Designing an MVP for a WMS App, Kajal Jain

Background

Fynd was building out a supply chain suite for Reliance Jio, a key client. A Warehouse Management System (WMS), paired with a Transportation Management System (TMS), would give full visibility and control from purchase order to delivery.

My role

I was the DRI for this project, owning the end-to-end design process, translating business requirements into user flows, and syncing weekly with the Design Manager and dev team on technical constraints.

Objectives

Build an MVP with basic features for a mid-sized warehouse to run smoothly.
Create a web app for warehouse managers to monitor operations, and a Pick Pack app for warehouse workers to use RFID for automatic data updating.
Build a workflow builder covering use cases across different warehouse processes.

Challenges

No prior knowledge of how warehouses actually operate

No shared documentation or scrum cadence in the early phase

Timelines and strategy stayed undefined until we had screens to react to

Warehouses vary widely in layout and process, with no single standard to design for

Research

Warehouse visit

We visited one of India's largest warehouses to see firsthand how packages move from intake to delivery.

Competitor benchmarking

We benchmarked WMS platforms already in use by Jio's other vendors:

Vineretail
Unicommerce
SAP
Increff
Stock One

Defining user personas

The needs of three personas informed the direction of the application.

Ravina

Supervisor

Goals

Optimize inventory and minimize stockouts
Increase productivity, reduce operational costs
Ensure timely order fulfillment

Ajay

Admin

Goals

Ensure system stability across warehouses
Define configurations with stakeholders
Optimize performance and data accuracy

Shyam

Worker

Goals

Complete tasks accurately and on time
Handle inventory safely and efficiently
Work smoothly within the team

Wireframes

Low-fidelity wireframes for the web app drove the structural decisions:

Using cards to demarcate content for visual segmentation
Clear headlines and breadcrumbs to track navigation

Final UI

A minimal set of page templates, reused throughout. Content surfaced through white cards on a light background rather than one-off layouts.

Inbound listing & detail

Consignments are visible with status at a glance, tracked at the item level until stock is added to inventory. The form's left nav stays static on scroll, so workers can jump to any section instantly.

Task screens for on-ground workers

Workers scan an item code at each task step to track its status through the system.

Stationary tasks (e.g. quality checks) use a desktop screen with a connected handheld scanner.
Mobile handheld devices cover tasks that require moving between locations.

Task completion

Once all items are scanned, a barcode generates automatically via the OMS API and the worker marks the order packed. Each scan gives immediate feedback and auto-advances to the next item, usable via scanner or touch.

Result

The system was tested and shipped with:

100% inventory traceability at item level
100% picking accuracy
99.9% orders processed within SLA
10% improved manpower efficiency

Live product: fynd.com/en-in/wms