had to make a couple adaptations outside of resizing and re-stacking. The mobile and search functions needed to work in a way that felt more native to mobile.
Navigation
To work for mobile, navigation had to become a full screen experience that is broken into two steps. In first step a user selects the broader category, and in the second they select the pet type. They always have the ability to navigate back and forth between steps.
Navigation
To work for mobile, navigation had to become a full screen experience that is broken into two steps. In first step a user selects the broader category, and in the second they select the pet type. They always have the ability to navigate back and forth between steps.
Contract Management – Iteration 2 – Mobile
In translating the interactions to mobile, I had to make a couple adaptations outside of resizing and re-stacking. The mobile and search functions needed to work in a way that felt more native to mobile.
09
Conclusion
Reflection
CMS highlighted how fragmented processes can slow productivity, even for tasks as fundamental as contract management. Observing legal, finance, and project teams revealed inefficiencies and points of friction that a digital tool could resolve. Transforming a rough proof of concept into an intuitive, familiar web app allowed us to streamline workflows, save time, and increase overall confidence in the process. This project demonstrated how design can organize complexity into clarity, making daily tasks more efficient and reliable.
Key Takeaway
CMS reinforced that design is not just about aesthetics—it’s about reducing noise and aligning shared workflows. Simplifying processes and centralizing information builds trust while improving efficiency and user satisfaction.