Client Approval Workflow
A workflow that helps interior designers get all product specifications approved by clients.
Project Scope
A project at Fohlio Inc.
Background
What’s Fohlio?
When interior designers are creating a new designer, he needs to create product specifications to communicate all design details with clients.
Fohlio is a web app that helps streamline designer’s day-to-day processes and helps to make them more efficient. It’s the fastest way to create the product specification.
Interior Designer
Design scheme
Client
Problem
Product approval process is not clear
A designer puts product spec sheet together with other materials such as renderings, technical drawings in a slide deck and gets feedback from clients through a presentation.
However, both designers and clients are having a hard time keeping track of products in the product spec sheet.
Opportunity
Improve the efficiency of the approval
Improve the efficiency of their current workflow by creating a new feature in Fohlio that helps designers and clients with product approval workflow,
Target Audience
Who uses this feature
Primary User: Clients
- Range from homeowners to large corporations.
- Instruct interior designer on the design scheme to fit their needs.
Secondary User: Interior designers
- Projects range from simple indoor and outdoor home environments to hotel lobbies and lavish mansions.
- Create indoor spaces that satisfy the client’s needs for aesthetics, safety, and function.
Context and Needs
What information users need
Context
When designers have specified products with a spec sheet, he needs to get feedback and approval from clients.
Client Needs(Primary user)
- Project info: project project name, document version name, issue dates, table of content, general notes.
- Designers’ info: designer’s company logo, name, contact info.
- Actions: View all item information. Approve and comment all items
Designer Needs(Secondary user)
- Clients’ info: contact info.
- Project Info: visibility of items for the client, approval status of items.
- Actions: Alter the visibility of content. Get notification about the approval status.
Design Goal
A feature facilitating approval process
To design a feature that designers can use to have clients review all the contents they need and go through the approval process as easy as possible.
Design proposals
Workflow around product specification
Designers specify with real products and get client feedback and approval on real products. Then designers make changes per client feedback and note the change orders.
User Workflow
Designer User Flow
Client User Flow
Design Proposal 1
A separate page for approval workflow where clients can make comments and approve items.
Pros: All information and functions are clearly presented in different sectors.
Cons: less consistent with other parts of Fohlio. Require much more engineering resources.
Design Proposal 2
An add-on feature that helps clients approve items and notify designers.
Pros: require a few engineering resources. More consistent with Fohlio itself.
Cons: the list is overwhelming and less scannable.
Design Decision
After testing with users and communicating with product manager and engineer, we decide to make it an add-on feature that is incorporated into the current web app.
Designer End
How a designer share a project with clients
- select which project to share
- set up designer’s logo
- select clients’ access
- sent a text invitation through email to the client
Client End
How a client approves items in different views
- select items
- click ‘Approve’
- status of items get changed
- click ‘Notify designer’ to send an email to the designer
Final Design
After some iteration on the prototype, I created the final design to cover every detail of the client approval process on both sides of designers and clients.
Designer share the project with client
The designer goes to the sharing page and set up the logo, access and send a text invitation to the client’s email. When the client clicks the link, it will automatically generate a private account on the server without client registering manually.
Client approves items
The link in the email takes the user directly to the grid view. By selecting items and click approve button, it will change the status of item, and the data will be changed on both sides of the designer and the client.
Client Approve Items in Grid View
Client Approve Items in Table View
First-time user notification
When the client uses the approve feature for the first time, it will pop up a notification telling the user to click ‘Notify designer’ button on the navigation bar to send an email to the designer.
First-time User Notification
Client send a notification email to designer
When the client is done with the approval process, he/she click ‘notify designer’ button and confirm to send an email to the designer. The email includes information about the number of approved and disapproved items and the link to the project on the designer’s account.
