Overview

Product / Initiative: Engagement Management Platform Redesign & SAP Integration
Role: Principal Product Manager
Location: Global (Firmwide Initiative)
Scale: 6 cross-functional business teams (Risk, Partners, Finance, Staffing, Practices, Operations), 20,000+ annual engagements, enterprise-wide implementation
Outcome: Leveraged the migration from Oracle E-Business Suite to SAP as a strategic opportunity to redesign the engagement management platform’s UX/UI, streamline core business processes, and align 6 business functions on shared delivery milestones — accelerating integration timelines by 20% and enhancing user experience and operational efficiency.

Problem / Opportunity

The Firm initiated a strategic migration from its legacy Oracle financial suite to SAP to modernize its financial infrastructure. While this was primarily a technical shift, it presented a unique inflection point to reimagine how engagement management worked across the organization.

Key context and challenges:

🧭 New financial backbone: Migration to SAP required rethinking how engagement workflows interfaced with financial data, risk policies, staffing, and approvals.
🧾 Legacy workflows: Engagement-related business processes had accumulated complexity over time and were due for modernization.
🎨 Outdated UX/UI: The platform’s design hadn’t kept pace with evolving partner and operations team needs.
🔄 Cross-functional alignment required: 6 key business functions — Risk, Partners, Finance, Staffing, Practices, and Operations — all had different priorities and dependencies.
📅 Tight integration timeline tied to the firmwide SAP go-live date.

Opportunity:

• Use SAP migration as a strategic lever to redesign the engagement platform, simplify workflows, and elevate the user experience.

• Streamline business processes across Risk, Finance, Staffing, and Practices to remove redundant steps.

• Establish a shared north star, delivery milestones, and structured execution cadence across all functions.

• Accelerate integration timeline and improve operational effectiveness.

Goals & Success Metrics

Primary Goal: Modernize the engagement platform experience and business processes in sync with SAP migration to improve usability, speed, and execution alignment.

North Star Metrics:

• SAP integration timeline and go-live readiness

• Platform usability & task completion time

• Operational process efficiency

• User adoption and satisfaction

Supporting Metrics:

🚀 20% acceleration in SAP integration timeline
🎨 Improved UX satisfaction scores (measured through surveys and telemetry)
🔄 Reduction in engagement setup and approval cycle time
📈 Increased platform adoption and engagement metrics
🤝 Improved cross-functional alignment between Risk, Partners, Finance, Staffing, Practices, and Operations

Strategy & Approach

Vision: Transform the engagement management platform into a future-ready, user-friendly, and integrated system by leveraging SAP migration as a catalyst to align people, process, and platform.

• Strategic Timing: Use the migration program as an opportunity to modernize end-to-end engagement workflows.

• UX/UI Redesign: Reimagine the interface based on user journey mapping and usability testing to create a simpler, faster experience.

• Business Process Optimization: Map and streamline workflows across Risk, Finance, Staffing, Practices, Partners, and Operations.

• Execution Alignment: Establish shared north star metrics and delivery milestones across all business functions.

• Change Management: Drive adoption through structured governance and engagement with senior stakeholders.

Frameworks Used

• North Star Framework to align on shared business outcomes

• Journey Mapping & Jobs-to-be-Done to guide UX redesign

• RICE Prioritization to focus on high-impact process improvements

• Program Increment (PI) Planning to coordinate execution across multiple functions

• RACI Model to clarify ownership between business teams

• Governance Cadence for milestone tracking and dependency management

• Design Thinking to guide interface and workflow iteration

My Role & Contributions as Senior PM

• Defined the transformation vision for the engagement platform aligned to SAP migration.

• Led UX and UI redesign, collaborating with design, research, and business stakeholders to modernize workflows and user journeys.

• Mapped and streamlined processes across Risk, Finance, Staffing, Practices, Operations, and Partner teams to eliminate redundant steps and standardize execution.

• Aligned all six functions on a single north star and shared delivery milestones, improving clarity and speed.

• Drove 20% acceleration in SAP integration by coordinating execution and removing blockers early.

• Established governance cadence and telemetry to track impact and adoption.

• Partnered with leadership to support change management and rollout.

Solution & Execution

🎨 UX/UI Redesign

• Conducted journey mapping with Risk, Partners, and Ops teams.

• Reduced clicks and steps for core actions.

• Standardized design patterns and improved information architecture.

• Embedded inline guidance and contextual help.

🧭 Business Process Optimization

• Simplified engagement creation, staffing requests, risk reviews, and financial approvals.

• Reduced approval loops and manual interventions across six functions.

• Standardized workflows to align with SAP’s data model.

⚡ SAP Integration Acceleration

• Defined shared north star metrics and milestone alignment across functions.

• Mapped dependencies early to prevent slippage.

• Established structured governance and risk escalation cadence.

• Delivered integration 20% faster than planned.

📊 Execution & Measurement

• Implemented dashboards to track milestone progress and UX telemetry.

• Measured engagement time, approval cycle duration, and adoption before and after redesign.

Impact & Results

🚀 20% acceleration in SAP integration timeline
🎨 Major improvement in UX and user satisfaction across partner and operations teams
🔄 Streamlined workflows reduced engagement setup and approval cycles
📈 Increased platform adoption and engagement rates
🤝 Successfully aligned Risk, Partners, Finance, Staffing, Practices, and Operations on a unified execution model
🧭 Strengthened platform as a future-ready foundation for scaling operations

Retrospective & Learnings

✅ What worked:

• Treating SAP migration as a strategic enabler rather than a technical exercise unlocked broader business transformation.

• Combining UX redesign, process optimization, and execution alignment amplified impact.

• Clear north star metrics and structured governance accelerated delivery.

• Cross-functional alignment across Risk, Partners, Finance, Staffing, Practices, and Operations improved execution velocity.

🛠️ What could be improved:

• Earlier involvement of end-users in co-design could have shortened iteration cycles.

• More automated reporting could further streamline governance processes.

🧠 Key learning:

The best time to modernize platforms and processes is during major system transitions. Aligning business functions, user experience, and technology delivery multiplies impact.