Product Designer • End-to-End Ownership
Account Planning Agro
Strategic portfolio management for Itaú BBA Agribusiness.
Scroll to exploreOverview
Account Planning Agro is a solution designed to support Itaú BBA Agribusiness sales officers in managing their client portfolios through structured planning, clear health indicators, and integrated dashboards.
The product centralizes client information, structures annual and monthly planning, and provides visibility into portfolio health, potential, and opportunities for both sales officers and managers.
The solution was initially built as a Salesforce MVP, with a clear future vision of evolving into a dedicated application.
Business Context
In the agribusiness banking context, portfolio management requires:
- Clear visibility into client financial health
- Continuous planning aligned with production and crop cycles
- Risk and opportunity assessment
- Fast and well-informed credit and product decisions
- Strong alignment between sales, credit, and partner areas
The existing process did not adequately support these needs.
The Problem
Before the solution, the Account Planning process was:
Highly Manual and Spreadsheet-Driven
Sales officers spent excessive time on data entry and maintenance across disconnected spreadsheets.
Fragmented Across Salesforce
Information scattered across multiple screens made it difficult to get a holistic view.
Inconsistent Between Officers
Lack of standardization led to varying quality and reliability of planning data.
Perceived as Bureaucratic
Users saw planning as a compliance task rather than a strategic tool.
This resulted in high operational effort, low data reliability, and missed commercial opportunities.
Product Goals
The solution was designed around three core objectives:
Strategic Alignment
Enable sales officers to better understand opportunities within their portfolios and align action plans with internal governance.
Collaborative Planning
Map client potential in a structured way, identify barriers, and define strategies with partner areas like Credit, Cash, and Trading.
Continuous Tracking
Create a clear flight plan and continuous tracking tool to support day-to-day portfolio management.
Users
Primary Users
Agribusiness sales officers across junior, mid-level, and senior roles.
Secondary Users
Sales managers and portfolio leaders.
The main challenge was balancing simplicity for less experienced users while maintaining depth and analytical power for senior users and managers.
User Research and Engagement
A multidisciplinary working group was formed involving the entire Agribusiness ecosystem.
User interviews were conducted with 13 sales officers across different regions of Brazil and different seniority levels. Partner areas were also involved throughout the process, including:
The research focused on understanding how account planning was actually done in practice, and consolidating the best aspects of the informal or manual planning methods already used by the teams.
Key Insights
- Informal and manual planning methods were often more effective than the official tools.
- Users struggled to see how planning data impacted real decisions.
- High manual effort reduced engagement.
- Lack of visual indicators made analysis slow and subjective.
Flow Redesign and Validation
Based on research insights, the planning flow was redesigned to be simpler, guided, and data-driven.
The new flow reused existing data whenever possible and organized information into clear validation and input blocks, enabling more focused and directional follow-up — acting as a real-time portfolio speedometer.
Core Flow Blocks
Client Profile
Validation of basic client information such as revenue, crop or sector, servicing location, and portfolio priority.
Portfolio and Production Projection
Validation of production projections aligned with maturities and opportunities, ensuring consistency with existing controls.
Non-Credit Projection
Structured identification of non-credit opportunities aligned with product offering strategies.
Structured Operations and New Business
Registration of key information to support prioritization and partner area involvement.
This redesign significantly reduced cognitive load and improved data consistency.
Conceptual Model
Share of X-Sell for Agribusiness
A conceptual model was created to more accurately measure the share of key non-credit products based on the client profile across agribusiness segments.
Products Covered
When market data is available
The model uses the product family share and estimates the monthly potential PB based on the average PB achieved over the last 12 months.
When market data is not available
Estimates are generated based on client size and sector.
This model brought objectivity and consistency to commercial decision-making.
Tracking Views
Flight Plan and Outputs
The product provides integrated dashboards within the commercial CRM, enabling continuous tracking of the flight plan and key planning outputs.
Plan Achievement Views
Continuous monitoring of engagement, completion, and adherence to the planning process.
Portfolio Views
Summary maps highlighting key outputs, risk points, and comparative insights to support decisions.
Potential Views
Growth analysis, result projections, and identification of partner area involvement needs.
Partner Area Direction and Agribusiness Studies
Democratized and accessible information, reducing manual requests and operational friction.
These views strengthened proactive portfolio management and consultative selling.
Design Process
-
Discovery and Research
Conducted interviews with 13 sales officers across different regions and seniority levels. Engaged with 7 partner areas to understand the complete ecosystem.
-
Flow Redesign
Redesigned the planning flow to be simpler, guided, and data-driven. Reused existing data and organized information into clear validation blocks.
-
Conceptual Model
Created a Share of X-Sell model to measure the share of key non-credit products based on client profiles across agribusiness segments.
-
Dashboard Development
Developed integrated dashboards for continuous tracking of flight plans, portfolio health, potential analysis, and partner area involvement.
-
Prototyping and Testing
Built low- to high-fidelity prototypes. Conducted moderated usability tests with sales officers to validate clarity and alignment with workflows.
Prototyping
- Low-fidelity wireframes for early concept validation
- Medium- and high-fidelity interactive prototypes
- Continuous iteration with stakeholders and partner areas
Usability Testing
Moderated usability tests were conducted with sales officers from different seniority levels.
Goals
- Validate clarity of the new planning flow
- Evaluate comprehension of indicators and dashboards
- Confirm alignment with real commercial workflows
Results
- Reduced perceived effort during planning
- Improved understanding of portfolio health and potential
- Minor adjustments to labels and visual hierarchy
- Approval of the solution as an MVP
Results and Impact
- Standardized Account Planning process for Agribusiness.
- Significant reduction in planning time.
- Higher engagement from sales officers.
- Improved managerial visibility.
- Stronger support for credit and product decisions.
Reduction in Planning Time
Decreased time spent on planning activities through automation and streamlined workflows.
Increase in Tool Adoption
Higher engagement due to improved usability and a clearer value proposition.
Process Standardization
Unified Account Planning process across all Agribusiness teams and regions.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Integrated insights from Commercial, Credit, Cash, Trading, NEC, and New Business teams.
Key Learnings
Planning Needs Purpose
Planning only creates value when it supports real decisions and drives actionable outcomes.
Context-Specific Design
The agribusiness context demands clarity, trust, and fast interpretation due to complex financial decisions.
Collaboration Drives Quality
Cross-functional collaboration throughout the design process strengthens product outcomes significantly.
Thank you.
This project demonstrates end-to-end product design ownership, from discovery through delivery, with a focus on business impact and user value.