Level Manager Ordering
More than a dozen complaints came from one root cause
Designing and testing a new vehicle ordering flow for GE Capital Fleet Services.
From legacy admin screens to a guided ordering flow
myFleetOffice2 needed a way for field supervisors to place vehicle orders directly, without going through the fleet manager.
Outdated screens, legacy app
Class Setup, Driver Spec Search, and Forms Assignment were separate legacy screens that still used old fleet-admin terminology.
Wayfinding for an infrequent user
Numbered tabs (“1. Driver”) assume that the user already knows the flow. I tested the “Step 1: Driver” version as the clearer option for field supervisors, who order infrequently and were the most likely to lose their place.
One navigation pattern for every step
The selected step navigation was used for Driver, Vehicle, Billing, and Summary, in the same order throughout. It replaced the inconsistent patterns of the legacy tool.
Challenge
The previous release of myFleetOffice2 had no ordering flow. Field supervisors had to ask the fleet manager to place vehicle orders for them. The new release needed a guided flow that let supervisors place orders directly.
Approach
Ordering flow design (Build)
I was responsible for the flow from design through validation with the people who would use it. I designed a six-step guided wizard (Driver, Vehicle, Billing, Dealer, Title, Summary). It replaced a configuration-oriented experience with a persistent context panel, step-by-step progress tracking, and fields that appear only when they apply.
Usability validation (Research)
I designed and moderated task-based usability sessions with four enterprise oil and gas fleet clients. The sessions covered both the order flow and the admin configuration screens behind it.
Findings synthesis (Analysis)
The complaints appeared to be unrelated, but they had one cause. Field supervisors were seeing internal admin terminology and locked controls that they did not have permission to use. The same problem appeared on every tab.
Recommendations (Delivery)
I delivered a prioritized set of recommendations for engineering, covering navigation, terminology, tab consolidation, and default behaviors.
- Remove the Title tab to avoid exposing users to locked controls and unknown terminology, and transfer its contents to the Summary tab.
- Remove the Dealer tab for the same reason, and transfer its contents to the Summary tab.
- Replace unfamiliar or proprietary GE terms (“Classes,” “Level Manager,” “Billing Levels,” and others), which confused users.
- Simplify vehicle selection to avoid common mistakes, such as selecting the wrong spec.
Beyond the ordering flow
Alongside the ordering flow, I explored two concepts that used the same fleet data: tiered rewards for maintenance compliance and fuel efficiency, and a map of fleet performance by location. Neither concept shipped. Both were attempts to make a B2B tool something drivers and managers would choose to use.
Outcomes
Delivered a prioritized list of fixes based on four moderated sessions with enterprise clients.
Identified one cause behind more than a dozen complaints: admin-level content appearing in a flow designed for field supervisors. As a result, the fixes were structural navigation changes rather than visual adjustments.
Task-based testing of both the order flow and the admin screens brought field supervisors’ actual work into design decisions.
Growth opportunity
I handed off the findings as a prioritized list of fixes. Implementation and outcome tracking were outside my role, so I do not know what shipped. Today I would agree on a follow-up measure with the team before handing off.
Key learning
Complaints across five tabs came from one problem. The legacy flow had been designed around an administrator’s understanding of the system, not a field supervisor’s permissions and context.