sastrify
sastrify
sastrify
problem
Sastrify’s existing workflow setup tool was too rigid for enterprise clients. It supported only sequential approvals, lacked visibility and automation, and was unable to handle the complexity of real-world procurement flows.
Executive summary
Executive summary
role
role
As a Product Designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of Workflow Setup, collaborating closely with PMs, engineers, CSMs, the procurement team, the CTO, and the CEO. I also contributed to expanding the Design System and aligning Initiatives (the feature that triggers workflows) with the new workflow setup experience.
As a Product Designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of Workflow Setup, collaborating closely with PMs, engineers, CSMs, the procurement team, the CTO, and the CEO. I also contributed to expanding the Design System and aligning Initiatives (the feature that triggers workflows) with the new workflow setup experience.
Impact at a Glance
Impact at a Glance
+60% workflows created by IT personas
+20% initiative creation (driven by easier workflow-trigger integration)
−24% support tickets related to workflow configuration
Adopted by 50+ enterprise customers in the first release cycle
Improved collaboration between Procurement, IT, and Finance teams
+60% workflows created by IT personas
+20% initiative creation (driven by easier workflow-trigger integration)
−24% support tickets related to workflow configuration
Adopted by 50+ enterprise customers in the first release cycle
Improved collaboration between Procurement, IT, and Finance teams
Note: For confidentiality reasons, the designs presented below have been modified and do not fully reflect the final implementation.
context & problem
context & problem
Sastrify helps companies manage and optimise their SaaS subscriptions through automated approval workflows.
Sastrify helps companies manage and optimise their SaaS subscriptions through automated approval workflows.
However, the existing Workflow Setup tool wasn’t scalable for large organisations.
However, the existing Workflow Setup tool wasn’t scalable for large organisations.
Key pain points
Key pain points
Only sequential approvals — no parallel or conditional logic
Couldn’t handle license access requests or onboarding/offboarding workflows
No reusable templates, forcing admins to rebuild workflows each time
Poor visibility — no tracking, reminders, or monitoring features
Limited to Slack/email integrations
Critical business risk: Some enterprise clients who engaged Sastrify’s procurement team still managed workflows on competitors like Omnea, citing more flexible configuration and transparency.
Only sequential approvals — no parallel or conditional logic
Couldn’t handle license access requests or onboarding/offboarding workflows
No reusable templates, forcing admins to rebuild workflows each time
Poor visibility — no tracking, reminders, or monitoring features
Limited to Slack/email integrations
Critical business risk: Some enterprise clients who engaged Sastrify’s procurement team still managed workflows on competitors like Omnea, citing more flexible configuration and transparency.
Old Sastrify linear workflow
Old Sastrify linear workflow
New flexible setup
New flexible setup
research & insights
research & insights
Research Protocol
Research Protocol
To identify why admins avoided Workflow Setup, I combined qualitative interviews with quantitative behaviour tracking:
10+ interviews with IT & Procurement Admins from enterprise accounts
Hotjar session recordings to observe interaction patterns and drop-offs
Productboard feedback analysis, mapping recurring requests like “conditional logic” and “workflow templates”
Competitor analysis — Omnea, Torii, Trelica, Vendr, Vertice, Zylo
To identify why admins avoided Workflow Setup, I combined qualitative interviews with quantitative behaviour tracking:
10+ interviews with IT & Procurement Admins from enterprise accounts
Hotjar session recordings to observe interaction patterns and drop-offs
Productboard feedback analysis, mapping recurring requests like “conditional logic” and “workflow templates”
Competitor analysis — Omnea, Torii, Trelica, Vendr, Vertice, Zylo
Key Findings
Key Findings
Flexibility is essential — admins need dynamic routing, parallel approvals, and manual task stages.
Visibility drives trust — admins wanted real-time progress and approval tracking.
Templates save time — a lack of reusable flows discouraged adoption.
Dynamic routing (based on cost, requester, and department) was a must-have for scaling procurement operations.
Flexibility is essential — admins need dynamic routing, parallel approvals, and manual task stages.
Visibility drives trust — admins wanted real-time progress and approval tracking.
Templates save time — a lack of reusable flows discouraged adoption.
Dynamic routing (based on cost, requester, and department) was a must-have for scaling procurement operations.
Interview Insights: Workflow Setup Pain Points
Interview Insights: Workflow Setup Pain Points
Competitive Audit
Competitive Audit
Purpose: To understand how competitors handle workflow automation and procurement visibility and identify where Sastrify could differentiate.
Purpose: To understand how competitors handle workflow automation and procurement visibility and identify where Sastrify could differentiate.
Insight Summary: Competitors like Omnea and Torii lead in automation flexibility, while Vendr and Vertice dominate in procurement visibility.
But none offered both. This gap became Sastrify’s opportunity: To design a procurement-first workflow setup that combines flexibility, visibility, and simplicity.
Insight Summary: Competitors like Omnea and Torii lead in automation flexibility, while Vendr and Vertice dominate in procurement visibility.
But none offered both. This gap became Sastrify’s opportunity: To design a procurement-first workflow setup that combines flexibility, visibility, and simplicity.
Process & Design Decisions
Process & Design Decisions
The design process evolved through research, exploration, and iterative validation.
Our focus was on scalability and usability - creating a visual builder that is both flexible enough for enterprise workflows and simple for non-technical users.
The design process evolved through research, exploration, and iterative validation.
Our focus was on scalability and usability - creating a visual builder that is both flexible enough for enterprise workflows and simple for non-technical users.
Collaboration & Constraints
Collaboration & Constraints
Decided with developers to implement the new workflow in a few releases. To make it easier for them, I released versions of the whole flow on a release-by-release basis. With that, I had to make sure that every small change was updated in all releases.
