The Opportunity
The project involved redesigning the EDGE Pay Tool, an existing offline software solution used by organizations to conduct detailed pay gap assessments via linear regression analysis. The tool's core function is to identify potential pay equity risks and offer actionable remediation strategies.
Project Goal: Develop a new software solution to replace a slow, legacy Excel VBA-based system, with the objective of providing a faster, more secure, and user-friendly experience.
Team: The effort was executed by a small team, including 1 Product Designer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Data Scientist, and 2 Developers.
Problem Statement
Before the redesign, the pay gap analysis relied on an outdated Excel-based solution that severely hindered organizational efficiency and posed significant risks.
Severe Performance Issues: Processing a single analysis took an unacceptably long 5–7 minutes. User testimonials described the application freezing and wasting working hours.
High Error Rates: The complex and unintuitive Excel interface led to user frustration and frequent input errors.
Critical Privacy Concerns: The system posed potential risks with sensitive data being processed externally.
Compatibility Issues: Many companies experienced problems running the Excel VBA-based tool on newer devices.
Key Outcomes and Results
The redesign successfully addressed all critical limitations, resulting in substantial improvements in performance, user experience, and data integrity:
Faster Analysis: Analysis processing time was cut from 5–7 minutes to under 20 seconds. This represents a more than 90% reduction in analysis time.
Higher User Satisfaction: User surveys indicated a 30% improvement in overall user satisfaction.
Increased Data Accuracy: Improved data validation routines led to a 25% reduction in errors.
Stronger Security & Regulatory Compliance: Offline processing fully addressed critical privacy concerns , and a new section was added to ensure compliance with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Before & After
Solution
The final product is the EDGE Empower® Pay Tool, a modern software application that addresses performance, security, and usability challenges by focusing on key design decisions.
Simplified User Experience (UX): The old variable table was replaced with streamlined, modern components (cards and modals) to simplify data entry, reducing the time required and cutting error rates.
Improved Performance: The backend architecture was re-engineered to efficiently handle large datasets, achieving the sub-20-second processing time.
Enhanced Security & Privacy: The entire analysis process is conducted offline, ensuring sensitive pay equity data remains protected on the user's device, addressing key enterprise customer feedback.
Customization & Flexibility: New fields and a modal interface were introduced to allow users to customize regression variables (e.g., location, department) and tailor the analysis to their specific organizational needs
The final design utilizes a clean, visually engaging interface, providing immediate access to new guides, trending topics, and the marketplace directly from the home screen, demonstrating high-quality craft and strong product thinking.
