# Purchase Order Management: Redesigning a complex enterprise experience to simplify purchase order workflows UX case study by Rita Omatsone, Senior UX & Product Designer. https://ritaomatsoneux.com/work/purchase-order-platform > A full UX redesign of Lowe's purchase order management system around four connected jobs: find an order, monitor all of them, stay informed about changes, and investigate the details. - **Domain:** Supply chain platform - **Year:** 2024 - **Platform:** Desktop web, responsive - **Role:** Lead Product Designer - **Users:** 2,500+ internal users in sourcing, logistics, finance and vendor management - **Scope:** Full UX redesign: search, dashboard analytics, notifications, PO details - **Platform:** Desktop web, responsive ## Results - **2,500+** employees rely on the redesigned platform - **< 30 s** to find a purchase order - **6.7/7** user satisfaction - **10K+** purchase orders, instantly filterable ## The challenge Purchase order management is the backbone of day-to-day operations. Internal teams need to find orders, review item information, monitor activity and understand changes. The existing system made all of that hard, and people had stopped trusting it. **What wasn't working** - **Fragmented workflows:** Tasks and related information were spread across disconnected screens and tools. - **Outdated search:** Finding the right purchase order took far too long. - **Little visibility:** It was hard to see the state of orders, stay on top of updates or review an order's history. - **Low adoption:** The experience wasn't meeting users' needs, and satisfaction was low. ![Current state: replenishment teams worked across TradeStone for imports, a shipper system and web forms, PO Direct for domestic orders and EDI with vendors, plus a green-screen terminal; a user quote says they waste more time looking for the right order than managing it](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/current-state-1200.webp) ## Understanding the experience Before redesigning anything, I looked at how people actually moved through the system and what they needed at each step. The work focused on the overall workflow, how information was organized, and how people reached and reviewed order data. Three questions framed the exploration. - **How do I find the right order?:** Search and discovery had to support people navigating a very large set of purchase orders. - **What is happening across my orders?:** Dashboard analytics could bring the right information into one central view. - **What is going on with this order?:** Item details and change history needed to live in the context of the order itself. ![Journey map of six groups: replenishment, import admin, sourcing, logistics, finance and vendors, with what they do, where it breaks and the opportunity for each](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/journey-v2-1200.webp) ## The design strategy Rather than fixing screens in isolation, I organized the redesign around **four connected parts** of the purchase order experience. ![Diagram: Find with advanced search, Monitor with dashboard analytics, Stay informed with the notifications center, Investigate with purchase order details and change history](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/strategy-1200.webp) ## Making orders easier to find ### Decision 01 · Advanced search Finding one order among thousands meant wading through operational data. I designed an advanced search experience that gives people a structured way to search and narrow down purchase orders, working alongside the results so they can go straight from a match into the order. ![Advanced search: rows of criteria, condition and value, with an add-criteria action](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-adv-search-1200.webp) *The criteria builder lets people combine PO number, dates, vendor, item and buyer in one query, without leaving the page they are on.* ![Search results with insight tiles for late orders, average days late, top vendors and distribution centers above a sortable table](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-search-results-1200.webp) *Results open with the numbers that matter for the query, then a sortable table. Every order number links straight to the order.* - Search criteria organized clearly - Filters that are easy to find and use - Results laid out for fast scanning - One step from a result to the order details > Search is the front door to a system of records. Making it a dedicated, structured part of the experience is what brought lookup from about five minutes to under thirty seconds. ## Visibility through dashboard analytics ### Decision 02 · A central view of purchase order activity Managing a single order is only part of the job. People also need to understand patterns and statuses across many orders. The new dashboard brings selected purchase order information into one overview and gives people a starting point for exploring the data underneath. **Dashboard, from MVP to analytics** ![MVP dashboard with seven metric tiles: system rejected, vendor declined, held at customs, late, quantity discrepancy, promo and reset, landed](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-dashboard-mvp-1200.webp) MVP · action tiles ![Analytics dashboard with a date range filter, metric tiles, a PO timeline chart with breakdown table and a logistics panel](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-dashboard-1200.webp) Analytics · timeline and logistics ![Create a new purchase order form grouped into PO information, item information, destination, logistics, and shipping and dates](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-create-1200.webp) Create PO from the dashboard actions *The MVP turned each exception into a tile with a count and a next step. The analytics version adds a timeline breakdown and logistics signals for the same orders.* - A clear visual hierarchy for dashboard information - Metrics and visualizations that are easy to scan - A consistent layout for order information - A path from the overview into detail ## Bringing updates into one place ### Decision 03 · Notifications center Purchase order activity changes constantly. I designed a centralized notifications center, a dedicated place to review updates without first hunting down each related order. **Notifications center** ![Notifications center listing uploads, vendor responses and errors with status tags, timestamps and download actions](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-notifications-1200.webp) All updates in one list ![Filter drawer for notifications by type, status, date range and vendor](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-notif-filter-1200.webp) Filter drawer ![Manual orders page to review and approve uploaded order files](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-manual-orders-1200.webp) Review and approve uploads *Uploads, vendor responses and system errors share one list with consistent status tags. Error files can be downloaded right from the row.* - Notifications organized in a readable format - The information behind each update is easy to understand - Every notification connects back to its purchase order - One consistent way to review activity ## More complete order details ### Decision 04 · Item details and change history Finding an order is only the beginning. People need to understand what's in it and, when needed, how it changed. The redesigned detail view brings item-level information and a change log into the order itself, so moving from identifying an order to examining it happens in one place. ![Purchase order summary with status tags, an actions menu, a milestone tracker from created to closed, and order, carrier, vendor and financial panels](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-summary-1200.webp) *The summary answers "where is this order?" first: a milestone tracker, then grouped order, carrier, vendor and financial details.* ![Item details tab with quick filters for received, configurable, hazmat and damaged items](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-items-1200.webp) ![Item drawer with the product image, cost, damaged quantity and attributes, with previous and next item](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/s-item-drawer-1200.webp) *Items live inside the order: quick filters for the flags people check most, and a drawer for one item without leaving the list.* - Detailed order information in a clear hierarchy - Item information available within the order - Historical changes presented in a reviewable format - Current information clearly separated from past activity ## Bringing it together - **Find:** Advanced search provides a dedicated way to locate purchase orders. - **Monitor:** Dashboard analytics present order information in a central overview. - **Stay informed:** The notifications center is one place to review updates. - **Investigate:** Order details bring item information and change history into context. ![The four connected parts of the redesign: find with search results, monitor with the dashboard, stay informed with the notifications center, investigate with the order summary](https://ritaomatsoneux.com/images/cases/po/together-1200.webp) ## Outcome & impact - **2,500+** employees rely on the redesigned platform - **< 30 s** to find a purchase order. down from about 5 minutes - **6.7/7** user satisfaction - **10K+** purchase orders, instantly filterable The redesign delivered a new purchase order experience across search, analytics, notifications and order details, and rethought how people navigate the system and reach the information behind each order. ## Reflection Redesigning purchase order management meant looking past individual screens to the connected needs behind them, from finding an order to reviewing its history and keeping track of activity. It reflects how I approach enterprise UX: see the whole experience, organize complex information, and design for the tasks people actually have to get done.