SC Trace

Turning a mobile app into an end-to-end platform to streamline the supply chain and elminate paper processes.

Enterprise

Client

Ascend SC, part of Sumitomo

Industry

Oil & Gas, Supply Chain

Duration

2.5 Years

Results

🌍 Deployed to numerous SC sites across the globe
⌚ Eliminated hourly paper processes
⌛ Enabled faster, automated billing
💻 Turned into a white-labeled B2B SaaS solution for enterprise clients.

The Problem

Tracking tubular goods has always been done traditionally through the use of pen and paper. For Ascend SC (formerly SCGTS), this was causing a lot of headaches in their supply chain including gaps in asset visibility, tally delays, and a slow billing process. Their attempt at solving this — a mobile app called SC Trace — lacked needed functionality that users desperately needed to accomplish their tasks efficiently. Due to the failed effort, I and a few others on the product team were tasked to help.

Ascend SC (formerly SCGTS) was using paper processes to track OCTG inventory across its supply chain — leading to visibility gaps, tally delays, and billing issues.
Their attempt at solving this — a mobile app called SC Trace — lacked movement tracking, integrations, and real-world usability. Our team was tasked to help.

The Discovery

At Umbrage, I worked alongside a product manager and a senior designer to conduct SME interviews and workshops to map how assets move from mill to rig. From the discovery, we realized there were many touchpoints and users not accounted for within the SC Trace experience including four key personas. Each persona played a critical role in measuring, evaluating, and transferring assets from one location to the next.

PRIMARY

Yard Operator

"I want to ensure inventory accuracy."

PRIMARY

Yard Operator

"I want to ensure inventory accuracy."

PRIMARY

Drilling Engineer

"I need to make a drilling plan and report returns."

PRIMARY

Drilling Engineer

"I need to make a drilling plan and report returns."

PRIMARY

Admin / Manager

"I need to review and approve movements."

PRIMARY

Admin / Manager

"I need to review and approve movements."

SECONDARY

Inspector

"I want to efficiently catch defects."

SECONDARY

Inspector

"I want to efficiently catch defects."

The Challenge

There was just one big problem. Tight deadlines. The pressure was on to not only map out workflows addressing these issues, but also visualize what this new experience could look like. With just days to come up with a few limited solutions, we scraped together a proof-of-concept and presented it to the client. Unfortunately, the first iteration focused too much on tweaks, and not a redefined holistic experience. The client pushed back — hard. It was a wake-up call. We needed to slow down and allow time to explore additonal concepts and deeply understand our user's needs.

The Redesign

From that setback, we regrouped and doubled down on the research phase. This gave us a sharper understanding and we rebuilt our proposed solution around real field behavior, not assumptions.

My coworker focused on the UI look and feel. I focused on the overall user experience for inbound and outbound shipments. My contribution introduced a card-based interface for managing orders and tasks. This let users see what shipments were coming in, understand the materials needed to fulfill orders quickly, and save their progress as they scanned assets. Our work greenlit the project, and over the next 2.5 years, we evolved SC Trace into a robust Android app, including a web portal that let managers review and approve activities.

I didn't get a chance to work on the original UI for this project, and the final product wasn't where I'd quite like it to be. These mockups show a redesigned version I created to bring it in line with modern standards. The UX is the same.

The Impact

Through the SC Trace redesign, our team transformed a basic, rudimentary solution into a robust, high-impact system. The impact on Ascend SC's operations have been substantial:

🌍 Deployed to numerous SC sites across the globe
⌚ Eliminated hourly paper processes
⌛ Enabled faster, automated billing
💻 Turned into a white-labeled B2B SaaS solution for enterprise clients.