I was the product designer leading this project in 2019-2020 ideating early concepts, running design sprints, presenting regularly to leadership, and delivering final assets for production. I worked with multiple cross-functional teams that included a project manager, product owner, sustainability reporting admin, and 6 developers.
Project Summary
When Cargill customers want to view and report on their cocoa sustainability investments they rely on Cargill’s annual impact sustainability report.
The information presented in this report often fails to provide customers with what they need to understand how their investment is spent, which communities are affected, and the basic supply chain. When customers requested a copy of the file it took weeks, in some cases months to receive.
The new online sustainability portal serves to better match customers mental model of evaluating their investments with clarity, traceability, and transparency.
As a global food corporation of its scale, Cargill has frequently been the subject of criticism related to environmental hazards, human rights, finance, and other ethical considerations. Currently, Cargill customers are spending millions in sustainability premiums every year in an effort to improve and report on sustainable cocoa practices.
Problem
Customers investing in sustainability spend millions, every year. They track their investment through the annual Cargill sustainability report which is manually generated and delivered via email as a PDF. The reports are dated, data-heavy, challenging to read, subject to human errors, and difficult to access.
Impact
Communication issues with Cargill's sustainability reports are resulting in a lack of understanding and limited motivation among customers to invest further in the company's sustainability efforts. Furthermore, many customers often request report duplicates, which take weeks, in some cases months to return.
Ideal
An online digital sustainability reporting portal with improved clarity and accessibility that effectively communicates the significance of the customers’ sustainability investment, and encourages further investment to support sustainable practices that connect them to sustainable farming communities.
Benefit
An online digital sustainability portal provides self-service access to information about sustainability initiatives, transparency in company practices, traceability in the cocoa supply chain, connection to local farming communities, and ease of navigation and reporting. This can improve customer engagement and increase trust, leading to potential increased investment in sustainability initiatives.
The discovery process for the Cargill cocoa sustainability project involved a comprehensive approach which included conducting historical research, gathering data, conducting interviews with stakeholders and users, and facilitating ideation workshops. The objective was to gather existing knowledge, identify gaps, and uncover opportunities to improve customers’ understanding and perception of their sustainability investments.
Based on my discovery learnings and ideation workshops I created early concepts, tested with customers early, and iterated a lot! I was in constant communication with stakeholders and developers to understand our data inventory, feasibility restrictions, and security restrictions. All of which created quite a challenge since I could only test with actual customers, and Cargill is very hesitant to disclose almost any information that would be relevant to its sustainability customers. In the end, we delivered a solution that Cargill and customers alike drew significant value from and enjoyed using.
The Cargill sustainable cocoa entry page serves as a gateway to the company's sustainability efforts, offering clear entry points to the three main sustainability portal dashboards: My Program, My Finances, and My Product. The page is designed to foster a closer connection between customers, Cargill representatives, and the company's sustainability initiatives, as well as reinforce the Cargill Cocoa Promise. Through this page, customers can easily access information about their involvement in Cargill's sustainability projects, their financial investments, and their cocoa products, helping them stay informed and engaged with Cargill's efforts to create a more sustainable future.
The "My Program" section of the platform provides a comprehensive view of all the sustainability projects, farmer organizations, and communities in which the customer has invested. The Projects tab displays all of the customer's projects in a convenient project card format, and the accompanying map visualizes the farmer organizations and communities impacted by these projects. This allows the customer to easily track and monitor their investments in sustainable development. Clicking on a project card in the "My Program" section opens a project detail page.
-Markers are not displayed for privacy purposes as requested by Cargill.
Project Detail Pages provide a comprehensive overview of a sustainability project, including information about its status, start date, development goals, and partners. The interactive map displays all the farmer organizations involved in the project and allows users to access more information about each one. Customers can stay informed about the project's progress through updates, metrics, and lessons learned, and can also view the total investment and breakdown of investment from various sources. Additionally, the page features a list of participating communities and a project story that highlights the impact of the investment on the communities.
The Farmer Organizations (FO) tab provides information about the farmer organizations that the customer is supporting. The tab displays all of the farmer organizations in a convenient card format, and hovering over a card highlights the corresponding marker on the accompanying interactive map. Customers can access the FO detail pages from the project cards or from the location markers on the map
-Markers are not displayed for privacy purposes as requested by Cargill.
The Farmer Organisation Detail Page is a comprehensive overview of a particular farming organization. It includes the organization’s name, logo location, and images showcasing the farmers and farming operations. The map on the right side displays the communities that make up the organization, and in the future, it will allow users to navigate to the Community Detail Pages. The page also displays key facts, sustainability highlight metrics, and a list of projects it is a part of.
Users can click the project cards to navigate to their Project Detail Pages for more information. There is also an entry point for further investment, encouraging customers to expand their impact on the organization.
The "My Finances" section provides investment transparency for users by displaying their total investment and how it is allocated to premium programs. This section allows users to see the breakdown of their investment and understand where their money is being invested.
-Due to confidentiality agreements, further information regarding the My Finances section cannot be disclosed.
The "My Product" section displays information about the sustainable cocoa purchased by the customer, including the total amount purchased in metric tons, the number of farmer organizations affected, and a breakdown of the sources by country. Customers can view more detailed information about a specific country by clicking on its card or map location, which provides information about the sourcing partners and conditions.
The Supply Chain tab within the My Product section provides a visual representation of the sustainable cocoa bean supply chain, from farm to market. The supply chain is broken down into individual steps and displayed on an interactive map, allowing users to click on different stages and learn more about each step. This provides a comprehensive overview of the entire supply chain and promotes transparency and accountability by highlighting the various actors involved and their respective roles.
The "Product Volumes" section of the dashboard allows customers to view the total amount of sustainable and conventional cocoa products they have purchased. The first section displays the total volumes of the three categories: Verified Products, Promise Products, and Conventional Products. The second section displays the breakdown of sustainable cocoa products only, further divided into Promise and Verified categories and their respective certifications.
In order to help customers understand the complex and obscure nature of Cargill's operations, the company has taken steps to provide information and clarification in the form of tooltips and hover-over explanations on the "Product Volumes" dashboard. This way, customers are better able to understand their product volumes and the information presented in the dashboard.
Project Outcomes
The Cargill cocoa sustainability project digitized sustainability reporting and created a self-service interactive portal. This project helped users understand sustainable sourcing, sustainability certifications, and local sustainability impacts in a more traceable and transparent manner, as perceived by customers. The result of the project was a user-friendly portal that provided insights into the sustainability of the cocoa supply chain.
The Cargill sustainability portal was received positively by customers, resulting in increased interest in sustainability investments. The positive response also influenced skeptical upper management stakeholders, leading to full adoption of the portal and plans to expand to other sustainability products & projects.