A decade-old automation tool inside a leading ERP
Priority Software is a leading ERP platform used by over 75,000 organizations worldwide, providing a full suite of management tools for operations, finance, logistics, and more.
Its automation feature — business rules that trigger actions from conditions — was built over a decade ago. It suffered from poor usability, unclear logic, and outdated visuals, and no longer met modern usability standards.
As the lead product designer, I owned the end-to-end redesign process: from user research and ideation to prototyping and usability testing.
What users told us
We conducted interviews with users from various industries — including manufacturing, healthcare, and education — to identify the key pain points:
- Confusing flow between conditions and actions
- No support for multiple recipients or flexible rule logic
- Outdated design and unclear visual hierarchy
- Hard-to-scan lists with missing key information
These findings shaped our goal: to redesign the tool for clarity, efficiency, and modern usability.
Maya, the system administrator
Priority System Administrator at FreshNest Foods, a national food distributor. 30 years old, 5 years of experience implementing and integrating Priority. Curious, methodical, tech-savvy, results-oriented, collaborative.
Maya tracks inventory, monitors shipment statuses, and keeps operations smooth. She is analytical and thrives on efficiency — yet spends hours manually updating data across multiple systems, with limited real-time visibility.
“Why work hard if a machine can do it?” Maya needs automation that simplifies repetitive work and delivers accurate, actionable insights.
Auditing the old tool, learning from the ecosystem
We started by researching the current tool — what it does, how it works, and what users like about it. In the standard Priority screen, the user opens the automation tool through a robot icon, manages existing rules from a list, and creates or edits rules from buttons at the bottom of the screen. Actions hide inside a dropdown.
The audit confirmed what users felt: the tool had been developed many years ago, felt outdated and unpleasant to use, included unclear or confusing elements, and was missing key features that had become standard among competitors.
We expanded the research to other products in the ecosystem — from direct competitors like Monday and Azure to experience-driven platforms such as Wix and Apple. These insights helped us identify opportunities to modernize the experience and align it with today's user expectations.
We sketched new layouts that made workflows transparent and intuitive, reducing clutter and focusing on logical hierarchy.
From a vertical form to a side-by-side rule builder
The existing flow between actions and conditions was inconsistent — in some areas actions came first, in others conditions did. Several components, like email, text message, and user verification actions, looked identical even when their states or purposes differed. Users also asked for more flexibility, such as adding multiple recipients or combining multiple actions; due to feasibility constraints, we started by implementing multi-recipient functionality.
The rules list itself was a major pain point: important data wasn't visible, and the side buttons were unclear. We began sketching ideas and building an interactive prototype that reimagined the experience from the ground up.
An if… then… sequence
Usability testing showed users struggled to connect conditions with their resulting actions, so we redesigned the process to follow a chronological sequence — if… then… — aligning the layout with how users naturally think through logic. The action list became a set of clear icon buttons, and a collapse option let users switch between a detailed view and a summarized version of each rule.
The first prototype introduced a modernized toolbar and a card-based rule list. Users appreciated the refreshed look, but feedback highlighted two key issues: excessive scrolling and oversized icons.
Side by side, with the data in view
We redesigned the layout into a side-by-side structure — conditions and actions visible and editable at the same time — with filters, data highlights, and contextual actions directly in the rule card. The rules list became a card-based layout showing more key information at first glance; irrelevant actions were removed, and rule-specific actions were added directly to each card.
We also introduced refined microcopy throughout the flow, aligned with users' terminology. Usability testing confirmed the improvements, with users describing the experience as clearer, faster, and easier to navigate.
Settings that appear only when needed
Each action in the “Then” section serves a different purpose — “Send Email” includes multiple configuration options, while “User Verification” initially had none. To keep the experience consistent, we designed a dynamic interface where each action's settings appear only after the action is selected.
A new standard for automation in Priority
After launch, we collected feedback from real users. The overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive — users described the experience as both intuitive and helpful.
We also gathered valuable improvement suggestions, such as increasing spacing in the “of” dropdown and adding data filtering options to the rule list.
The redesign not only improved usability but also set a new design standard for future automation tools within Priority. In the latest version, the feature was elevated even further with AI-powered options that suggest relevant actions and automations based on the user's input — showcased in a short video created with the marketing team.
Designing for complex systems
This project strengthened my understanding of designing for complex systems.
I learned how to bridge the gap between user needs, technical limitations, and business goals — while maintaining a clean and consistent user experience.
I'm proud of how our team transformed a legacy tool into an efficient, modern experience that truly empowers users.