Gluware

I take great pride in our remarkable journey with the Gluware Network Robotic Process Automation project.

Our goal was to create a brand new solution and a cleaner user interface that not only improved the overall user experience but also played a pivotal role in attracting substantial investments.

Key Results

• Collaborated with an exceptional product team to secure $43 million in funding in 2021.

• Improved the user interface for the RPA project, enhancing user experience and attracting investments.

• Managed a highly technical project with numerous variations and extensive meetings.

• Successfully designed a platform allowing users to create public and private workflows with role-based access control.

• Implemented a drag-and-drop editor, pre-built Gluware native automation tasks, and support for third-party libraries and integrations.

• Supported complex rule-based logic, "Wait For" operator, messaging, multi-user annotations, workflow testing and validation, and BPMN view and export capabilities.

• Enabled multi-layer workflow monitoring, real-time and preview validation, and failure analysis tools.

• Developed dashboard widgets including Activity Count, Calculator, IP Subnet Calculator, Network Tools, and Activities widget.

• Developed a comprehensive design system and cleaner UI design, earning recognition and respect from peers.

• Significantly enhanced design and development practices across the organization.

• A pivotal moment in career, solidifying the team's reputation and contributing to the broader design community.

Role

Enhanced the User Interface for an RPA project, which improved user experience and attracted substantial investments, resulting in securing $43 million in funding in 2021

Tools

Figma
Figjam
JIRA
Miro
Notion

Projects

RPA

Dashboard

Design System

The Challenge

The project presented us with a formidable challenge. It was a highly technical endeavor with numerous variations and an abundance of meetings. Building a brand new solution demanded a comprehensive understanding of network engineers, covering their networking workflows, variables, network devices, as well as the nuances of network configurations and protocols.

Our approach to cleaner UI design demanded a deep understanding of design systems, and it was through this experience that I honed my design system expertise.

RPA

Robotic Process Automation

Gluware Network Robotic Process Automation (Network RPA) provides the ability to create, manage, and monitor no-code process automation (a.k.a. workflows). It runs inside the Gluware Control web-based UI and is tightly integrated with the suite of automation applications.

The Purpose

The purpose of Gluware Network RPA is to provide users, including network engineers and operators, with the ability to create, manage, and run end-to-end process automation for workflows such as moves, adds, changes, deletes (MACD), assessments, troubleshooting, operating system change processes, configuration management, and other end-to-end processes.

The Workflows

Network RPA provides users with access to pre-built task-level operations from the Gluware application suite, along with external tasks for integrations with systems such as ITSMs, IPAMs, monitoring, and Syslog.

The library of tasks available for inclusion in the workflows will continue to expand, providing additional Gluware functionality along with functionality through 3rd-party systems, including the open-source StackStorm library, and other integrations via API.

No-Code Editor

The platform allows users to create both public and private workflows with role-based access control levels, features a drag-and-drop editor for designing workflows, includes pre-built Gluware native automation tasks and supports third-party libraries and integrations.

The platform offers support for complex if/then/else rule-based logic and a "Wait For" operator for retrying conditions, integrates messaging, enables multi-user annotations and comments, provides workflow testing and validation, and offers standard BPMN view and export capabilities for documentation in PDF format.

Monitor Workflow Activity and Details

Users can view all types of workflows, including running, completed, failed, and scheduled, and have the ability to search and sort these workflows. The platform features multi-layer workflow monitoring, real-time and preview validation, as well as tools for failure analysis.

Additionally, it offers a deep level of logging with detailed device interactions and a download logs utility that provides a package of logs and artifacts for storage in external systems.

Manage Library of Workflows

Users can view all types of workflows, including those that are running, completed, failed, and scheduled, and they have the ability to search and sort these workflows.

The platform offers multi-layer workflow monitoring, real-time and preview validation, and tools for failure analysis. Additionally, it provides a deep level of logging with detailed device interactions and a download logs utility that packages logs and artifacts for storage in external systems.

Growing Library of 3rd Party Integrations

The platform features an API exchange and vendor ecosystem with over 200 integrations, including Gluware Service Connectors that offer pre-built API integrations and third-party integration capabilities with the open-source StackStorm automation library.

Users have the ability to build and publish third-party integrations using Gluware Lab, easily define input parameters provided by third-party systems through copy-and-paste API calls and payloads, and access pre-built tasks for ServiceNowⓇ CMDB sync operations as well as user-defined API calls for quick third-party integrations.

Inventory Dashboard

Pre-seeded example dashboards for both administrative and app-specific views and provides fully customizable options with multiple widget choices. Users can create dashboards as private or public for shared access, and there are features to import, export, clone, and customize examples provided in the Gluware Knowledgebase, enhancing collaboration.

The dashboard includes integrated navigation with embedded filtering, offers summary and detailed views, and provides widgets for rich text notes, web pages, RSS feeds, counts, tables, schedules, user activity, and more.

Design System

Building The Design System

Our efforts in developing a comprehensive Design System and our approach to cleaner UI design gained recognition from our peers, earning the respect of fellow designers within the organization.

As a result, I was entrusted with the responsibility of creating a unified way of working with design systems within the HTEC Group, underscoring the positive impact of our work on the broader design community.

The Pilot

We were assigned the responsibility of creating a design system for the entire Gluware platform. Collaborating with the development team, we decided to customize an existing library, Kendo UI, to suit our design needs. We initiated the process by building a storybook, developing the first pilot component, and testing it within the platform.