Case Study 6: WA Solutions IMS Platform Redesign
Overview:
When WA Solutions recognized their IMS platform WA360 wasn't serving medspa clinicians effectively, they needed a comprehensive redesign that would reduce friction and put the focus back where it belonged—on patient care rather than system navigation.
Problem:
WA360's outdated interface created serious friction:
Business impact:
Discovery & Research:
I led comprehensive research to understand how the platform actually functioned in clinical settings:
Research activities:
Key insights:
Solution:
I focused on redesigning workflows to match how medspa health professionals actually work, not how the system was originally architected.
Consolidated Navigation System: Implemented a collapsible left navigation that grouped features by workflow rather than system architecture. This reduced cognitive load while maintaining access to all functionality—clinicians could find what they needed based on their tasks, not technical logic.
Restructured Information Architecture: Completely reimagined how patient and operational data was organized throughout the platform. The old system scattered related information across disconnected sections, forcing users to piece together context from multiple locations.
The new architecture prioritized information based on clinical decision-making needs:
Streamlined Scheduling Interface: Redesigned the receiving process to reduce steps by 60% while adding intelligent suggestions based on doctor's appointments and patient needs. What once took 8 clicks now took 3, with contextual recommendations that anticipated common scheduling patterns.
Design process: Feature inventory → low-fidelity wireframes → user testing → visual design system → Figma prototypes → usability testing iterations → component-based design system
Implementation & Results:
While my involvement was cut due my 6 month contract expiring, early results were highly promising:
Early performance indicators:
User feedback:
"The difference is night and day. We can finally focus on our patients instead of fighting with the software. This is what we needed years ago." — Dr. Sarah Mitchell, Lead Clinician
"From a training perspective, this redesign cuts our onboarding time in half. New staff actually understand the system intuitively now." — Marcus Chen, Operations Manager
Projected business impact:
When WA Solutions recognized their IMS platform WA360 wasn't serving medspa clinicians effectively, they needed a comprehensive redesign that would reduce friction and put the focus back where it belonged—on patient care rather than system navigation.
Problem:
WA360's outdated interface created serious friction:
- Complex navigation requiring numerous steps for basic tasks
- Poor visual hierarchy causing users to miss critical patient data
- Inconsistent design patterns across different platform sections
- Workflow misalignment that didn't match clinical processes
Business impact:
- 5-7 hours training required for new users
- 35% of support tickets were basic functionality issues
- User satisfaction at just 62% (below industry benchmarks)
- Staff spent 35% of time navigating the system instead of focusing on patient care
Discovery & Research:
I led comprehensive research to understand how the platform actually functioned in clinical settings:
Research activities:
- 4 in-depth interviews (clinicians, administrators, intake coordinators, IT staff)
- 2 months of support ticket analysis
- Review of existing user feedback surveys
Key insights:
- Users developed extensive workarounds, maintaining separate excel files outside the platform
- Only 30% of available features were actually used
- Critical patient information was buried beneath administrative data, forcing clinicians to search across multiple screens
- Putting away of medical equipment and drugs were time consuming
- Clinical staff needed to see patient context immediately, without hunting through disparate sections
Solution:
I focused on redesigning workflows to match how medspa health professionals actually work, not how the system was originally architected.
Consolidated Navigation System: Implemented a collapsible left navigation that grouped features by workflow rather than system architecture. This reduced cognitive load while maintaining access to all functionality—clinicians could find what they needed based on their tasks, not technical logic.
Restructured Information Architecture: Completely reimagined how patient and operational data was organized throughout the platform. The old system scattered related information across disconnected sections, forcing users to piece together context from multiple locations.
The new architecture prioritized information based on clinical decision-making needs:
- Patient dashboard hierarchy: Inventory status and urgency indicators at the top, followed by upcoming deliveries, and recent delivery issues—all visible without scrolling
- Progressive disclosure: Essential data presented immediately, with expandable sections for detailed history and documentation that clinicians access less frequently
- Role-based views: Tailored information presentation based on user type—clinicians saw clinical context first, while administrators saw scheduling and billing priorities
Streamlined Scheduling Interface: Redesigned the receiving process to reduce steps by 60% while adding intelligent suggestions based on doctor's appointments and patient needs. What once took 8 clicks now took 3, with contextual recommendations that anticipated common scheduling patterns.
Design process: Feature inventory → low-fidelity wireframes → user testing → visual design system → Figma prototypes → usability testing iterations → component-based design system
Implementation & Results:
While my involvement was cut due my 6 month contract expiring, early results were highly promising:
Early performance indicators:
- 50% increase in usability scores during prototype testing
- 55% improvement in task completion efficiency
- Projected training time reduced from 5-7 hours to 3-4 hours
User feedback:
"The difference is night and day. We can finally focus on our patients instead of fighting with the software. This is what we needed years ago." — Dr. Sarah Mitchell, Lead Clinician
"From a training perspective, this redesign cuts our onboarding time in half. New staff actually understand the system intuitively now." — Marcus Chen, Operations Manager
Projected business impact:
- 25% reduction in support costs
- 45 minutes per day freed up from system navigation per clinician
- Improved staff retention through reduced frustration
- Foundation for systematic improvement through component-based design system
Current/Old Design
Current Example - Items page
As you can see, the Information Architecture is over-engineered and hard to use.
Current Example - Locations Page
Again, the Information Architecture is over-engineered and hard to use. Usability was pretty low across the board for the UI.
Revised Designs
Revised Layout - Item Master Section
What was over-engineered and complex now is more broken down into sections. Navigation was also enhanced to keep it clear and understandable. This allowed usability to be higher and better received by current users.
Also, UI design would come next after the UX phase. What you are seeing is mostly the UX and unpolished UI design.
Revised Locations Section
This section was a bit complex. Functionality had be easy, as well as the UI had to be intuitive enough for minimal training by WA Solutions.
Key Learnings:
This project reinforced that effective inventory managment software design requires deep understanding of logistics workflows and respect for the limited time medspa providers have. Every click matters when clinicians are trying to focus on patient care. The most successful redesign isn't the one with the most features—it's the one that gets out of the way and lets people do their jobs.
This project reinforced that effective inventory managment software design requires deep understanding of logistics workflows and respect for the limited time medspa providers have. Every click matters when clinicians are trying to focus on patient care. The most successful redesign isn't the one with the most features—it's the one that gets out of the way and lets people do their jobs.