Aries & XM Platform: Microservice site for Marriott.com

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The Business Problem

Marriott.com needed a new platform and system for their eCommerce channel. Marriott’s Re-imagined & Accelerate Marriott.com (RAM) Architecture project was a high-profile, multi-year strategic re-platforming initiative for Marriott.com. This was the first time Marriott was going to be using a new micro-service architecture platform.

My Role

As UX Lead and SME, I helped provide guidance during the development of the components needed the Presentation Management (XM) tool, which are the building blocks of authoring a page using page layouts, RAM tiles, and content via integration with WEM. This required collaboration, collaboration, and even more collaboration, both with an Agile teams co-located, as well as working with global teams. I led numerous efforts to ensure success of the initiative across all product teams and disciplines that contributed to Marriott.com. 

The Results

After the multi-year effort, Marriott.com launched in 2016 with a platform that successfully uses a new micro-service architecture. The was vital as Marriott had just announced the merger between Marriott and Starwood Hotels. The products were now able to move forward with publishing hundreds of pages of content for each brand with their own unique style and aesthetic.

The Business Problem

Marriott.com was a static site that had yet to be responsive. Publishing any change on a content page required aligning with releases (monthly or quarterly). This was often expensive and not helpful for timely information. Marriott.com needed to move to a platform that allowed faster content updates as well as be responsive to different user viewports.

My Roles

As UX Lead I was a key contributor for the Anita Framework Component Development, which were the building blocks for the first responsive pages for Marriott.com.  I collaborated with key product members to design and develop the art direction and visual design/functional specifications for the responsive Anita components, working hand-in-hand with partner agencies and the technical team throughout the process. 

As the SME, I was also the "Anita Prototyper" for other UX designers to help them visualize and problem solve their pages moving from the previous framework (TNG) to Anita framework.

The Results

Marriott.com's first responsive platform was launched in 2015 and was immediately put to the test by migrating thousands of pages from the previous platform. The Anita platform was the first to have reusable responsive components, which helped Marriott.com create content pages on the fly and publish at a much faster rate.