SAP Organization Explorer

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software enables companies to plan, control and manage different resources and processes. As ERP systems digitally map a large part of a company's business processes, they tend to be complex and very extensive. SAP is the world's largest provider of ERP software. This course was conducted in close cooperation with the SAP Innovation Center based in Potsdam.

As part of the course, we took a constructive and critical look at the design of ERP systems in general and the current ERP system from SAP in particular. The aim of the course was to find new visual and interactive formats for the presentation of business processes. Data visualization concepts were to be explicitly taken into account.

Project duration: 3.5 months - 2024

Type of project: University project within one semester
Cooperation partner: SAP

Focus: Rethinking software design and the visualization of organizational structures

Tools: Figma

Team: Alexander Giese, Pascal Schwientek

Research
Derivation of the concept

During this research phase, our group came up with the initial idea of taking a closer look at the onboarding process for new employees and redesigning it. Based on personal experience, we were of the opinion that onboarding at a new company is a topic that could be developed further. However, as we quickly realized that the scope for design in onboarding would be rather limited, we finally turned to the so-called org chart, which is part of the onboarding process.

The org chart (organization chart) is a visualization of the company structure, if available. It makes it possible to understand where you yourself, as well as how and where colleagues are deployed in the company. Often only the purely hierarchical structure is shown.

Ideas and sketches

Within our group, we had the idea from the outset that our version of the org chart should go beyond the mere representation of hierarchical company structures. If only for the reason that SAP, for example, already uses such an org chart internally. We very quickly saw a lot of untapped potential that could be built into the org chart, such as interactions that are possible depending on the role of the person using it.

Representation

The visual inspiration for our org chart comes primarily from the circular shape itself, cluster representations, circular tree maps and synapse-like connections. This was the best form of representation for us, as relationships between people, projects, departments etc. had to be made clear. From top to bottom, the circle always serves as a kind of container for the level below,i.e.: country → city/location → department → person

Functional scope

Navigation within the chart should be similar to that of a map such as Google Maps or a canvas model. You can move in all directions and zoom in and out. A visually restrained filter bar should enable a precise search using natural language, supported by SAP's own AI model Joule.

Depending on what you are looking for, the results are supplemented with further information or not. Clicking directly on a person opens their profile via a sidebar, where further actions are possible.

Visual language

local level

Represent hierarchy and teams

clear design language

Test of concept
Testing results with cooperating UX course

The course took place in collaboration with the UX methods course “UX as a never ending story”. The task of the other course was to examine the prototypes from our course in groups. After we had prepared our prototype for submission to the other course, it was analyzed by a team from the other course and tested for usability and comprehensibility. The following problem areas emerged from the testing and the subsequent interim presentation:

Improve the overall menu structure and navigation
Do I know where I am at all times? Can I navigate one step forward or backwards?
Work with real interactions and information in the prototype
Sharpen the screen design, clear and understandable language and screens
Identify different roles, use cases and possible outcomes
- Where can our tool tie in?
- Which processes can our tool drive?
- How can our tool make work easier and link tasks?
Sharpen affiliations and their visual language: Roles, departments, connections, reporting lines, teams, sets of people
Sharpening the storyline: showing different entry points in prototypes

As the course progressed, we focused on the details of the prototype and the visualizations to ensure that the flow and our use case made sense and had no gaps. This included, for example, the difference between reporting structure, i.e. the view of people in a hierarchical tree diagram, and the view of people in mere teams, which do not have the same reporting line, but are seen as a project and not as a team.

What advantages does the concept offer?

→ Status quo

Simple information
No interactions with individuals or teams
Orgchart serves more as a link to other tools
Access via your own profile or search

→ New concept

Navigation follows clear visual rules
Interactions with people and teams possible
Search by natural language
Informative, interactive profiles
Hierarchies and teams visible
Access via own profile, search, location and departments

Final result
Video showcase of the final prototype