A digital toolkit revolutionizing procurement planning.
Mahima Sdhana
CategoryTRAC is a procurement planning toolkit designed to help Category Managers move from offline, Excel-based category planning to a secure, structured, and scalable digital platform. The tool simplifies category management with templatized and pre-configured views, making strategic decision-making more efficient.
Problem Statement
The Challenge: Manual & Inefficient Category Planning
Category Managers currently conduct Category Planning using Excel spreadsheets with multiple Internal, External, and Strategy & Planning tabs. These spreadsheets:
Are prone to data loss and inaccuracies.
Make version control and maintenance difficult.
Have security risks with no way to track data breaches.
Require manual consolidation for each category and client.
The Opportunity: A Digital, Structured & Secure Solution
To resolve these challenges, CategoryTRAC was developed to provide a structured online toolkit with multiple modules, allowing Category Managers to work more efficiently and strategically.
Users & Their Needs
Primary Users: Category Managers & Teams
Who they are: Professionals responsible for managing procurement categories across multiple clients.
Pain Points:
Need a centralized, real-time planning tool.
Require data accuracy and security.
Struggle with tracking multiple category plans across quarters.
My Role & Contributions
I played a key role throughout the entire product lifecycle, from research to design to developer handoff and testing.
Key Contributions:
✅ User Research & Insights – Conducted interviews & surveys with 75+ Category Managers, analyzed feedback to shape the product.
✅ Stakeholder Collaboration – Worked with WNS Procurement leaders, CEO, BU Heads, and clients to define goals.
✅ UX & UI Design – Designed the Information Architecture, Wireframes, High-Fidelity UI, and all 16 widgets.
✅ Usability Testing – Conducted user validation at each stage, ensuring seamless workflows.
✅ Frontend Review & Developer Collaboration – Ensured smooth handoff and UI consistency during development.
Approach & Process
1. Research & Discovery
Interviews & Surveys:
Spoke with 75+ Category Managers (WNS Procurement employees) to understand pain points.
Conducted secondary research with potential clients like Kellogg’s & Airbus.
Key Insight: "75%+ of Category Managers need a structured, digital tool to improve efficiency."
2. Product Strategy & Prioritization
Defined the MVP scope with 10 key modules.
After the MVP, expanded the product to include 16+ widgets and multiple additional screens.
Integrated ProjecTRAC, KnowledgeTRAC, and InsightTRAC for a unified procurement suite.
3. Design & Validation
Created wireframes & prototypes, validated through user feedback cycles.
Designed a scalable IA for seamless navigation.
Conducted usability tests to refine the UX.
4. Development & Launch
Overcame technical constraints of Microsoft Power Apps.
Ensured successful integration with existing procurement tools.
Launched at Digital Procurement World in Amsterdam.
Solution & Features
Key Features & UI Elements
1️⃣ Category Strategy & Execution Menus
📌 Provides high-level navigation for category managers.
2️⃣ Category Planning Toolkit
📌 Allows users to create multiple category plans with multiple scopes.
3️⃣ Key Widgets & Modules (Categorized by Planning Phases)
Internal Analysis Tools
✅ Business Requirements Widget – Captures key procurement needs.
✅ Historical Spend Analysis Widget – Tracks past expenditures to guide future planning.
✅ Supplier Performance Dashboard – Assesses supplier efficiency and reliability.
✅ Stakeholder Alignment Dashboard – Tracks buy-in from key business stakeholders
✅ Risk Exposure Widget – Identifies procurement risks and mitigation plans.
External Market Analysis Tools
✅ Porter’s Five Forces Widget – Analyzes market and supplier landscape.
✅ Category Benchmarking Tool – Compares category performance with industry standards.
✅ Market Trend Analysis – Offers insights into evolving industry trends.
Strategy & Planning Phase
✅ Vision, Strategy & Planning Widget – Facilitates goal setting & execution.
4️⃣ Integrated Procurement Suite
🔗 InsightTRAC: Provides spend, supplier, and contract analytics.
🔗 KnowledgeTRAC: Centralized procurement knowledge sharing.
🔗 ProjecTRAC: Tracks procurement projects & actions.
Challenges & Constraints
🚧 Development Limitations: Microsoft Power Apps had low frontend flexibility, requiring design adjustments.
🚧 Complexity of Procurement Data: Managing 16 widgets across modules meant designing for highly varied use cases.
Outcome & Business Impact
🎯 Successfully launched at Digital Procurement World, Amsterdam.
🎯 Adopted by Kellogg’s & Airbus, securing them as clients.
🎯 Created a scalable digital solution replacing inefficient spreadsheets.
User Testimonial:
"CategoryTRAC has significantly reduced our time spent on planning, allowing us to focus on strategic procurement."
Key Learnings & Takeaways
💡 Iterative Research & Validation: Continuous user feedback ensures an optimal experience.
💡 Enterprise UX Complexity: Designing for B2B procurement tools requires deep domain understanding.
💡 Collaboration with Developers & Business Leaders: Alignment across product, design, and engineering is crucial for success.
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Posted Feb 19, 2025
CategoryTRAC helps Category Managers shift from offline Excel planning to a secure, scalable digital toolkit with templates for smarter, efficient decisions.
