Sugar CRM Workflow Optimization
Prodcut
Role
Year
Veteran Benefits Guide helps veterans file disability claims, and Sugar CRM is the internal web app used by employees to manage veterans and business clients, process claims, review documents, and collaborate with the team.
In the previous project—Sugar CRM Re-Architecture, I led a complete redesign of Sugar’s information architecture, and navigation. In this project, I focused on optimizing workflows for different roles to improve efficiency and usability.
Initial discovery
When reviewing the claim submission process in Sugar CRM, I found a major issue: All roles had access to everything, with no permission controls.
Anyone could edit any information, leading to frequent mistakes and data conflicts. Duplicate entries and inconsistent data were common, and employees wasted time sifting through irrelevant information, which slowed their workflow. Additionally, there was no clear task ownership, causing people to unknowingly undo each other’s work.
Business impact
• Claim submissions dropped due to confusion and inefficiency.
• This led to a decline in company revenue.
• The overall claim process was long, complex, and unstructured, involving multiple roles with unclear task boundaries.
User research
I interviewed team leaders to understand each role’s tasks, pain points, and information needs. Based on these insights, I mapped the entire claim workflow, identifying roles, required tasks, needed materials, steps that could run in parallel, review points, and clear responsibilities for each stage.
Important insight & focus roles
• The Network Support Coordinator and Mail Clerk complete their tasks on a third-party platform, so their workflow doesn’t need to appear inside Sugar CRM.
• The Intake Specialist is responsible for creating leads, filling out initial information, uploading initial documents, create claim packet and collect veteran signatures.
• The Case Manager handles the initial review, views all veteran information, and creates disabilities and diagnoses.
• The Underwriter reviews all uploaded documents, ensuring the information is accurate.
• The Case Review Specialist reviews all documents previously checked by the Underwriter and also reviews completed Disability Benefit Questionnaires for final verification.
Restricting access to improve accuracy
Role-based progress bar
I separated dashboards by role, so each role only sees their own tasks after logging in.
On the Lead View and Claim View, I redesigned the progress bar, Intake Specialists have their own standalone progress bar, since their phase happens first and independently.
Other roles, Case Manager, Case Review Specialist, and Underwriter see a shared progress bar that displays the full claim process but only allows interaction with their assigned steps.
Progressive disclosure for task content
1. Dynamic content visibility based on role and task stage.
2. Each phase ends with a review checkpoint, ensuring accuracy, preventing duplicate entries, and stopping unintended changes.
State-driven interaction design
Certain features, like Documents and Disabilities, require multiple reviews across roles, so I designed role-specific interactions based on document status — focusing on file uploads during the Intake phase and on document reviews action for the Case Manager, Underwriter, and Case Review Specialist phases. To support task tracking, I added checkboxes next to each document, allowing users to mark reviewed items and easily resume work after interruptions.
Streamlining workflow & efficiency
Linear sequential workflow
In the old design, all functions were displayed on one page with no clear order, making task management difficult. For Intake Specialists, I introduced a linear, step-by-step workflow where only the current task’s information is visible, tasks are marked complete after review, and users can revisit completed steps but cannot preview future ones.
Tab-based workflow navigation
For roles like Case Manager, Underwriter, and Case Review Specialist, where the process is more complex and non-linear, I created tab-based navigation with tabs arranged by task order and priority. The main work section stays centered, tabs guide users through each step, the system automatically moves to the next tab after completing a task, and users can manually return to previous tabs for easy review and updates.
Increasing accountability
Redesigning guidance for success
I introduced checkboxes for each task, allowing users to actively mark items as they complete them. Before submission, users must click “Mark as Complete” to confirm accuracy and take ownership of their tasks. This simple action reinforces accountability and reduces careless errors.
Full transparency and traceability
For review-based items like Disability and Documents, I added a System Information section that automatically tracks who created, accepted, and rejected each item. Every action is tracked and stored, ensuring a transparent workflow where roles cannot alter accountability records. This gives team leads and stakeholders clear visibility into who did what and when, improving trust and overall process reliability.
Impact
• Errors decreased—no more accidental changes by the wrong teams.
• Efficiency improved—employees spent less time searching for information and more time completing tasks.
• Accountability increased—each role had clear responsibilities, reducing confusion and rework.
• The number of claim submissions doubled within one month after the new feature launch.
Reflection
This project taught me how important a clear workflow is. By listening to users and making role-based changes, we reduced mistakes, made work easier, and improved accountability. I learned that small fixes—like organizing tasks better and adding confirmation steps—can make a big difference. If I did this again, I’d look into automation, but overall, I’m happy we turned a messy system into a smooth process.