TL;DR

✦ AT A GLANCE ✦ IN A NUTSHELL

TL;DR

✦ AT A GLANCE ✦ IN A NUTSHELL

✲ Rockwell Automation

Securing Trust at Scale

Modernising Rockwell Automation’s enterprise identity system by redesigning authentication, authorisation, and account linking flows - introducing secure, scalable patterns optimised for federated access, multi-factor authentication, and role-based permissions.

Timeline

6 months (Apr 2024 - Sep 2024)

Team

Design & Project Lead -Shruti Kabo ・ Design Director - George Mathews ・ UI/UX - Vaanchhita Raj ・ Research - Vedant Manwadkar ・ Project Management - Nandini Chaubey

Scope

UX Strategy, Workflow Mapping, Multi-user Journey Design, Component Design, Design System Contribution, Role-based Access Modelling, Developer Handoff & Documentation

✲ Rockwell Automation

Securing Trust at Scale

Modernising Rockwell Automation’s enterprise identity system by redesigning authentication, authorisation, and account linking flows - introducing secure, scalable patterns optimised for federated access, multi-factor authentication, and role-based permissions.

Timeline

Apr 2024 - Sep 2024 (6months)

Team

George Mathews (Director), Shruti Kabo (Lead), Vedant Manwadkar (Research), Vaanchhita Raj (UI), Nandini Chaubey (PM)

Scope

UX Strategy & Research ・ Service Mapping & Multi-user Flows ・ Component Design & System Integration ・ Stakeholder Workshops & Dev Handoff

Impact & Outcome

The redesigned authentication system is now implemented and used across Rockwell's global organisation serving 27,000+ employees and customers.

30% reduction in account creation time, improving user satisfaction and reducing support queries

Single consolidated journey map created to align backend identity rules with front-end UX

Component updates accepted into Rockwell’s global design system, improving reuse across platforms

Progressive profiling strategy reduced onboarding friction and improved profile completion across identity types

The redesign encouraged greater self-serve behaviour, reducing dependency on customer service teams

Created high-quality handoff files that reduced design-dev friction and improved implementation speed

Key Contributions

  • Led UX strategy and journey mapping across complex IAM flows for multiple user types

  • Designed a unified user journey map consolidating multiple user types into a single system-wide artefact

  • Introduced progressive profiling to reduce friction at entry and improve profile completion rates

  • Proposed and advocated for a vertical side navigation pattern, now adopted into Rockwell’s global design system

  • Conducted system audits and usability evaluations of legacy flows to identify and resolve high-friction points

  • Delivered annotated handoff files and collaborated closely with engineering to ensure smooth implementation

  • Delivered an interim iteration of the Access Hub by introducing guided journeys, copy refinements, and minimal visual adjustments enabling Rockwell to improve usability and roll out critical flows ahead of the full system redesign.

The Challenge

Rockwell Automation, a global leader in industrial automation, faced critical usability challenges with its legacy identity and access management system.

The system was complex, with confusing registration flows, inconsistent MFA, and shaped by backend logic rather than user mental models.

This meant users dropped off during onboarding, either due to optional sections creating decision fatigue or a lack of visible incentive to continue, leaving the system with incomplete profiles and fragmented user data.

We needed to reduce friction, simplify progressive onboarding, and support multiple user pathways, including no-contract, contract-linked, and admin roles. The redesign also introduced scalable security systems like MFA and aligned complex backend logic with a clearer, more human-first interface.

Research & Systems Audit

We started with a system audit and stakeholder interviews to identify key friction points. The system needed to support three distinct groups- admins, internal employees, and external partners, each with unique access needs. We mapped comprehensive flows for registration, login, MFA, password recovery, and access requests across all identities, then consolidated them into a unified journey map that brought clarity and cohesion to the entire experience.

Experience Principles

To align a complex backend system with a clear, intuitive user experience, we defined a set of experience principles. These served as anchors during design critiques and helped us evaluate decisions consistently across use cases, roles, and access flows.

1 Start simple, grow contextually.

Lower the barrier to entry with minimal upfront inputs, then enrich progressively based on user actions and access needs.

2 Make logic visible.

Reduce confusion by clarifying how user roles, contracts, and permissions connect, so people understand what they can access and why.

3 Design once, use widely.

Create flexible, reusable patterns that work across different access stages, roles, and platforms.

4 Lead with clarity.

Prioritise intuitive flows over technical structure, surfacing backend complexity only when it adds value to the experience.

Laying flexible foundations

Two design decisions helped shift the experience at a systems level.

First, we introduced a reusable widget for login and account creation that was flexible enough to serve all Rockwell platforms, across web and mobile, while supporting varied user types.

Second, we reframed profile enrichment not as an obligation, but as a path to unlocking relevant tools and personalised access. This small shift in positioning changed how users approached registration, leading to more complete profiles and better data over time.

While I can’t yet speak publicly about the redesign of the Access Hub, it remains one of the most layered and rewarding transformations I've worked on.

By framing profile enrichment as a path to unlocking relevant tools and personalised access, we shifted the user’s perception from obligation to value.

What this project taught me

This project was a deep exercise in simplifying complexity. It sharpened how I think about clarity, context, and cross-functional alignment, and led to design decisions that continue to shape Rockwell’s global identity system.

Effective collaboration was central to its success. I worked closely with Rockwell’s design team to align with the Meteor design system, and partnered with engineers and security experts to balance usability, compliance, and technical feasibility. The most rewarding part was seeing a purely functional enterprise system become something more- an experience that guided and supported users. Through thoughtful structure and progressive disclosure, we helped people not just gain access, but understand where they were and what they could do next.

To support implementation, I created detailed user flows, annotated specs, and interactive prototypes to clearly communicate system behaviour and design intent.