Modernizing USDA's Legacy DMS: $300K Saved, 63,000+ Documents Migrated
This project involved an internal USDA system, so only select aspects of the project are able to be shared.
Problem
The USDA’s Conservation Practice Documents - Document Management System (CPD-DMS) was running on outdated platforms (IBM FileNet and Quark Publishing Platform). The system managed 63,000+ documents across 53 content types, 16 workflows, and up to 23 statuses each. I led the redesign and migration of this system to SharePoint, improving usability, governance, and collaboration for field offices nationwide while retiring legacy infrastructure resulting in $300,000+ saved annually.
Challenge
CPD-DMS was mission-critical for field staff nationwide, but its legacy platform was actively working against them:
Slow search, confusing navigation, and poor visibility into document versions frustrated daily use
The legacy systems were expensive to maintain, costing the agency over $300,000 annually
Fragmented workflows across disconnected systems make it difficult to track who changed what and when, undermining accountability and document security for field staff
Field staff needed a more intuitive, scalable system to support collaboration and adoption
Role: Me (Lead UX/UI Designer) and an Agile team of 14
Dates: May 2022 - November 2023
Tools: User Interviews + Surveys, Journey Mapping, Workflow Diagrams, Stakeholder Workshops, Usability Testing, Figma
Objective
Modernize CPD-DMS's information architecture, search, and workflow structure through a migration to SharePoint. This would lead to improved discoverability and cross-team collaboration, while retiring costly legacy infrastructure and laying a scalable foundation for future USDA platforms.
My Role & Approach
As Lead UX/UI Designer, I worked alongside a 14 person Agile team across research, design, and long-term system integration:
User Research & Discovery
Conducted interviews and usability testing with staff to uncover key pain points in navigation, workflow tracking, and search
Mapped existing workflows and identified redundancies that slowed productivity, prioritizing fixes to the steps causing the most daily friction rather than attempting to flatten every inefficiency at once
Information Architecture & Design
Designed a new folder structure and metadata tagging system to improve document discoverability across 53 content types
Created list and grid view layouts to support both quick scanning and detailed document tracking, recognizing that field staff and office staff needed different views of the same underlying data rather than a single one-size-fits-all interface
Collaboration & Iteration
Worked in an agile environment with developers, product managers, and stakeholders across a multi-year timeline
Advocated for UX prioritization in product roadmaps, ensuring improvements aligned with real user needs rather than purely technical migration goals
Standardized design libraries and workflows across teams for long-term consistency, so the system could keep evolving without requiring my direct involvement in every future change
Solution
Modern SharePoint Integration: Migrated 63,000+ documents into a new SharePoint-based system.
Streamlined Search & Navigation: Redesigned search functionality and list view UI for faster access to content.
Scalable Framework: Integrated the Field Office Technical Guide, expanding access to 16,000+ monthly public users.
Collaborative Workflows: Clearer routing, statuses, and content types improved cross-team collaboration.
Auditable Change Tracking: centralized version history and status logging gave field staff clear visibility into who changed a document and when, closing the accountability gap left by the old fragmented systems
Impact
$300,000 saved annually by retiring legacy systems
10% higher adoption within 6–8 months
Reduced worktime and improved efficiency for government staff
Improved document accountability and security, giving field staff a reliable audit trail
A scalable, user-centered foundation for future USDA platforms
Tradeoffs
Given the scale of 63,000+ documents and a multi-year migration, we prioritized preserving existing workflows and statuses over redesigning them from scratch, since migration success and adoption mattered more in the short term than an ideal-state redesign. This meant that some legacy inefficiencies were carried into the new system rather than eliminated outright, to be addressed in later iterations once the migration itself was stable. We also chose SharePoint specifically for its integration with other Microsoft systems used daily in the legacy system and generally at USDA over a more custom-built solution, trading some design flexibility for long-term maintainability and lower licensing cost.
Key Takeaways
This project reinforced that large-scale legacy modernization is as much about sequencing and change management as it is about design. Migrating 63,000+ documents across a multi-year timeline meant constantly balancing the ideal solution against what stakeholders and infrastructure could actually absorb at each stage. It sharpened my ability to advocate for user needs within heavily constrained technical and organizational environments, and to design systems built to outlast my own direct involvement.