01 — Project Overview
Overview &
Context
Mars' People Data & Analytics organization manages numerous dashboards, reporting tools, HR products, and business metrics that support organizational decision-making.
While these analytical products provide significant business value, they had gradually become distributed across multiple platforms, making discovery and adoption increasingly difficult. Employees frequently knew what information they needed, but not where the correct dashboard lived, which product contained a specific metric, or whether a report was actively maintained.
"The P&O Marketplace was designed to become the single entry point for every People Data & Analytics product, enabling employees to discover products, understand metrics, access documentation, and launch dashboards through one unified experience."
02 — Business Context
Expanding Analytics
Ecosystem
Over time, Mars' HR analytics ecosystem expanded into a broad portfolio of specialized products supporting different teams and business functions:
Succession & Mobility
Tracking talent pipelines and career progression across global segments.
Workforce Planning
Modeling headcount allocations and organizational structures.
Engagement & Retention
Measuring sentiment, turnover rates, and organizational health indicators.
03 — Problem Statement
The Discovery
Bottleneck
As the number of products continued to grow, discoverability became a larger challenge than analytics itself. Users faced several recurring obstacles:
Disjointed Access
Analytics products were spread across disconnected SharePoint folders and workspaces.
Ambiguous Metrics
Different teams used conflicting definitions for standard metrics like headcount.
Opaque Metadata
Product documentation was missing or disconnected from the dashboards themselves.
04 — Strategic Objectives
Primary Goals
05 — Landing Experience
Central Hub Landing
Experience
The landing page introduced an intuitive gateway featuring category quick-links, featured products, and instant search.
Designed for Immediate Orientation
Upon arrival, users are greeted by a prominent search bar, guided category tiles (Talent, Rewards, Wellbeing), and recent platform updates. This eliminated the need for onboarding training and allowed users to find what they needed instantly.
06 — Responsibilities
My Design Role
As the Product Designer, I led the end-to-end design for the P&O Marketplace:
07 — Success Metrics
Measured Outcomes
08 — Interactive Prototype
Marketplace Portal
Interactive Simulator
Explore the live portal simulation below. Use the sidebar to switch views and filter metrics using the A–Z letter index or search bar.
09 — Design Process
UX Methodology
10 — Information Architecture
Information Architecture
The marketplace hierarchy maps directly to user search behavior:
11 — Search Strategy
Multi-Modal Search Strategy
Users rarely begin with a dashboard name; they begin with a business need. The interface supports multiple discovery pathways including keyword search, category filters, and A-Z metric indexing.
12 — Detail Experience
Product Detail Experience
Overview & Purpose
Clear explanation of what business questions the dashboard answers.
Associated Metrics
Direct linkage to underlying glossary definitions and calculation formulas.
Support & Ownership
Designated product owner contact information and documentation links.
13 — Metric-Centric IA
Metric-Centric Navigation
Standardizing metric definitions promotes consistency across P&O dashboards. Selecting a metric card exposes its formula, associated products, and calculation differences.
14 — Governance
Governance by Design
Analytics products are only valuable when data remains current. P&O Marketplace includes refresh tracking that monitors update status, reducing reliance on outdated reports.
15 — Usage Analytics
Operational Usage Analytics
Helps product owners monitor product health post-launch by measuring report opens, unique viewers, page views, and YTD adoption trends.
16 — UX Principles
Interaction Design Principles
Progressive Disclosure
Reveals information progressively: Product Card → Quick View → Product Detail → Dashboard Launch.
Recognition Over Recall
Favorites lists, category filters, and indexes remove the need to memorize complex URLs.
17 — Design System
Modular Design System
The portal utilizes modular card components, structured layout grids, and unified status badges across all views.
18 — Challenges Mapped
Design Challenges Mapped
Balancing Simplicity with Scale
Presenting a large, growing catalog without clutter through distinct navigation cuts.
Encouraging Self-Service
Allowing employees to resolve queries independently, reducing reliance on dashboard support leads.
19 — Reflections & Summary
Reflections & Summary
The project reinforced that successful enterprise products require ongoing governance as much as strong usability. By integrating discovery, documentation, adoption metrics, and operational visibility into a single portal, we transformed a collection of HR analytics tools into a governed product ecosystem.