Intro

MasterControl is a leading provider of cloud-based quality and compliance software for life sciences companies. Their Manufacturing Execution System (MES) helps teams manage highly regulated manufacturing processes while maintaining strict compliance standards.

As customers scaled their use of master templates, configuring and updating default properties became increasingly time-consuming and error-prone. This project focused on reducing configuration friction, improving clarity, and enabling safer, faster updates across manufacturing templates.

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Problem

Updating and setting default properties in master templates required a repetitive, multi-step process that was both time-consuming and prone to error. For health science clients operating in regulated environments, this inefficiency caused delays of several days when adding or updating correction reasons, negatively impacting productivity, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.

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Hypothesis

If we streamlined the interface to support global property configuration and automatic default settings within master templates, then configuration time could be reduced by at least 50% by eliminating repetitive manual steps and minimizing opportunities for error.

Leveraging data to identify most commonly used properties

By analyzing usage data, I identified the properties most frequently used within master templates. This allowed the team to focus on changes that would have the highest impact while avoiding unnecessary complexity.

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We used Pendo and Datadog to validate findings and accelerate discovery

→ Mapped data types and properties into a matrix, identifying thirteen frequently used properties across all data types

→ Datadog confirmed activity across dev and test environments, showing 26,377 Correction Reasons feature clicks

→ Pendo validated production-level usage, narrowing the list of common global properties from thirteen to seven

Feature placement in the journey was critical due to product complexity

Before defining flows, we created a persona and scenario statement to clearly understand who would use this feature, when they would need it, and how it fit into their existing workflows within a highly regulated environment.

Optimal feature placement was found at the beginning of the journey

Allowing users to configure properties before defining phases or steps gave them greater control and reduced downstream rework.

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Key observations from testing user flows

→ Template-level control is critical for clients managing a large number of regulated products

→ Placing the feature early in the flow reduced cognitive load and improved confidence

→ Adding the feature later in the journey increased engineering complexity and introduced unnecessary interactions, especially for users transitioning from a deprecating product

With the goal of prototyping we moved straight into design

With validated properties and an agreed-upon user flow, we moved directly into solutioning. This allowed us to prototype quickly and prepare for moderated usability testing with real customers to validate assumptions before development.

Collaborating with our UX researcher ensured a thorough research plan

A research plan and scenario were created to guide moderated usability tests and ensure we could answer the most critical questions before implementation.

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Key questions we aimed to answer

→ Was the placement of this feature appropriate within the overall workflow?

→ Were interactions and copy clear enough to prevent configuration mistakes?

→ Did confirmation dialogs clearly communicate the impact of revising an entire template?