Enterprise Finance Platform • 2025-2026

Allocatr Insights

Empowering merchants and analysts to drive strategic financial decisions through data-driven forecasting - reducing planning cycle time by 24% while increasing accountability by 38%.

Timeline
2025 - 2026
Role
Senior Product Designer
Impact
50% manual workflows replaced
Cover - Allocatr Insights
Problem - Allocatr Insights

Manual Excel workflows challenge forecast planning

Merchant and financial teams printed forecast documents weekly with constant back-and-forth communication. Managing adjustments in offline Excel sheets lacked audit trails, causing teams to lose track of adjustments and undermining data accuracy.

Core Pain Points

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No audit trail for forecast adjustments leading to accountability gaps

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Intuition-based projections without scientific guidance from corporate finance

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Manual data re-entry causing version control issues and lost visibility

Research - Allocatr Insights

Understanding complex financial workflows

Through design workshops with merchants, finance teams, and leadership, we mapped the intricate approval hierarchy and identified critical friction points in forecast management.

Design Workshop

User Process Mapping

Conducted collaborative sessions to understand users, their processes, and identify opportunities for creating better product experiences.

Journey Mapping

Current Workflow Analysis

Mapped existing workflows to identify gaps between reporting and financial forecast visualization, revealing Excel-based pain points.

Key Insights

Organizational Hierarchy Impact

Discovered adjustment flow from ASM → SM with performance rolling up through VPMM → NM → NVPMM, requiring flexible design for multiple approval paths.

Strategy - Allocatr Insights

Building trust through transparent decisions

Established strategic approach focusing on Excel-familiar interfaces while introducing audit trails, real-time validation, and cross-functional collaboration features.

Design Question

How might we empower Category Managers and Finance teams to harness reporting and business intelligence for strategic category growth?

Core Approach

Dashboard for data visualization with read-only insights, plus Worksheet for editable forecast adjustments with full audit history and reasoning capture.

Strategic Decisions

Retained Excel-style format based on user feedback while following UDS Design guidelines

Created dual-table system: Dashboard (view-only) and Worksheet (editable with audit trail)

Explored AI-powered budget allocation using historical trends for future implementation

Design Execution

Key Solutions Delivered

Divider - Allocatr Insights

Strategic improvements across the platform

Dashboard System

Information Architecture

Designed hierarchical view from Quarter to Desk level with timestamp tracking, action bar for secondary actions, and advanced filtering by timeframe, division, department grouping, and desk.

Adjustment Worksheet

Forecast Management

Created adjustment drawer for line item updates with alerts, reason selection, and comments. Enabled forecast adjustments across multiple lines with full audit history.

Audit Trail System

Accountability & Transparency

Implemented comprehensive audit history capturing all divisional changes with clear highlighting of impacted vs. non-impacted desks by department.

AI Exploration

Future-State Innovation

Explored AI-powered aggregator for automatic budget allocation using historical trends and prediction of adjustment reasons using market data.

Allocatr Dashboard view

Allocatr Worksheet view

AI Allocation feature

Allocatr Filter and Audit features

Measurable outcomes delivered

Quantifiable improvements across planning efficiency, data visibility, accountability, and digital transformation of manual workflows.

↓24%
Reduction in planning cycle time
42%
Increase in visibility on granular metrics
38%
Increase in reason capturing
50%
Manual workflows replaced

Design System Impact

Created first-of-its-kind Excel-style table within APP ecosystem using core UDS components. Developed hybrid components tailored to business needs with AI assistance.

Process Innovation

Balanced business requirements with user experience. Empowered offshore engineering team autonomy while maintaining quality through design audits.

Impact - Allocatr Insights