Overview
I led the UX modernization of the Asset Management System (AMS) dashboard for the UCI Student Center. By transitioning the platform from an administrative log into a high-fidelity fiscal dashboard, I provided the finance department with real-time visibility into their budget and hardware life cycles.
The Problem
The original AMS dashboard was purely operational. It tracked existing assets but failed to communicate financial health. Through stakeholder meetings, I identified that the finance team had to manually cross-reference asset lists with external spreadsheets to answer basic budget questions.
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Information Gap: The legacy view lacked a macro-level financial summary, making it impossible to see annual spend at a glance.
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Reactive Tracking: There was no visual warning system for hardware "End of Life" (EOL), leading to unexpected procurement costs.
Design & Iteration
My goal was to transform raw inventory data into actionable insights through several rounds of review to match the finance team's mental model.
Defining Fiscal Transparency
The core of the redesign was transforming how the budget was visualized. I initially prototyped a large donut chart to show spending by department. However, stakeholder feedback revealed two major flaws: the donut chart didn't emphasize the "Remaining" budget—the team's most critical data point—and tracking by department was misleading as many expenses occurred outside the system.
I pivoted to a horizontal stacked bar chart categorized by Asset Type. This functioned as a progress bar, allowing "Available Spending" to be perceived as a tangible resource.
Technical Feasibility & Systems
AMS was built using Snipe-IT, an open-source platform. To minimize production time and developer overhead, I chose to work within Snipe-IT’s existing design system rather than building a new one from scratch. I collaborated closely with the development team to ensure custom data visualizations were buildable using Chart.js, validating that each graph could be accurately populated by the data currently being collected for each asset.
Streamlining for Scannability
I audited the legacy components to reduce cognitive load and prioritize the most frequent workflows:
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Removing Recent Activity: I moved the high-density activity feed to a secondary view. At a management level, granular checkout logs were a distraction from the primary goal of monitoring fiscal health.
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Prioritizing High-Value Assets: I created a dedicated section for the four most critical items: laptops, mobile phones, monitors, and desktops. This allowed IT staff to immediately identify the status of high-priority inventory.
Proactive Lifecycle Management
To address reactive tracking, I introduced modules for Assets End of Life (EOL) and Software License Expirations. By categorizing hardware into "3 months," "1 month," and "Passed," I shifted the team from a "fix-it-when-it-breaks" model to a proactive procurement strategy.
Takeaways
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Designing Within Constraints: This project taught me how to work effectively with a legacy system. I learned to push for a modern user experience while respecting the technical boundaries of an existing framework and development timeline.
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Bridging Stakeholder Needs: I learned how to facilitate discussions between finance leads and IT staff to find common ground, allowing me to prioritize features that provided high value to both departments.
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Data Utility Over Aesthetics: I learned that an aesthetically "modern" design is ineffective if it doesn't answer the user's most urgent questions. Prioritizing utility and accurate data mapping is key to turning complex lists into actionable tools.