Project: Data Hub

Enterprise Data Hub – Simplifying Data Discovery

A central hub enabling employees to find and use enterprise data effortlessly.

Overview

A global enterprise faced fragmented and unstructured data access, leading to wasted time, low awareness of available resources, and dependency on colleagues for repetitive queries—slowing decision-making and reducing efficiency across teams.

Role:
Senior UX Designer – Led a 4-member design team, collaborated with stakeholders.

Scope & Duration:
4 Weeks | Desktop

Tools:
Figma, Miro, Paper Prototypes, Usability Metrics

Team:
Product Manager, Product Owner, Scrum Team

Achievement Highlight:
(E.g., "Filed a Patent for Healthy Buildings" if relevant)

Problem statement

Employees struggled to find and access enterprise data efficiently, leading to:

Wasted time searching for the right resources.
Low awareness of available data tools.
Over-reliance on colleagues for answers.

This slowed decision-making, reduced efficiency, and hampered data-driven work.

UX Activities

Users and their as is scenario
User interviews
Key findings (pain points and opportunities)
User persona and their to be journey
Design thinking workshop (ideation & concept designs)
Wireframe drafts and handover

Users and Audience

The Enterprise Data Hub serves internal employees who interact with enterprise data in various capacities. New internal data users need a self-service way to find relevant data, models, and dashboards for business insights, while experienced users require a tailored experience to discover complementary resources. The Enterprise Data team benefits from a unified hub that streamlines navigation, reduces support overhead, and drives adoption, ultimately enhancing productivity and IBM’s data transformation efforts.

As is user scenario

We mapped user segments and drafted an as-is scenario to identify existing behaviors, pain points, and gaps in the current experience. This served as a precursor to validate our findings post-research and provided a solid foundation for conducting user research, ensuring our approach was aligned with real user needs and challenges.

User interviews

We then designed questionnaires to conduct qualitative user research through interviews, breaking down responses to uncover patterns, pain points, and opportunities. This helped us gain deeper insights into user needs and validate our initial assumptions.

Pain points & Key Insights

Our research revealed key pain points, including low awareness of enterprise data, difficult access to information, fragmented documentation, and poor findability, all of which led to users relying on others for repetitive queries. These struggles highlighted the need for a centralized hub, confirming our assumption that improving data discovery, navigation, and self-service options would significantly enhance the user experience.

Opportunities Identified

We identified key opportunities, such as creating a single access point for all enterprise data, intuitive workflows, and a self-service experience for users. We also focused on an efficient onboarding process, awareness methods for updates, and ensuring seamless access to resolve common queries. Tailoring content to user personas was emphasised to avoid overwhelming users and improve maintainability.

User Personas

Based on the research, we identified personas with distinct needs. New users need an intuitive, self-service experience to overcome lack of awareness and difficult access to data. Experienced users require streamlined workflows to reduce repetitive queries. Both benefit from a tailored onboarding experience and better awareness of updates, improving efficiency and reducing friction.

To be user scenario

We then mapped the ideal journey for these personas, focusing on a happy path that streamlines their experience. For new users, this involves easy onboarding, intuitive workflows, and self-service access to data. For experienced users, the journey includes seamless navigation, quick access to complementary resources, and reduced need for support. This ideal path aims to eliminate pain points, enhance productivity, and ensure a smooth, efficient experience for all users.

Design thinking workshop

I then conducted a design thinking and ideation workshop with the team to brainstorm and generate innovative solutions. This collaborative session allowed us to explore various ideas, align on priorities, and ensure our design approach effectively addressed the identified pain points and opportunities, fostering a user-centered solution

As part of the workshop, we held numerous ideation sessions, where everyone contributed ideas. We then voted on the best concepts and began iterating and exploring them further. I made sure that everyone felt heard and had the opportunity to provide valuable input, ensuring a collaborative and inclusive process that drove impactful design solutions.

Ideations

Designs & handoff

We then created low to mid-fidelity interactions and designs, refining the concepts through iterative feedback. After finalising the designs, we handed them over to the Enterprise Data team, as part of our involvement in the internal graduation program, ensuring a smooth transition and continued progress on the project.

Outcomes

Improved Efficiency: Quick identification of relevant offerings, reducing search time.

Increased Engagement: Higher retention and more frequent visits to the hub.

Enhanced Productivity: Streamlined workflows and tailored recommendations for faster decision-making.

Stronger Confidence: Community recommendations and robust search build trust.

Long-Term Growth: Enhanced user experience drives sustained growth

Lessons

One invaluable lesson was the power of user-centered design. Focusing on real user pain points ensured the solution met their needs and enhanced the experience.

Another key takeaway was the importance of collaboration. Engaging cross-functional teams early led to stronger, more innovative solutions, refining the design with diverse perspectives.

Finally, simplicity was crucial. Streamlined workflows and easy-to-use features reduced friction, improving accessibility and overall user satisfaction.