Enterprise applications are complex — there is an insane amount of information that is to be displayed that contains data from various sources, modules and users. There are complex graphs, usage patterns, and lists of data that need to be skimmed through before one can make sense of what the console is getting at.

“The biggest challenge with designing enterprise applications is the lack of examples of patterns that work or don’t work in specific scenarios.”

Since most enterprise applications contain sensitive data pertaining to the company, there are very few examples out there that talk to some of the common problems faced while designing enterprise apps. There exists pattern libraries that talk in-depth about how each component should work but very little on when to use them. The patterns we see in design libraries are often oversimplified and does not work in real enterprise applications where data and the use-cases are more complex in nature.

What you see below is a typical enterprise application. The working window is dense with information with a crazy number of panels each indicating information that is contextual to any other selection made on the screen.