~/projects/microsoft/golocal-buildout M365 · Global Cloud Expansion · Internal Tool Design

Product Designer · Enterprise Internal Tools

GOLocal Buildout // Microsoft M365 · Global Deployment Dashboard

Designed the internal application that gave Microsoft's global deployment team real-time visibility into data center expansion across 40+ countries — replacing Excel sheets and fragmented tools with a single source of truth.

Figma

Fluent Design System

Power BI Integration

WCAG Accessibility

13-person Team

Global Deployment

// GOLocal_Buildout — Live Dashboard

ACTIVE

// Countries Tracked

40+

Global Markets

// Team Size

Cross-regional

// M365 Workloads

EXO · SPO · Teams

Exchange · SharePoint · Teams

// Manual Reports

Eliminated

Excel → Unified Dashboard

// Active DeploymentsSTATUS

Germany

EXO · SPO · Teams

LIVE

Israel

Exchange Online

IN PROGRESS

Poland

SharePoint Online

IN PROGRESS

Mexico

GOLocal AOR · DSP

PLANNING

// Global Deployment Progress73%

// The Problem

One team. 40 countries. Zero unified visibility.

Microsoft's M365 global deployment team was responsible for expanding cloud services to local markets worldwide — a mission-critical operation involving data center planning, compliance with local regulations, and coordinating workloads across Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Teams. But they had no tool built for the job.

error_01

Excel as a Dashboard

Deployment tracking lived in manually maintained Excel sheets. Every update was a manual process — error-prone, time-consuming, and always out of date by the time it reached decision-makers.

error_02

Fragmented Tool Stack

Data lived across SharePoint, Visual Studio, SQL, and Power BI with no unified view. Teams spent hours consolidating information that should have taken minutes.

error_03

No Real-Time Status

The absence of live deployment status meant bottlenecks were discovered late — after delays had already cascaded through dependent workloads and markets.

error_04

Compliance Risk

Restricted markets (public sector, healthcare, finance) had unique compliance requirements. Without a centralized tool, tracking regulatory adherence across regions was inconsistent.

ADR Sample Report Before GOLocal

M365 Deployment Overview Clarify Phase

// Research Framework

The AEIOU Framework

Before designing a single screen, I needed to deeply understand how 13 people across the USA and India did their jobs. I applied the AEIOU observational research framework — a structured way to capture the full context of how a team works, not just what they say they need.

Activities

Business evaluation, data center planning, deployment workflows. What does the team actually do all day?

Environment

Working conditions across USA & India, local market infrastructure variations, emerging market constraints.

Interactions

How project managers, local teams, and end-users communicate. Where handoffs break down.

Objects

Tools in use: Power BI, SharePoint, Visual Studio, SQL. How data flows between them today.

Users

Deployment team, local market leads, support staff. Three distinct user groups with different needs.

// Design Process

From research to clarity

step_01

Stakeholder Interviews

Interviewed deployment team members to understand their daily workflows, biggest frustrations, and what "good" would look like. Mapped user personas for three distinct groups: deployment engineers, local market leads, and support staff.

Finding: All 3 user groups needed different views of the same data. One dashboard, three contexts.

step_02

Journey Mapping

Built user journey maps for each persona — tracing how a deployment request moved from business evaluation through data center planning to launch. Identified 7 handoff points where information was lost or delayed.

Decision: Design around the handoff moments, not just the end screens.

step_03

Brainstorming & Ideation

Facilitated cross-functional sessions with engineers in USA and India. Used silent brainstorming (write first, share second) to avoid groupthink. Generated 40+ ideas, narrowed to 8 viable concepts through dot voting with stakeholders.

Insight: The team needed status at a glance — not reports they had to read.

step_04

Storyboarding

Storyboarded complex interaction flows before touching Figma. This saved significant time by avoiding prototyping edge cases that wouldn't survive real-world use. Each storyboard was validated with at least one team member before moving forward.

Result: Zero major flow changes during development phase.

