Design Thinking · SAP WM/EWM · Warehouse UX
Design Thinking and UX advisory for a large industrial distributor’s warehouse inbound-receiving process
A Large Industrial Distribution Company Delivered 2023
Mindset traveled to two distribution centers, observed the real receiving process, and handed the company a full decision package: research, prototypes, a prioritized backlog, a future-state architecture, and an implementation roadmap, all in six weeks.
By the numbers
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2 DCs
Distribution centers studied onsite, covering both WM and EWM
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6 weeks
From first site visit to full decision package in leadership hands
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1 package
Complete decision package: research, prototypes, backlog, architecture, roadmap
Before
Two warehouse platforms, no clear path forward
- Associates navigating real friction in the inbound-receiving process across two different SAP warehouse platforms.
- An S/4HANA migration on the roadmap with no validated future-state architecture for the warehouse layer.
- No objective analysis of what was failing users or a prioritized plan to fix it before committing to a build.
After
Research-backed direction in six weeks
- Firsthand observation at two DCs turned into documented personas, pain points, and a prioritized problem list.
- High-fidelity prototypes validated with warehouse SMEs before delivery.
- A prioritized backlog, future-state architecture, and implementation roadmap ready for the next investment decision.
Built on
- Design Thinking
- SAP Fiori
- High-fidelity prototyping
- Usability testing
- SAP ECC WM
- SAP S/4HANA EWM
Why this matters
A distributor running two warehouse platforms that needed honest, field-based research before committing to a build. The Design Thinking approach traveled to the facilities, tested prototypes with real users, and handed over a full roadmap in six weeks.
The challenge
The company's distribution-center associates were dealing with friction in the inbound-receiving process across two different SAP warehouse platforms: legacy ECC WM in some facilities and newer S/4 EWM in others. An S/4HANA migration was on the roadmap.
Before committing budget to a build, leadership needed an honest read on where the technology and the process were failing users. They also needed a prioritized path to fix it, one grounded in what associates actually experienced on the floor, not assumptions made from a conference room.
What we did
Mindset ran a six-week Design Thinking strategic advisory, traveling onsite to two distribution centers: a WM warehouse and an EWM warehouse. The team observed the end-to-end inbound-receiving process, conducted user interviews, and built out personas and documented pain points directly from what they saw.
They then reviewed the current-state architecture, configuration, and existing custom development objects to understand what was driving the gaps at a technical level.
From that research, Mindset ran a Design Studio workshop to prioritize problems and ideate the to-be workflow. The team built high-fidelity prototypes and put them in front of warehouse SMEs for usability testing before producing the final recommendations.
The engagement closed with an executive presentation covering findings, recommended process and technology changes, a product backlog with estimates, a future-state solution architecture, and an implementation roadmap with resourcing and timeline.
The outcomes
The company's leadership received a complete decision package at the end of six weeks: a research-backed assessment with change management and master data recommendations, a prioritized product backlog with effort estimates, high-fidelity prototypes they could take into a build, a future-state architecture, and an implementation roadmap.
The engagement eliminated the guesswork from the next investment decision. The company had been running two warehouse platforms and needed to know which problems to solve first and what the right path forward looked like before committing to a larger program.
If we built this today
Concept · not delivered scopeReceiving that guides the associate.
This is a forward-looking concept, not the scope we delivered on this engagement. It is the build we would reach for now, grounded in SAP that ships today.
This engagement looked at why inbound receiving felt clunky for distribution-center associates working across legacy ECC WM and newer S/4 EWM, so the modern build puts a Joule agent inside the receiving task itself.
The Joule agent
EWM Warehouse Order Agent
Reads the inbound delivery, the warehouse task queue, and putaway rules, then proposes the next receiving and putaway steps in the order that makes sense for the associate on the floor. It flags discrepancies between expected and received quantities and drafts the resolution instead of leaving the associate to hunt for it.
SAP EWM, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Fiori · PROPOSE · Inbound receiving cycle time and putaway accuracy
The Fiori app
Warehouse task / inbound delivery apps with embedded Joule
The S/4HANA warehouse task and inbound-delivery Fiori apps with Joule sitting in the launchpad, so an associate can ask what to receive next and get a guided answer in context. Where a named out-of-the-box app does not cover the exact step, this is the honest category rather than a specific app name.
Embedded in the Fiori launchpad
The data product
Cloud ERP Intelligence
Grounds the agent in real warehouse meaning by joining inbound delivery, stock, and task data across the WM and EWM facilities through the SAP Knowledge Graph. That shared semantic layer is what lets one agent reason about receiving even when the underlying platforms differ.
Intelligent Application on SAP Business Data Cloud
We would mine the real receiving process in SAP Signavio first to see where the friction actually lives, map the WM-to-EWM system landscape in SAP LeanIX, and let our MIND accelerators carry the proven WM workflows forward as the S/4HANA migration lands.
What we built
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Onsite discovery at two distribution centers
Mindset traveled to a WM warehouse and an EWM warehouse to observe the real inbound-receiving process, conduct user interviews, and build personas and pain points from firsthand observation.
2 distribution centers studied, both WM and EWM environments
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Current-state technical review
Analysis of existing architecture, configuration, and custom development objects to understand the technical drivers behind the user-experience gaps.
Both legacy ECC WM and S/4 EWM configurations reviewed
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Design Studio workshop
A facilitated session to prioritize the identified problems and ideate to-be workflows with the client team.
Prioritized problem list and future-state workflows produced
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High-fidelity prototypes and usability testing
Working prototypes of the recommended receiving workflow, validated with warehouse SMEs in usability testing sessions before finalization.
Prototypes tested with real warehouse users before handover
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Prioritized product backlog with estimates
A sequenced backlog of changes and enhancements, with effort estimates, ready to feed directly into a follow-on build program.
Backlog with estimates handed to leadership at engagement close
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Future-state architecture and implementation roadmap
A high-level future-state solution architecture and an implementation roadmap with resourcing and timeline, designed to align the warehouse technology direction with the S/4HANA migration on the roadmap.
Complete roadmap with resourcing and timeline delivered in week 6