Resource Manager Workbench

A centralised enterprise resource planning platform designed to reduce operational friction and enable intelligent workflows across large, complex teams.

Client:

Microsoft

Duration:

12 months

.

Thumbnail
Thumbnail

My Role

I played a key role in the product thinking and end-to-end UX design of the Resource Manager Workbench. I contributed across research, workflow definition, and high-fidelity design, partnering closely with designers, PMs, and engineers to deliver scalable, Fluent UI–aligned enterprise solutions.

Skills

UX Research Wireframes UI Design Prototyping Usability Testing Product Thinking

Tools

Figma

Overview

Context

Enterprise platforms are large-scale software ecosystems that enable organisations to manage core business operations such as enterprise resource planning (ERP).

At Microsoft, workforce and resource management was handled through a combination of disconnected tools and spreadsheets, resulting in fragmented data and limited visibility across teams and programs.

Key Insights

  • Users need quick utilisation summaries without deep data exploration

  • Decision-makers prefer predictive insights over static reporting

  • Inconsistent terminology across roles causes collaboration friction

    These insights highlighted the need for a more intelligent, flexible, and shared staffing experience.

Key Insights

  • Users need quick utilisation summaries without deep data exploration

  • Decision-makers prefer predictive insights over static reporting

  • Inconsistent terminology across roles causes collaboration friction

    These insights highlighted the need for a more intelligent, flexible, and shared staffing experience.

Key Insights

  • Users need quick utilisation summaries without deep data exploration

  • Decision-makers prefer predictive insights over static reporting

  • Inconsistent terminology across roles causes collaboration friction

    These insights highlighted the need for a more intelligent, flexible, and shared staffing experience.

Image
Image

The Problem

Existing systems did not offer a unified view of team capacity, resource availability, or project timelines. Fragmented tools and static reporting made it difficult for teams to plan, allocate, and forecast resources at scale.

Resource Managers spent significant time manually consolidating data from multiple sources, leading to inefficient planning cycles, limited forecasting capabilities, and reduced confidence in decision-making. This led to manual effort, low data confidence, and delayed decisions, impacting delivery timelines and organisational efficiency.

The Problem

Existing systems did not offer a unified view of team capacity, resource availability, or project timelines. Fragmented tools and static reporting made it difficult for teams to plan, allocate, and forecast resources at scale.

Resource Managers spent significant time manually consolidating data from multiple sources, leading to inefficient planning cycles, limited forecasting capabilities, and reduced confidence in decision-making. This led to manual effort, low data confidence, and delayed decisions, impacting delivery timelines and organisational efficiency.

The Problem

Existing systems did not offer a unified view of team capacity, resource availability, or project timelines. Fragmented tools and static reporting made it difficult for teams to plan, allocate, and forecast resources at scale.

Resource Managers spent significant time manually consolidating data from multiple sources, leading to inefficient planning cycles, limited forecasting capabilities, and reduced confidence in decision-making. This led to manual effort, low data confidence, and delayed decisions, impacting delivery timelines and organisational efficiency.

Research Overview

To deeply understand staffing workflows and challenges, a comprehensive Staffing Research study was conducted with 25+ Resource Managers, complemented by an analysis of competitive enterprise platforms.

Research Methods
- Stakeholder interviews with Resource Managers and staffing partners
- Contextual inquiry to observe real-world staffing workflows
- Heuristic evaluation of existing tools and enterprise platforms

Design Direction

Research insights revealed the need for speed, shared visibility, and flexibility across complex staffing workflows. These findings shaped the following design principles:

Clarity over complexity - surface key signals without overwhelming users
Predictive by default - prioritize forward-looking insights over static data
Shared visibility - make ownership and status clear across stakeholders
Flexible workflows - support real-world staffing scenarios, not rigid flows

The Resource Manager Workbench is a centralised enterprise platform designed to help organisations plan, allocate, and track resources, primarily people and their skills to meet project and business goals.

The platform replaces fragmented spreadsheets and manual workflows with a unified, intelligent dashboard that improves visibility, planning accuracy, and decision-making efficiency.
Key capabilities include capacity planning, workload visualisation, scheduling, and project dashboards, all built using Microsoft’s Fluent UI to ensure clarity, accessibility, and scalability for enterprise use.

Solution

A platform to automate manual tasks, improve visibility, and enhance decision-making

Key features & functionality

  • Dual Layout Views
    Two complementary layouts support both high-level planning and detailed execution.

  • Request Grouping
    Requests can be grouped by project, customer, or priority to simplify organization and decision-making.

  • Single Request Detail Page
    A dedicated page surfaces all relevant context, history, and actions for each request.

  • Multi-Tab Workflow
    Requests can be opened in new tabs, enabling Resource Managers to work on multiple items in parallel.

Components & Patterns

Persistent Header
Provides consistent navigation and quick access to key actions.
Advanced Filters
Enables narrowing requests based on context, status, or priority.
Custom Search
Allows fast discovery of specific requests or data points.
Custom Sorting
Supports flexible prioritization based on workload, timelines, or urgency.
Settings Panel
Offers control over preferences and display configurations.
InFocus Tab
A dedicated space to track priority requests and follow-ups at a glance.

The Resource Manager Workbench brought clarity to a complex, fragmented staffing ecosystem by unifying planning, visibility, and collaboration into a single, scalable platform. Grounded in research and aligned with Microsoft’s Fluent UI, the final solution enabled Resource Managers to plan more efficiently, manage multiple requests with confidence, and make informed decisions using reliable, real-time data. The workbench transformed operational workflows into an intuitive, enterprise-ready experience built for scale.

Key Learnings

Image
Image
Image
Image