Introduction

During my time in Microsoft I have worked on two separate teams due to a reshuffle. The first half of my time was spent in Next Generation Volume Licensing (NGVL) working on the multi billion dollar portal where enterprise customers bought Microsoft software. The second half of my time was spent on the Commercial Store User Experience team under the Universal Store Team where I designed for business customers.

Next Generation Volume Licensing (NGVL)

preorder

background info

Preorders are used by users to convert their existing software into a qualifying bundle and to also get a tax reduction on how much they pay. If the user converts their software without doing the preorder, they would be liable to pay the tax for the whole bundle, even on the software that they own. If the user does the preorder, they do not have to pay tax on the existing software that they own which gets converted into a bundle.

Problem: Preorders done today are done manually and take several days to complete.

Task: Come up with an online workflow to automate the solution for the user

Who I worked with: PM

whiteboarding

First, I sketched out as many solutions on the whiteboard as I could while concurrently thinking through the work flow from the point of view of the personas that our research team had developed. Next, I went through several ideas out with my PM and we ideated more on possible solutions. After that, I narrowed down our focus and then picked the one that provided the best experience for our users.

wireframes

DESIGN WINS

• Had auto complete for users when they were completing fields

• Autosave

• Having the SKU library only show package SKUs instead of the thousands that we currently have

• Calculated all the math for the users so they would not have to do it manually anymore

• Automatically grabbed information on the applicable software based upon the target package the user wanted to transition to

• Allowed users to bring in their seats from non-mpsa

• Allowed users to use seats of all their software even when they were not bought at the same time

SA Backdating

background info

Enterprise customers are not allowed a more than 30 days break in service, If that happens, the field user has to manually fill out a form to ask for permission to backdate the customer's subscription from the time their subscription expired to the time the customer wants to start their subscription again. 

Problem: Field users had to manually fill out a form to get approval to backdate a subscription.

Task: Come up with a work flow that enables users to get approval to backdate a subscription on the portal.

Who I worked with: PM

ideation

I took a look at the manual form and then started sketching out several ideas I had on the whiteboard, going through each workflow with specific personas in mind. A day later, I met with the PM assigned to this task and we went over the ideas I had sketched and also sketched out several of our own ideas together. After this was done, I picked the idea that would give our users the best experience.

wireframes

Design wins

• Field users no longer have to manually fill out a form on behalf of the customer to get approval for a break in service of software.

• This design will take advantage of the approval level being coded in the back end so that users do not need to figure out what approval level to send the concession to.
  

orders redesign

background info

I was tasked with an exploratory redesign of our orders flow in the Partner portal. I used the Microsoft Web Framework for a lot of the UI elements, and also improved the user experience by helping to automate the flow a step further.

Problem: Current order flow is outdated and has a lot of pain points

Task: Improve on the current order flow and redesign the flow

ideation

I sketched different solutions on a whiteboard, always remembering to keep our personas in mind. Then, I narrowed down different possibilities and picking the best options for the user.

wireframes

design wins

• Autocomplete

• Autosave

• Combined the three search boxes into one

• Added filters

• Reduced the amount of steps required for the user

renewals, unpaid reconciliations, and transitions

background info

Users were not able to renew orders, pay Microsoft a remaining balance, and change versions of their software on the portal. This design sought to remedy this issue and give users access to this functionality on the portal. 

Problem: Users had to manually renew, reconcile, and transition software

Task: Come up with a workflow to allow users to perform renewals, reconciliations, and transitions in the NGVL portal

Who I worked with: PM

Challenges: I inherited this design halfway through the design process and so some parts of the designs were signed off by stakeholders.

ideation

I sketched all my ideas out on a whiteboard and thought through the process from the point of view of the personas that we have. Then I would meet with the PM assigned to this work flow and we would go through the ideas I came up with, and improve them. After that, I would choose the best idea that would provide users the best experience possible.

wireframes

Design wins

• Allow users to renew, reconcile, and transition their seats rather than having to do it manually

• Users are able to see how many renewals and reconciliations they have remaining

• Users are able to renew at the package level

• Allow users to transition from a package to a component, or vice versa

• Allow users to transition between levels of software (e.g. Office E1 to E3)

• Allow users to transition from LSA to LSA

• Allow users to transition from SA to LSA
  
  
  

future state quoting

Background info

I was tasked to come up with a future exploratory state for the quoting flow. I explored different possibilities with a lead designer and together we looked at how we could provide an integrated experience for our personas, tailoring each one individually since they all have different needs. We had to keep in mind things like the size of the company, whether the user is an admin or not, whether they use a partner or they buy directly from Microsoft, and other variables.

ideation

I sketched out multiple ideas on the whiteboard with the design lead, and we both made sure to think about it from the perspectives of our personas. We explored how users go about the quoting process today, and what are the biggest pain points for them. We then transferred the best designs to lo-fi wireframes on balsamiq. In addition, I worked with a researcher who did a competitive analysis for us on the buy flow of other companies.

wireframes

design wins

• Users are able to collaborate directly with Microsoft sellers and partners

• Users are able to quickly share quotes and get feedback on them

• Microsoft users are able to quickly talk to Microsoft approvers

• Users know when it's better for them to order a few more seats in order to get a larger discount