Internal Self-Service Dashboard

Collaborated with the One Find Team UX in the Enterprise Digital Analytics Business Unit leading to the rollout of an internal Self-Service Tool.

Client:

American Express

Role:

UX Strategist, Product Manager

Duration:

8 Months

Deliverables:

Product Plan, Wireframes, Users Stories, Presentation Deck

Tools:

Figma, Miro, Jira, Confluence

This was part of an internal project for the One Find Team. Due to the sensitive nature of American Express internal projects, I am not comfortable sharing the final screens.

Happy to provide a detailed overview upon request.

Overview

The Problem

Anytime changes would need to be made to the Global Header or Footer on any American Express website, even something as small as changing the link on one of the menu items in the header, it would take 6-8 weeks and internal change requesters were not happy.

The Self-Service Tool allows any of our internal stakeholders who are given access to the tool to make content updates to the Global Header and footer with ease. No long waits, no excessive emails to discuss change and better experience for the end customers

The Team

The One Find Team within American Express manages the UX for the global header and global footer for over 15+ countries, 5+ languages

How might we...

How might we empower internal stakeholders to make timely navigation updates without relying on lengthy request processes, so they can deliver a faster, more seamless digital experience to end users?

The Vision

Why wait weeks for a simple update? For years, internal teams at American Express faced delays and bottlenecks just to make small changes to global website navigation—requiring lengthy coordination and excessive back-and-forth.

This created frustration on multiple teams, extended timelines, and made teams feel powerless.

The Self-Service Tool changes that. It empowers internal stakeholders to manage header and footer updates directly—without waiting for dev cycles or navigating red tape.

Constraints

Opportunities for Growth

Navigating Remote Work During COVID-19
The pandemic impacted how we work, pushing us to adapt our workflow to a fully remote environment. This was my first time working remotely.

Limited Engineering Resources
Due to the small size of the team and the large number of projects being worked on in tandem, decisions and development took longer than the team anticipated.

Unexpected Death
During the time of the project one of my family members was diagnosed with cancer, and subsequently died a few weeks later. I stepped away briefly to take care of personal matters. The team was 100% supportive and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people during that period of my life.

Hybrid Role
My role at American Express on the One Find Team was a unique combination of Product Management & Interaction Design. My background at the start of the role was 100% design. I had to quickly teach myself the fundamentals of effective product management. A special thank you to LinkedIn Learning and Youtube. Anything is possible with a growth mindset.

Research Highlights

Research Approach

A great user experience is one which meets user’s needs and expectations while achieving business goals. To achieve this, I collaborated with the Project Manager on our team to craft a survey to learn more about our stakeholder's experience with the navigation content update process. 62 individuals provided feedback.

Research Questions

A few of the questions asked:
‍1. What’s your job title?

2. How was your overall experience going through the current navigation update process? (Choices: Very Good, Good, Average, Not So Good, Very Disappointing)

3. On average, how often do you request navigation content updates? (Choices: Once a Day, Once a week, Once a Month, Once Every Six months, Never)

4. How responsive has the navigation team been to your questions and concerns during the update process? (Choices: Very responsive, Somewhat Responsive, Not so responsive, Not at all Responsive, Never Reached Out)

5. How do you currently keep track of the status of your update requests?

6. What tasks do you currently have to repeat across the three tools?

Opportunities Uncovered (Insights)

Top 3 opportunities for improvement uncovered during the research phase.

1. Stakeholders are unsure where their requests stand in the workflow and often follow up via email, which adds to the internal workload.

2. Program managers often have to resubmit or clarify information multiple times, slowing the process and creating frustration on both sides.

3. Lack of visibility post-submission leaves users wondering if changes were implemented correctly or when they will go live.

Leadership Feedback

Team Discussions

1. After survey results were collected, and insights were extracted, results were discussed with Director of Product, Director of Engineering, Product Management and UX to decide appropriate next steps

2. Meetings were held bi-weekly with the full team to keep everyone informed and aligned.

3. Engineering stakeholders were included each step to ensure we were planning and designing something that was buildable by available tech resources

Iterative Design

1. All material from the current process was collected, analyzed and key elements were identified and included in the dashboard design

2. Sketches were done on paper and wireframes were created in Figma

3. Due to limited time, only 2 potential variations explored and presented to Director of Product and Director of Engineering. Each design was worked on in tandem with the assigned content designer and information architect. In addition to this project, there were 4 other projects I worked on due to limited resources on team.

Core Features

🔄 Live Preview Before Publishing

Allow users to preview changes to the global header/footer in real time, reducing errors and increasing confidence before going live.

🛑 Role-Based Permissions & Safeguards

Limit editing rights by role (e.g., edit vs. approve) to maintain quality control while enabling broad access.

🕓 Change History & Version Control