Interaction Design and Prototyping

PeopleSoft, Inc.

Interaction design and Excel-based rapid page prototyping.
In support of development teams for three applications within PeopleSoft's Supplier Relationship Management product suite (Purchasing, Contract Management, and Strategic Sourcing), I create maps to visualize page flows and interactions, and conceptualize page designs using an Excel-based prototyping method I have helped to develop at PeopleSoft.

Site flow chart for Strategic Sourcing's Bid Response pages. Red dotted zone indicates when user has committed to bidding on an event, thereby limiting contingent navigational choices.

Page design for document management page of Supplier Contract Management. Mock-up shows all possible sections, buttons and links, as the developer will code it; user sees a relatively small subset of page elements.

"Is it live or is it Memorex?" To demonstrate the power of Excel-based UI prototyping, I recreated two actual application pages in Excel and posed this question to silent audiences of seasoned developers and functional analysts. Can you tell which is which? You may also read my 4-slide intro presentation [PPT] for this technique, as presented in informal brown bag sessions.