Albertsons Companies · Enterprise Finance Platform · 2025–2026

From Excel to real-time forecast planning

Designed an integrated dashboard and worksheet system that brought audit trails, accountability, and AI-powered allocation to financial forecast planning.

24%

Faster planning cycles

50%

Manual workflows replaced

38%

More adjustments tracked

42%

Better metric visibility

Timeline

2025 – 2026

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

20+ Engineers · 2 PM

Platform

Enterprise web (APP ecosystem)

My role

I was the sole designer on this product, responsible for the full design lifecycle from discovery through handoff. I created the first ever Excel-style table component in the APP ecosystem, balancing user comfort with platform consistency.

Solo design lead Data-dense UI Component creation (UDS) Discovery to handoff

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?

No audit trail for forecast adjustments leading to accountability gaps

Intuition-based projections without scientific guidance from corporate finance

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.

Design Workshop

Collaborative sessions to understand users, processes, and identify product opportunities

Journey Mapping

Mapped existing workflows to identify gaps between reporting and forecast visualization

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.

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 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.