Aid Management Platform (AMP) – Discovery
Overview
The Aid Management Platform (AMP) is a critical system used to track, allocate, and manage foreign aid funding. Being a heavily used tool across regions, AMP has direct impact on how programme management teams carry out programme management work. There is unrealised opportunity for AMP to be more effective and user friendly and be more aligned to the working processes of programme management teams.
This piece of discovery work is a follow up to an initial discovery done previously, on the request of the AMP product team.
Outcome
Better understanding of AMP users and their work processes, providing the AMP team with a user-centered approach for future enhancements of the platform to better suit the needs of the programme management teams.
My Roles & Responsibilities
- Conducted extensive user research across multiple locations to understand user pain points and work processes.
- Led service design workshops to map current vs. ideal workflows.
- Collaborated with stakeholders to translate findings into actionable platform improvements.
Research
For this phase of the project, due to a shortened runway of only three weeks, I employed a more direct approach of interviews and observations with different users, as there was already prior understanding to the platform from an earlier discovery.
- Through semi-structured interviews, an understanding of user goals, pains and needs associated with working with AMP is generated.
- Interviewees were also requested to share their screens to walk us through work processes and give examples of tools and documents that they are using.
12 interviews were conducted with programme management teams from a variety of programmes and locations across the globe.
| No. | Name | Embassy / Team |
| 1 | P1 | Jakarta, Indonesia |
| 2 | P2 | New Delhi, India |
| 3 | P3 | Georgetown, Guyana |
| 4 | P4, P5, P6 | Yangon, Myanmar |
| 5 | P7 | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| 6 | P8 | Research & Evidence Team, UK |
| No. | Name | Embassy / Team |
| 7 | P9 | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| 8 | P10 | UKMis ASEAN |
| 9 | P11 | Baghdad, Iraq |
| 10 | P12 | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| 11 | P13 | Research & Evidence Team, UK |
| 12 | P14 | East Jerusalem, Palestine |
Challenge 1: Unfamiliarity & Uncertainty About AMP’s Functions
Users were unsure about the usefulness of certain features and hesitant to engage fully with the platform.
Recommendations:
- Provide clearer guidance and tooltips within AMP to help users understand its features.
- Develop case studies and success stories showcasing how AMP benefits programme management.
The (function) is important but I’m not sure of what’s the best method. I’m not sure of how to do that on AMP, how to do it in a specific way.
Challenge 2: Varied Attitudes Toward AMP’s Functions Across the Organisation
Different teams had different expectations and levels of engagement with AMP.
Recommendations:
- Conduct targeted user engagement sessions to address team-specific concerns.
- Align feature development with the most common workflows across teams.
Challenge 3: Some Work is Done Off the Platform by Delivery Partners
Some key work is being done by the delivery partners, as part of the agreement of their scope of work, as such the feature on AMP relating to this work is underutilised.
Recommendation:
- Enable an upload function for delivery partners to import data into AMP seamlessly.
Challenge 4: AMP is not Used on a Day to Day Basis
A lot of programme management work is still being done on Excel sheets, with templates that were set up from a while ago. These Excel sheets are used on a more regular basis for most programme managers.
Recommendations:
- Develop user-friendly features that can allow these monitoring work to be done on AMP
- This has to be balanced against the ambition of the product team, as this would require extensive work to be done, and would require high development hours, plus repeated rounds of user testing, to ensure the features are aligned with the needs of the programme managers.
A lot of it are on AMP, but AMP doesn’t do quite everything we need it to do.
Challenge 5: Lack of Guidance & Clear Expectations for Programme Managers
Programme managers were unsure how they were expected to use AMP effectively, which can affect their motivation to use the platform.
Recommendations:
- Create a best practices guide with clear examples. Having clarity would allow programme managers to have more motivation in using AMP.
- Implement in-platform prompts to guide users on required data inputs. Programme managers would have better understanding on how to fill up the different data fields.
Challenge 6: Some Work is Blocked by Other Platforms
AMP relies on external platforms, which can sometimes be unreliable and lead to bottlenecks in workflows.
Recommendations:
- While organisation-wide integration may take time, data accuracy must be ensured in the meantime.
- Improve data validation and quality checks within AMP to prevent inconsistencies.
Challenge 7: Programme Diversity & Politically Sensitive Data Needs
Some programmes are too small to require AMP’s full functionality, while others contain politically sensitive data requiring additional details.
Recommendations:
- Introduce scalable programme templates—allowing small programmes to use a simplified version of AMP while larger ones have more granular fields.
- Develop enhanced security settings for sensitive data management.
We also have to deal with smaller projects. (…) It’s too much work to put it on AMP and too much compliance.
It’s not that AMP is lacking, but because of our situation, we need to keep something offline, because of the detail we are tracking.
Key Learnings & Takeaways
1. Managing Expectations with Teams Unfamiliar with Design
Learning: At times, the product team expected an instant fix and were unfamiliar with the iterative nature of design. There was the added challenge of helping them to understand that meaningful improvements require rounds of research, prototyping, and testing.
Future Application: I would educate teams early on the design process through interactive workshops, setting clear expectations and involving them in each stage to build alignment.
2. Managing Ambition vs. Limitations in Project Execution
Learning: A project’s success also depends on how the team balances ambition with practical constraints. While there were many opportunities to improve the Aid Management Platform, the team has to manage their resources and limitations in taking ideas forward.
Future Application: In future projects, I will work closely with teams to align expectations, helping them define what is feasible within their constraints while still pushing for meaningful improvements. This ensures that solutions are realistic, sustainable, and impactful over the long term.
3. Adapting Design for a Global User Base
Learning: As is the case for most instances within the global organisation, teams across different posts have their own unique workflows, regulations, and constraints. There is always the need to remind myself and the product team, who are based away from most of the end users that a one-size-fits-all approach might not always work, instead, a flexible and adaptable approach is often needed.
Future Application: I would advocate for flexible design systems while maintaining core functionality and consistency. At the same time, there is a need to remind the product team to be more empathetic and user centric, in terms of their approach to product management.
4. The Power of Nostalgia in User Expectations
Learning: Many users highlighted legacy systems or features that had worked well in the past, even if they were outdated. This nostalgia sometimes led to resistance toward new solutions, as users associated familiarity with reliability.
Future Application: When introducing new systems, I would identify well-loved legacy features and explore ways to retain their essence while improving functionality. This would ensure smoother adoption while respecting users’ emotional connection to past experiences.
5. Programme managers are performing meaningful work
Learning: Many programme managers are deeply committed to their work because it directly improves lives. Despite operating in challenging environments, with some of them facing war, unrest, and instability in their lives, they remain resilient and dedicated to making a difference.
Future Application: It is always important to remember that users are human first and users second. All solutions should empower their work, and not complicate them, ensuring that technology serves their mission, and not the other way around.
The resilience (of our colleagues) is contagious.