InFlight / 2017-2021
Manager Approvals
Brought scattered approvals into one responsive hub, and onto Apple Watch, so managers could make time-sensitive decisions without returning to a desktop.
Design Highlights
Overview
Manager Approvals centralized approval workflows for managers using legacy people management systems like PeopleSoft. The project created a unified hub for all approval types and extended the experience to an Apple Watch app, enabling managers to process approvals on the go from their wrist.
Challenge
Managers needed to handle approvals (time off, expenses, hiring, and other HR actions) scattered across legacy systems with poor usability and no mobile support. The fragmented experience meant approvals were delayed, context was missing, and managers had to navigate multiple systems to complete routine tasks. The lack of mobile access was particularly painful for managers who were frequently away from their desks.
Approach
Applied the InFlight design system to create a unified approval experience that aggregated all pending approvals into a single hub with clear prioritization and contextual information. Extended the experience beyond web to an Apple Watch app, recognizing that managers needed to process quick approvals from anywhere, not just from a desktop or even a phone.
Solution
Built a centralized approval hub that aggregated all pending approval types into a single interface with contextual information for informed decision-making. The hub provided clear prioritization so managers could focus on time-sensitive items. Designed and built an Apple Watch app that enabled managers to review and approve requests directly from their wrist, turning a multi-step, desktop-bound process into a quick interaction on the go. The web and watch experiences shared the same InFlight design patterns, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
Impact
Managers could see pending decisions in one place and act from the web or Apple Watch rather than navigating several legacy systems. Customer organizations moved time-sensitive approvals forward sooner and reduced the cognitive burden on people responsible for many workflows. For InFlight, the project showed how a shared interaction model could extend from complex enterprise software to a focused wearable experience.
Key Learnings
Approval workflows are a prime example of tasks that benefit from meeting users where they are. The Apple Watch app wasn't a gimmick. It addressed the real constraint that managers are frequently mobile and approvals are time-sensitive. Centralizing fragmented workflows into a unified hub reduces cognitive load more than optimizing individual workflows in isolation.