MUX Research Session 1 Clarify Phase

MUX Research Session 2 User Needs Mapping

Ideation Session Brainstorming Phase

User Journey Map Deployment Flow

AEIOU Framework Application Full Research Summary

// Design System

Microsoft Fluent UI

Working within Fluent wasn't a limitation — it was the right call for an internal enterprise tool. Fluent's components gave the deployment team immediate familiarity, reduced learning curve, and ensured the tool felt native to the Microsoft ecosystem they already used daily.

⬡

Pre-built Components

Leveraged Fluent's buttons, dropdowns, data grids, and navigation bars. Every deviation from defaults was documented with a rationale — ensuring future maintainability.

♿

WCAG Accessibility

A global tool requires universal accessibility. Applied Fluent's accessible color contrast, keyboard navigation, ARIA labels, and screen reader compatibility throughout.

◱

Responsive & Adaptive

Deployment teams work from offices in the USA to data centers in emerging markets. The tool needed to work on every screen, in every environment, in light and dark modes.

Fluent Accordion Component Library

Fluent Breadcrumb Navigation System

Fluent Card Data Display

// Iteration History

Four versions. Each one earned.

I didn't jump straight to high-fidelity. Starting with low-fidelity sketches in Figma and FigJam, I built up through four versions — each responding directly to feedback from the deployment team, stakeholders, and usability testing sessions.

// version_01 — Low Fidelity

Structure First

Started with skeleton wireframes focused purely on information architecture. What data needs to be visible? In what order? Which country views link to which workload views? No colors, no styling — just the bones.

Outcome: Validated the core navigation model with the team. Confirmed 3-level hierarchy: Global → Country → Workload.

// version_02 — Mid Fidelity

Adding Context

Introduced status indicators, data visualization patterns, and Fluent components. Began testing with real deployment data to see if the information hierarchy held up when actual content was applied.

Outcome: Status badges redesigned twice — team needed to distinguish 6 states at a glance. Simplified to 3 primary states.

// version_03 — High Fidelity

Full Fidelity Prototype

Built pixel-perfect Figma prototype with full interactivity. Used Figma masters for all reusable components — allowing visual updates to propagate across every instance in the prototype simultaneously.

Outcome: Prototype became the primary communication tool with the dev team. "What you see is what you get" accelerated sign-off.

// version_04 — Final · Forms Migration

Production Ready

Integrated forms migration requirements, refined edge cases identified during sprint reviews, and completed accessibility audit. Final handoff to the 13-person engineering team with annotated specs and component documentation.

✓ Shipped. Engineering team implemented with zero design debt requests post-launch.

Dashboard V1 Low Fidelity

Dashboard V1.2 Structure Refined

Dashboard V2 Mid Fidelity

Dashboard V3 High Fidelity

GOLocal Buildout — Final Version ✓ Production Ready

// Outcome

What actually changed

The GOLocal Buildout tool wasn't just a design exercise — it was a tool that 13 people used every day to manage one of Microsoft's most complex global programs. Here's what it delivered.

🔍

Enhanced Transparency

Real-time, comprehensive views of deployment activities across 40+ countries — enabling proactive issue identification instead of reactive firefighting.

⚡

Improved Efficiency

Eliminated reliance on manual Excel reports and disparate tools. Decision-making that took hours of data consolidation now happened in minutes.

🌍

User Empowerment

Local teams in every market received tools tailored to their specific environments — fostering greater autonomy and reducing dependency on central reporting.

// Lessons Learned

What this project taught me

lesson_01

Research isn't optional on complex tools

Enterprise tools fail when designers assume they understand the workflow. The AEIOU framework surfaced requirements that no stakeholder meeting would have revealed.

lesson_02

Real-world testing with actual deployment data caught layout issues that looked fine in Figma. Don't test with placeholder content on data-dense tools.

Test with real data, always

lesson_03

Prototype as communication tool

The high-fidelity Figma prototype was the single biggest factor in getting fast stakeholder sign-off. Seeing is believing — especially with engineering teams.