Primary constraint: The initial idea was to have a pop-up next to the node; however, since we already had a drawer component, it was faster to reuse it initially and plan to implement a new pop-up in the future.
Decided with developers to implement the new workflow in a few releases. To make it easier for them, I released versions of the whole flow on a release-by-release basis. With that, I had to make sure that every small change was updated in all releases.
Primary constraint: The initial idea was to have a pop-up next to the node; however, since we already had a drawer component, it was faster to reuse it initially and plan to implement a new pop-up in the future.
1. Transition to Node-Based Design
1. Transition to Node-Based Design
The first significant design decision was to move from list-based approvals to a node-based builder.
The first significant design decision was to move from list-based approvals to a node-based builder.
This allowed users to:
Build parallel and conditional branches visually
Assign groups or fallback approvers
View the complete workflow structure at a glance
Reduce configuration time and human errors
This allowed users to:
Build parallel and conditional branches visually
Assign groups or fallback approvers
View the complete workflow structure at a glance
Reduce configuration time and human errors
Before: Static step list
Before: Static step list
After: node-based flow with branches and connectors.
After: node-based flow with branches and connectors.
2. Workflow Templates
2. Workflow Templates
We added reusable templates so admins could:
Save common workflows (“New Purchase,” “Renewal”)
Create new workflows faster — without manually filling in descriptions or recreating every node.
We added reusable templates so admins could:
Save common workflows (“New Purchase,” “Renewal”)
Create new workflows faster — without manually filling in descriptions or recreating every node.
Design goals:
Design goals:
Faster completion - the only task for admins was assigning tasks or approvals to end-users.
Clarity - Make stages and responsibilities transparent.
Faster onboarding- prefilled templates guide new users through the setup process, helping them learn by example.
Faster completion - the only task for admins was assigning tasks or approvals to end-users.
Clarity - Make stages and responsibilities transparent.
Faster onboarding- prefilled templates guide new users through the setup process, helping them learn by example.
Before: No information
Before: No information
After: Filled in templates
After: Filled in templates
3. Simplification of the Form Creation
3. Simplification of the Form Creation
Instead of a non-editable form template and an additional step that was confusing, I improved the flow and included form creation in the second step of workflow creation.
Instead of a non-editable form template and an additional step that was confusing, I improved the flow and included form creation in the second step of workflow creation.
Before: 10 clicks to add a question and access Workflow Setup.
After: Reduced to 5 clicks — users can now complete the task twice as fast.
Testing & Iterations
Testing & Iterations
early prototype
early prototype
Feedback: Drag-and-drop felt intuitive, but node setup was confusing.
Change: Introduced guided node builder with dropdown logic patterns.
Feedback: Drag-and-drop felt intuitive, but node setup was confusing.
Change: Introduced guided node builder with dropdown logic patterns.
Drag and drop
Drag and drop
Plus sign
Plus sign
DeliverY
DeliverY
Delivered MVP in two months.
Based on previous experience, we decided to release a new version in 10 releases. I provided developers with the whole flow, step by step, and release after release.
Based on user feedback I also designed a new dashboard that is way more actionable, but we agreed that it's the current priority.
Collaborated closely with PM and engineering teams to ensure technical feasibility and speed.
Expanded the Design System: Workflow cards, connectors, logic modals, and progress chips and documented guidelines for reusable patterns
Delivered MVP in two months.
Based on previous experience, we decided to release a new version in 10 releases. I provided developers with the whole flow, step by step, and release after release.
Based on user feedback I also designed a new dashboard that is way more actionable, but we agreed that it's the current priority.
Collaborated closely with PM and engineering teams to ensure technical feasibility and speed.
Expanded the Design System: Workflow cards, connectors, logic modals, and progress chips and documented guidelines for reusable patterns
results & impact
results & impact
+60%
+60%
workflows created
workflows created
by IT personas post-launch
by IT personas post-launch
+20%
+20%
increase in initiative creation
increase in initiative creation
due to more straightforward workflow setup.
due to more straightforward workflow setup.
-24%
-24%
support tickets
support tickets
about workflow usability.
about workflow usability.
Adopted by 50+
Adopted by 50+
50+
50+
enterprise customers within the first release.
enterprise customers within the first release.
Improved
Improved
cross-department collaboration
cross-department collaboration
and reduced procurement cycle time.
and reduced procurement cycle time.
Reflection & Learnings
Reflection & Learnings
Designing Workflow Setup taught me how to build for enterprise-scale complexity without overwhelming users.
By connecting Initiatives → Workflow Setup → Execution, I turned fragmented features into a single, coherent experience.
It reinforced that internal admin tools are just as crucial to user satisfaction as end-user products — especially in B2B SaaS, where operational friction impacts retention.
Designing Workflow Setup taught me how to build for enterprise-scale complexity without overwhelming users.
By connecting Initiatives → Workflow Setup → Execution, I turned fragmented features into a single, coherent experience.
It reinforced that internal admin tools are just as crucial to user satisfaction as end-user products — especially in B2B SaaS, where operational friction impacts retention.
Takeaways
Takeaways
Systems thinking enables scalability — modular design improves future development speed.
Enterprise ≠ complicated — simplification increased adoption.
Competitor awareness drives relevance — learning from Omnea helped close the flexibility gap.
Cross-feature synergy matters — connecting Initiatives and workflows yields a multiplied impact across the platform.
Systems thinking enables scalability — modular design improves future development speed.
Enterprise ≠ complicated — simplification increased adoption.
Competitor awareness drives relevance — learning from Omnea helped close the flexibility gap.
Cross-feature synergy matters — connecting Initiatives and workflows yields a multiplied impact across the platform.
New Dashboard
New Dashboard
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