Respect-SaaS
01 The Product
traceability tool to collect, organize, and manage verified data across suppliers, which at the end can be published to the public transparency platform Respect-Code.
02 The Challenge
Companies are under increasing pressure to prove where their products come from — from regulators, consumers, and partners. Most supply chain data already exists, but it’s fragmented across spreadsheets, PDFs, emails, and ERP systems. Publishing that data in a transparent, credible way is slow, error-prone, and expensive.
The goal was to design a SaaS tool that allows companies to trace supply chains end-to-end and publish them on a public-facing website in a way that is structured, trustworthy, and easy to maintain.
03 My Role
04 Team
05 What I Accomplished
- 40% reduction in time to publish supply chains.
- 30% fewer data errors after visualization launch.
- high confidence scores reported by beta users.
06 Problem Statement
Key Problems Identified
07 Users & Needs
Sustainability & Compliance Managers
- Need accurate, auditable supply chain data
- Must demonstrate compliance with regulations
- Care about traceability and certificates
Product & Operations Managers
- Manage product catalogs and suppliers
- Need efficient import and editing tools
- Want to minimize manual work
Sustainability & Compliance Managers
- Can view or manage only specific data based on the role
- Can view, manage and verify specific related documents or certificates
- Can verify or invite their direct suppliers
08 Product Scope
1. Products
- Create products manually
- Import products via CSV
- Manage product metadata
2. Suppliers
- Create or import suppliers
- Define supplier type, location, and role
- Reuse suppliers across multiple products
3. Supply Chains
- Build supply chains by connecting products and suppliers
- Visualize multi-tier supply chains
- Control what data is published publicly
4. Certificates
- Upload and manage certificates (e.g. ISO, Fair Trade)
- Assign certificates to suppliers or products
- Track expiration dates and validity
For consistency every module starts with a list of items (example products list), and going further you can access a product page where the product metadata can be managed.
09 Research & Discovery
Methods Used
- Stakeholder interviews
- 6 user interviews with sustainability and operations managers
- Competitive analysis of existing traceability tools
- Review of regulatory documentation and reporting standards
Key Insights
- Users think in products first, not supply chains
- Visualizing supplier relationships reduces errors dramatically
- Importing data is essential, but must be forgiving
- Certificates act as trust anchors — users want them visible and contextual
- Users fear publishing incorrect data publicly
These insights heavily influenced the information architecture and flow design.
10 Information Architecture
To reduce cognitive load, the system was designed around progressive disclosure:
This mirrors how users already think about their work and avoids forcing them to understand the entire system upfront.
11 Key User Flows
12 Design Solutions
Visual Supply Chain Builder
Instead of forms alone, I introduced a node-based visualization:
- Each supplier appears as a node
- Users can add, remove, or reorder suppliers visually.
- Reduced user errors and increased confidence before publishing
Import without fear
- CSV import includes mapping previews
- Errors shown before submission
- Partial imports allowed to avoid blocking progress
Publish with confidence
- Clear distinction between internal data and public data
- Preview mode shows exactly what consumers will see
- Publishing requires confirmation, not technical steps
13 Usability testing and iterations
I ran two rounds of moderated task-based usability testing with 5 users each.To test the complex interaction model (reordering, tier logic).
My aim was to:
- Observe mental models
- Identify confusion points
- Measure error reduction
- Validate that confidence actually improves
Moderated testing helped me understand:
- How users interpret nodes
- Whether tiers are understood
- If reordering feels intuitive
Issues Discovered
- Users confused suppliers vs. supply chain tiers
- Certificate relevance wasn’t always clear
- Users feared “breaking” the public site
Improvements made
- Added tier labels and contextual help
- Suppliers are now added as actors in steps
- The steps help with the storytelling and can be added directly in succession to the previous step
- Added suggestive next step based on industry, with the help of generative AI
- Displayed certificates directly on supplier nodes
- Introduced a safe “Draft / Published” state
Visual Supply Chain Builder - Improvements
Publishing - Improvements
14 Outcomes & Impact
Measured Results
- 40% reduction in time to publish supply chains
- 30% fewer data errors after visualization launch
- High confidence scores (4) reported by users: from self reported scores 1 to 5
Qualitative Feedback
“This is the first time I feel comfortable sharing our supply chain publicly.”
“The visual supply chain finally matches how we think about our suppliers.”
Publish with confidence
- Clear distinction between internal data and public data
- Preview mode shows exactly what consumers will see
- Publishing requires confirmation, not technical steps
15 Next Steps
What worked well
- Product-first mental model
- Visual supply chain editing
- Reusable suppliers and certificates.
What I’d improve
- More automation for certificate validation
- Deeper API integrations with ERP systems
- Consumer analytics on published supply chains and supplier risk analysis
Consumer analytics dashboard - design solution
Designed as a central hub for monitoring supplier data submissions. It includes high-level KPIs for verification progress and a detailed tracking table for recent submissions and their status. Also adding a supplier risk analysis before publishing verified data is essential for credibility, compliance, and long-term sustainability.
Built to facilitate the eventual publishing of verified data to the public transparency platform.
