Portfolio complexity
Financial, program, and technical information needed to be understandable in one place.
SAAS · SERVICENOW · FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT · CUSTOM VS. CONFIGURED
Adaptable finance experiences for real delivery.
Leading UX strategy across custom and out-of-the-box ServiceNow financial management initiatives, balancing clarity, governance, adoption, and speed.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Different delivery models need a consistent experience.
Across two large ServiceNow financial-management programs, the work needed to give decision-makers a clearer view of portfolios, budgets, dependencies, and future needs.
One engagement was custom; the other focused on standard SaaS adoption. Together, they showed how UX can flex to meet different constraints without losing clarity or trust.
01 · THE DELIVERY CHALLENGE
Turning delivery complexity into a direction teams can follow.
I immersed myself in the existing workflows, agency and contract constraints, client priorities, and platform limitations. I synthesized those realities into a practical direction the delivery team could follow and the client could support.
Two implementation models
Custom and configurable SaaS delivery required different ways of working.
Accelerated delivery
Two-week SAFe cycles demanded a practical relationship between research and action.
Adoption at scale
New workflows needed training, communication, and stakeholder confidence.
02 · THE PRODUCT VISION
A customized ServiceNow Suite for financial intelligence.
The platform brought configuration, analysis, evidence, and collaboration into one governed environment, helping people move from finding information to acting on it. Answers drew on an on-premises, fine-tuned, domain-specific language model and retrieval across more than a decade of source material, so sensitive data stayed inside the organization’s boundary.
Intake
Capture budget requests and funding needs in a consistent workflow.
Monitor
See how funds are allocated and available as plans change.
Track over time
Follow spend against funding timelines and budget-specific rules.
Visualize
Compare financial information to support clearer portfolio decisions.
One consistent view across three distinct budgets
- Operating O&M
- Capital investment DME
- Working capital Distinct funding rules and timelines
Agency financial views
A broader financial view designed to serve as a consistent standard across the agency and its bureaus.
Vendor support
Vendor management built on the same layouts, connecting contract and spend context to the portfolio view.
Delivered as part of a custom ServiceNow engagement for a federal civilian agency. Client CUI details withheld.
03 · THE EXPERIENCE MODEL
One approach, unified by a flexible design.
The experience strategy combined shared research and design principles with the practical differences between building a tailored product and configuring a SaaS platform.
Use research to prioritize
Turn stakeholder input into clear decisions about workflows, configuration, and tradeoffs.
Design within reality
Balance user needs with the capabilities and limitations of each implementation model.
Plan for adoption
Make communication, training, and readiness part of delivery—not an afterthought.
04 · FROM INSIGHT TO IMPACT
Each sprint carried the experience forward.
Find the patterns
Led workshops and stakeholder interviews across program, financial, and technical domains.
Test the right fit
Created prototypes and design concepts for both custom workflows and SaaS configuration.
Enable the change
Embedded UX criteria, training, and communications into agile delivery.
KEY NUMBERS · CUSTOM SERVICENOW PROGRAM
Joined mid-project and delivered, within two months, a design foundation for three initiatives and three IT budgets.
What this established
Within two months, I delivered layouts and design standards for three initiatives, bringing operating, capital investment, and working capital into a consistent annual portfolio view while retaining each budget’s distinct rules and timelines. The shared foundation also supported vendor management and broader agency financial views.
Research and stakeholder input informed workflow, configuration, and design priorities. Prototypes and adoption materials gave the delivery team concrete artifacts to use as implementation moved forward.
TAKEAWAY
Adaptable systems succeed when the experience adapts with people.
Research-driven design helps teams move quickly without treating usability, confidence, and adoption as optional.