Powerplan

Project Overview

PowerPlan set out to modernize its Fixed Assets module—an integral component of its accounting software for utility companies—by transitioning from a legacy desktop application to a scalable, cloud-based platform. The Fixed Assets module handles asset-related accounting tasks such as depreciation calculations and approvals, which directly affect financial reporting and cash flow. The goal was to streamline the month-end close process, improve UI clarity, and reduce the operational complexity of handling depreciation—a crucial but pain-ridden feature for utility accountants.

As Lead Product Designer, I spearheaded the end-to-end UX design process including research, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing for the MVP. I collaborated closely with stakeholders, SMEs, and engineers to ensure the product aligned with real user needs and financial compliance standards.
Tools: Figma, UXPin, Miro, Adobe XD, Hotjar, Google Analytics
Methods: User Interviews, Journey Mapping, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing, Wireframing, High-Fidelity Prototyping, Accessibility Optimization

Solution

The redesigned Fixed Assets module introduced a cloud-first, user-centered interface that simplified the month-end close workflow while improving accuracy, speed, and user satisfaction.

Key UX enhancements included:

  • Redesigned Depreciation Calculator with real-time feedback

  • Streamlined Month-End Close Workflow featuring proactive prompts and error prevention

  • Improved Navigation and IA supporting quicker access to relevant features

  • Automated Notifications to alert teams about asset status changes and workflow progress

These improvements not only reduced task friction but also enabled utility accounting teams to focus on higher-level strategic tasks by offloading repetitive, manual work.

Discovery & Research

This project required extensive collaboration as the subject matter is extremely complex. After discovery discussions and white-boarding sessions with the product managers and owners, I worked closely with both customers and team members through the research and initial design UX phases. Our team was comprised of multiple accounting subject matter experts whom were able to help the product team understand the subject matter to keep the pace of the project moving forward at all product design stages.

User Interviews

The product team wanted to begin with real user needs that made up the customer dissatisfaction problems, so we decided to interview as many people as we could to get an understanding of the problems. We spoke mostly to account accountants, project mangers, and property managers.

We recorded the interviews and discussed the findings amongst ourselves to help pinpoint the areas where we could improve the month-end close process, and while also honing in on other key areas of the application that fed the month-end close process.

These are some of the key take aways from the interviews:    

Key Insights

  1. Organization of assets activities, and key fiscal insights for reporting were not supported thoroughly in the legacy interface.

  2. Lack of a notification system to alert when items such as new assets were created and needed to have an activity performed, calculate depreciation, when a team member had completed their part of the month-end close process, and much more.

  3. An accounting team did not have a method to track where they were in the month-end close process at any moment. This stifled the approval process also.

  4. Not all nomenclature was clear; especially when errors occurred.

  5. Errors needed more automation for prevention purposes.

Wireframes

Soon after the research and analysis into how users would interact with the content, and detailed user scenarios were finalized with the product team I took all of our whiteboard session findings, and my personal research, and started creating medium fidelity versions of the application. Having accumulated a large amount of project knowledge, I had a very clear vision for the product we needed to create to solve the problems we identified.

Below are examples of the redesign illustrating an authenticated user's path to running depreciation calculation within the month-end close process. This is a high-level view of a user locking the current accounting period (month), closing all the companies, running, and reviewing results.

UI Design

The design team was simultaneously creating a universal design system for all PowerPlan modules to use. Below are samples of the final form applied to the Tax Fixed Assets product.

Results & Impact

Operational Wins:

  • Enhanced automation and clarity reduced mental load

  • Users could track workflow status in real-time

  • Improved onboarding for new team members due to a more intuitive UI

Challenges Faced:

  • Getting buy-in from long-time legacy users

  • Ensuring financial compliance while improving usability

  • Balancing flexibility with simplification in complex workflows

What I Learned:

  • Even in highly regulated industries, users crave intuitive, intelligent tools

  • Visual feedback and clarity reduce errors in high-stakes environments

  • Deep collaboration with SMEs is critical for domain-heavy UX

Next Steps:

  • Expand automation using predictive analytics

  • Introduce mobile capabilities for remote approvals

  • Integrate AI-powered financial reporting insights