Admin Hierarchy

Enabling Big Data Analytics

In 2023, I worked for AI tech startup Inseer to enable data analytics by designing a method within their SaaS platform for admins to build a hierarchy that matches their company's organizational structure.

Project Summary

I worked as the sole Product Designer to create a method by which software admins could build a hierarchy that matches their organizational structure.

The admin hierarchy allows users to build the exact hierarchy of the organization, from the largest groupings (verticals or markets) to the smallest segments (department or sub-departments) within a single location.

The design enables data analytics hierarchy filters to compare data at different levels of the organization.

Inefficient Filtering

The location structure within the Vision software was originally built upon the concept of a parent-child relationship. The user could create as many parent-child relationships as they wanted to mimic the company's organizational structure.

The problem was that each level in the hierarchy did not have a name and users had to scan the list of values, cross-reference that list with their internal mental models, and then determine what grouping name would apply. Large icons—with low understanding from end users—to the left of list names made scanning the values difficult. Any user had the ability to add a location which resulted in inconsistent naming conventions.

Original Filtering

The Solution

The solution was to create a method by which admins could:

Build a completely unique hierarchy that matches all levels of their organization by using a folder-tree structure.
Control the addition of locations so that consistent naming conventions are applied.
Enable users to easily filter down through data tables by leveraging hierarchy level names.

Here's how the design delivered these functionalities.

Hierarchy Build

The hierarchy build screen allows the user to create a tree-like folder structure that mimics the organization's hierarchy. Clicking on a tier value lets the user create a new level value while also naming the hierarchy level.

Admins Only

Now only admins have access to build or edit the hierarchy. With less admin users, they do not need to worry about training hundreds of employees on the proper way to format names, removing duplicate locations, or incorrect hierarchy branching.

Improved Filtering

The hierarchy level names and values are used on the data analytics dashboard, as well as all of the pages where users have tables of assessment or employee information. The hierarchy filters provide an easy way for users to quickly filter to a specific point in the hierarchy.

The Result

The new admin hierarchy and related filters shipped in July 2023. Client data is now structured in a manner that allows users to conduct meaningful analysis.

Inseer was able to reduce user location creation errors by 75%.