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Frontline distribution team
Coverage Planner

Digitizing Workforce
Coverage & Leave Management

Minimizing business disruption through real-time visibility and smart resource planning

Context & Opportunity

When Time-Offs Disrupt Business Continuity

Context
  • Employee leave is inevitable—but operational disruption doesn’t have to be.
  • Coverage planning relied on fragmented, manual processes that slowed response times and increased errors.
Opportunity

Create a centralized, real-time system that enables leaders to plan, assign, and communicate coverage seamlessly.

Frito-Lay frontline team, representing the workforce affected by manual coverage planning

The Core Problem

Manual Processes Created Operational Friction

Key Problems
  • Absence records created individually
  • High dependency on calls, messages, spreadsheets
  • No verification or real-time visibility
  • Coverage assignment was slow and error-prone
Impact

Leaders spent time coordinating instead of leading.

Frito-Lay driver photo representing the frontline workforce impacted by the core problem

Research & Discovery

Understanding Frontline Leadership Reality

Discovery Insights

No single source of truth for schedules
Leaders manually matched absences with availability
Custom formats created by each manager
High cognitive load during daily planning
UX Insight

“The problem wasn’t effort—it was fragmentation.”

Defining the Opportunity

From Manual Coordination to Intelligent Planning

Record absences View schedules Identify available relief employees Assign coverage in real time
Business Goal

Improve efficiency and reliability of workforce coverage.

UX Vision & Design Principles

Designing for Real-World Operations

Core Principles

Reduce cognitive load
Design for real-world support scenarios
Prioritize frequent tasks
Enable proactive planning

What We Built

Centralized absence tracking
Real-time schedule visibility
Intelligent relief assignment
Editable, shareable coverage plans

Key UX Highlights

Design That Enables Fast, Confident Action

Easy Mapping

Side-by-side absence & availability lists

Rapid Action

Assign coverage in minimal steps

Data That Matters

Role, location, availability captured upfront

Proactive Planning

4-week forward visibility

Easy Mapping

Rapid Action and Response

Rapid Action & Response

Assigning a Relief Employee


Data-Driven Decision-Making

Capturing Information that matters

Acting on the Right Information


Impact & Value

Operational Confidence at Scale

UX Impact
Faster task prioritization
Lower cognitive load
Real-time visibility
Clear accountability
Business Impact
Reduced planning effort
Fewer errors
Improved continuity
Stronger work culture
Pepsi products on a store shelf, representing the operational scale of the business

Conclusion & Takeaways

Key Learnings
  • Centralization enables better decisions
  • Simplicity drives adoption
  • Real-time data builds trust
  • UX is an operational advantage
Final Note

Coverage Planner transformed leave management into a scalable, predictable, and human-centered system.

Pepsi delivery driver closing out the Coverage Planner case study
Our FAQ’s

Here are answers to some of the most common questions.

Discoverability issues, information overload, navigation reflecting org structure instead of customer goals, and low-visibility trust signals.
Instead of 'how do we simplify banking,' the team asked 'how do we help users make confident decisions faster.'
Key findings included that people scan before they read, visual structure builds trust, and complexity increases hesitation.
Prioritize user intent, reduce cognitive load, create predictable patterns, and surface critical actions.
Through WCAG-compliant inclusive interfaces, device-agnostic experiences, and international-readiness for diverse audiences.

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© 2026 | All rights reserved

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    © 2026 | All rights reserved