My role:
UX Research, Visual Design
Project:
Payroll Dashboard System ( Role-Based )
Goal:
Enhance efficiency and accuracy by redesigning a payroll dashboard with tailored role-based user experiences for diverse client teams.
Outcome:
Increase Client retention, improved system effeciency, reduced training time
Managing payroll across multiple clients and teams goes beyond numbers, it's about ensuring everyone has appropriate access to essential tools.
Current payroll systems often lack customized experiences for different roles such as payroll processors, finance managers, and client admins, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and user frustration.
That's where we stepped in. We redesigned a payroll management dashboard with role-based experiences that streamline workflows and present the most relevant information for each user type.
Problem Statement:
Managing payroll across multiple clients and teams is complex, yet existing systems provide one-size-fits-all experiences. Without role-specific tools and tailored access, organizations face operational inefficiencies, slower processing times, and declining user satisfaction.
1. Role-Specific Efficiency
Payroll systems are used by different people for different reasons. A finance manager doesn’t need the same view as a payroll processor. Our redesign started by identifying the distinct user roles and streamlining the UI for each:
Payroll Processor Dashboard: task-driven layout with bulk payroll runs, client-specific alerts, and submission timelines.
Finance Manager Dashboard: quick insights into monthly payroll totals, pending approvals, and audit logs.
Admin Dashboard: easy access to employee records, payroll history, and document uploads.
2. Increased Accuracy
Manual errors in payroll are costly. By surfacing the right tasks, client alerts, and payroll timelines based on role, we reduced missed deadlines and data entry issues. For example: Processors are notified of missing timesheets before running payroll. Finance leads are alerted to approval bottlenecks. This has significantly improved payroll accuracy and reduced client escalations.
3. Optimized Multi-Client Management
For processors managing multiple client payrolls, we designed a high-level Client Overview Panel that shows:
Upcoming run dates
Pending actions per client
Quick access to client-specific dashboards
This improved visibility and allowed processors to prioritize better, while managers could quickly understand team load and reassign tasks.
4. Streamlined Approvals and Collaboration
Our new Approvals Center groups all approval requests by urgency and type, allowing finance managers and clients to collaborate faster. Role-based permissions ensure only the right people can view, edit, or approve sensitive payroll data. This also helped reduce Slack messages and emails between teams, centralizing collaboration in one space.
Outcome and Impact
Redesigning the payroll management dashboard through the lens of role-specific needs has led to tangible improvements in speed, accuracy, and satisfaction.
A user-focused approach, paired with scalable components and thoughtful UX, empowered our client’s payroll team to serve multiple clients confidently.