Customer Journey Map - Analytical Dashboard

Designing the customer journey for the Budget Management Dashboard involved placing the user at the core of the product experience — especially those who are actively involved in requesting and managing department-level budgets (like Marketing, Sales, or Ops Managers). The objective was to reduce friction, improve transparency, and enhance control at each step of the journey.

1. User-Centered Flow Creation

The journey was mapped after understanding:

• What the user needs to accomplish (goals)
• What they experience during each step (touchpoints, actions)
• Where they may face confusion or delays (pain points)

Each stage in the journey (Awareness → Access → Request → Tracking → Feedback → Reporting → Optimization) was added intentionally to reflect a realistic and complete budgeting cycle within a corporate ecosystem.

2. Awareness to Action

We acknowledged that users might not start with high clarity. So, the Awareness stage was included to emphasize onboarding — ensuring new users aren't lost. The goal was to help them understand not just how to use the dashboard, but why it’s beneficial to them.

This informed design decisions like:

• Adding onboarding tooltips or training modules
• Providing a consistent and helpful UI/UX from the first login

3. Simplifying the Request Process

The Request stage is the core function. This influenced:

• A clean “Add Budget” CTA placed prominently
• A step-by-step budget submission form
• Use of validation, dropdowns, and tooltips to minimize errors

Users need to submit fast, accurately, and confidently, so usability and efficiency guided this step.

4. Tracking & Transparency

The Tracking and Feedback stages focus on visibility and control:

• Users want immediate insights into their request status (approved, pending, rejected)
• Notifications (in-app or email) are used to avoid ambiguity

This led to decisions like:

• Status color-coding (green for approved, red for rejected, amber for pending)
• Dashboard cards and tables showing count and details of requests
• A rule display panel to clearly explain the approval path

5. Data-Driven Planning

In the Reporting & Optimization phase, the goal is long-term improvement. Managers want to use insights to plan smarter.

This inspired the inclusion of:

• Visual dashboards (pie charts, department comparisons)
• A historical view for analyzing trends over time
• Rules panel to reduce missteps in future requests

6. Continuous Improvement

We added the final Optimization stage to encourage behavioral change through data. This makes the dashboard not just a tool, but a guide for making better financial decisions over time.