Enterprise Finance Platform · 2025–2026

Allocatr Insights

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

Allocatr Insights — Cover
Timeline
2024 – 2025
Role
Senior Product Designer
Impact
50% manual workflows replaced
Business Challenge

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.

The Core Question

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

1
No audit trail for forecast adjustments leading to accountability gaps
2
Intuition-based projections without scientific guidance from corporate finance
3
Manual data re-entry causing version control issues and lost visibility
User Research

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.

1
Design Workshop
Collaborative sessions to understand users, processes, and identify product opportunities
2
Journey Mapping
Mapped existing workflows to identify gaps between reporting and forecast visualization
3
Key Insights
Discovered adjustment flow from ASM → SM through VPMM → NM → NVPMM hierarchy
Key Insight
Adjustment flow from ASM → SM with performance rolling up through VPMM → NM → NVPMM required flexible design for multiple approval paths across the organizational hierarchy.
Excel-Dependent Culture
Teams relied on offline Excel sheets for forecast adjustments, creating version control nightmares and no source of truth.
Complex Approval Hierarchy
Multi-layered approval paths across divisions required flexible design that could accommodate different organizational structures.
Missing Accountability
No mechanism to capture reasons behind forecast adjustments, making it impossible to learn from past decisions.
Reporting-Visualization Gap
Disconnection between reporting data and forecast visualization forced teams to manually bridge insights across tools.
Allocatr — Research Artifact 1
Allocatr — Research Artifact 2
Design Strategy

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.

Dashboard
Data visualization with read-only insights for quick decision-making across all hierarchy levels
Worksheet
Editable forecast adjustments with full audit history and reasoning capture per line item
Familiarity
Excel-style format based on user feedback, maintaining comfort while following UDS guidelines

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
Solution Overview

Strategic improvements across the platform

Designed an integrated dashboard and worksheet system addressing transparency, accountability, and future AI-powered optimization.

Dashboard
Information Architecture
Hierarchical view from Quarter to Desk level with timestamp tracking, action bar, and advanced filtering by timeframe, division, department, and desk.
Worksheet
Forecast Management
Adjustment drawer for line item updates with alerts, reason selection, and comments. Forecast adjustments across multiple lines with full audit history.
Audit Trail
Accountability & Transparency
Comprehensive audit history capturing all divisional changes with clear highlighting of impacted vs. non-impacted desks by department.
AI Exploration
Future-State Innovation
AI-powered aggregator for automatic budget allocation using historical trends and prediction of adjustment reasons using market data.
Allocatr — Solution Screen 1

Allocatr Insights dashboard and adjustment worksheet for forecast planning

AI-powered budget allocation and trend prediction exploration

Impact

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 the 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.