Salesforce UX for Land Operations: Bridging Fieldwork and Digital Tools
EDF’s land management teams rely on Salesforce to track parcels, landowners, and agreements across hundreds of development sites. But the system hadn’t kept pace with how teams actually worked—leading to friction, inefficiencies, and growing frustration across stakeholders.
I led the UX strategy to re-architect key workflows: restructuring layouts, aligning logic with team mental models, and designing scalable patterns that reduced confusion and supported trust in the system.
The result wasn’t just a better interface—it was a more confident, collaborative workflow for EDF’s land operations teams.
The Challenge: Replacing Legacy Systems with Scalable UX
EDF’s land management teams were transitioning from LandWorks to a custom-built Salesforce platform. The shift promised stronger integration and long-term flexibility—but without a clear UX strategy, the new system risked replicating old friction in a new environment.
Task-Flows Buried in System Logic – Page layouts mirrored backend object structures rather than user workflows, making basic tasks harder than they needed to be.
Low Confidence in Data Entry – Unclear field groupings and inconsistent labels led to confusion, hesitation, and uneven adoption.
Underestimated Change Management – Teams accustomed to LandWorks needed more than a new interface—they needed context, clarity, and a system they could trust.
To make the transition successful, we had to design with user trust at the center—reframing the experience around real-world tasks, intuitive architecture, and scalable UX patterns. I led the strategic redesign to ensure the move to Salesforce wasn’t just technical—it was transformational.
My Role in This Project
I led UX strategy and design system architecture for this internal analytics initiative—establishing a modular framework that unified data visualization tools across EDF’s renewable energy teams.
Partnering with stakeholders across data, engineering, and governance, I created foundational user flows, component libraries, and interaction patterns to streamline reporting and reduce redundancy. I also helped align internal communication strategies and design governance protocols to support scalable adoption.
This case study highlights my systems thinking and strategic leadership within a complex data-heavy environment—made possible through close collaboration with teammates listed further below.
Designing for — Coordinators Managing Complex, Evolving Relationships
The Salesforce Contact Management System wasn’t about marketing pipelines—it was about people. Specifically, landowners, local communities, and long-term partners whose involvement could make or break renewable energy projects. Our internal users needed a way to track, organize, and act on nuanced stakeholder data—without losing context, duplicating effort, or creating bottlenecks.
Our approach centered on empowering internal teams with tools that felt like extensions of their workflows—not disruptions.
Key user groups included:
Land Acquisition Specialists: Often juggling dozens of active landowner relationships, these users needed quick access to contact history, lease details, and parcel-specific notes. Their top priority was minimizing redundant outreach and maintaining consistency across conversations—even when team members changed or project timelines shifted.
Community Engagement Leads: Tasked with building local trust, these users needed visibility into landowner sentiment, community dynamics, and engagement history. They used Salesforce to identify pain points, spot opportunities, and tailor outreach strategies that were both personal and strategic.
Rather than overloading users with features, the system prioritized clarity, customization, and scalable structure. Every design decision was shaped by a simple goal: make it easier to manage complexity—without compromising relationships.
The Outcome: Streamlined Workflows and Intuitive UX in a Complex Salesforce Environment
✅ Reduced Cognitive Load for Land Teams — By restructuring page layouts and grouping information by task intent (rather than object hierarchy), we helped users find key data faster with fewer clicks and less training overhead.
✅ Improved Accuracy of Landowner Data — Embedded UX improvements and validation patterns decreased entry errors and ensured cleaner data for downstream teams.
✅ Task Completion Time Cut by ~40% — Common actions like parcel review, landowner lookup, and status updates were redesigned for clarity and speed—saving time across the project lifecycle.
✅ Modular UX Framework for Salesforce MVPs — We created a scalable page layout system that supports iterative Salesforce rollouts while preserving consistency and stakeholder trust.
✅ User-Centered Salesforce Governance — Our research-led approach helped shift governance conversations from dev-only decisions to cross-functional collaboration—leading to smoother adoption across teams.
Project Team
This redesign brought together UX strategy, Salesforce development, and cross-functional product leadership to improve EDF’s internal land management workflows—making it easier for teams to manage landowner records, agreements, and parcel-level details.
The project team collaborated closely with end users from the Land and Legal teams to understand their daily pain points and shape a more intuitive, error-resistant Salesforce experience—setting the foundation for future scalability and adoption.
Scope & Constraints
Scope:
This project focused on improving the user experience of EDF’s Salesforce-based Land Management tool—particularly around parcel records, landowner data, and agreement tracking. Our goal was to reduce friction for land teams, improve data confidence, and implement scalable UX patterns within a highly customized Salesforce environment.
Constraints:
Limited UX Bandwidth: As the only UX strategist supporting multiple initiatives, I was in 5+ hours of calls daily—requiring creative time management, async deliverables, and close collaboration with product owners to stay meaningfully engaged.
Evolving Requirements: Stakeholder needs shifted mid-sprint as new land records and agreement types were introduced—necessitating fast prioritization and flexible documentation.
Salesforce Architecture Limitations: Admin constraints and backend configurations restricted our ability to deploy ideal UX patterns, requiring tight cross-functional alignment and iterative compromises.
Change Management Sensitivities: The tool replaced legacy workflows, and adoption relied on early buy-in—so we embedded onboarding touchpoints, co-created support docs, and collaborated closely with internal trainers.
Lessons Learned
Through this project, I gained insight into designing spatial tools for teams with vastly different goals, roles, and mental models—all within a shared platform.
Some of my biggest takeaways include:
In future projects, I’ll focus even more on mapping ownership and interpretation gaps early—using research to clarify not just what users do, but why their workflows diverge. This helps build systems that feel personalized without sacrificing cohesion.
The Real Win
Transforming legacy friction into intuitive flow—so land teams could focus on progress, not process.
Referenced Frameworks & Reading
A few resources that influenced my approach on this project:
