Designing a SaaS platform for IT infrastructure monitoring

design
MVP

Dashboard design for a cybersecurity monitoring platform

Client

RiskMap is a cybersecurity startup developing a SaaS platform for monitoring companies' IT infrastructure.

The platform collects data from multiple services, including AWS, Azure, Cloudflare and others, analyses the security posture of projects, helps teams monitor dozens of domains simultaneously, and quickly identify potential issues.

Its primary users are DevOps engineers, CTOs, and specialists responsible for infrastructure and security.

Challenge

When RiskMap approached Depot 42, the client had already built the first technical version of the product. They understood what data could be collected but did not know how to present it in a clear and useful way.

Initially, they planned to visualise the infrastructure as a graph with numerous interconnected nodes. While this approach accurately reflected the system's structure, it made it difficult to analyse the data and make decisions.

Goal

Our goal was to ensure that large volumes of technical data helped users quickly identify issues, understand their causes, and take the necessary actions, while packaging everything into an MVP.

Solution

Instead of the original idea of visualising the infrastructure as a graph of connected nodes, we proposed a different approach. Rather than showing how the system is structured, we focused on the information users need for their daily work.

Designed a system of analytical dashboards

The Overview Dashboard became the foundation of the interface. It provides an overview of the infrastructure, displaying all project domains, their security posture, and potential risks.

It brings together key information, including:

WAF (Web Application Firewall) protection status;
incidents detected over the past 30 days;
identified security risks;
critical infrastructure assets;
infrastructure distribution across security services;
the protection status of each website and domain.

After the Overview Dashboard, users can move to more detailed analytics. Together with the client, we designed a system of screens where each visualisation answers a specific question:

Which projects are at risk?
Where is protection configured insufficiently?
Which services generate the most issues?
How does the situation change over time?
What should be addressed first?

We also designed navigation between the different levels of analytics. From the overview, users can reach a specific risk, domain, or infrastructure asset in just a few clicks.

Designed the data visualisation

Many of the visualisation approaches emerged during our collaboration with the client.

For example, instead of displaying only the number of errors, we suggested showing both the trend and the percentage distribution. This approach allows users to see both absolute values and quickly identify changes in the structure of the issues.

We also paid particular attention to choosing the right visualisations. Instead of traditional pie charts, we used stacked line charts. They make it easier to compare metrics, see the overall volume of data, track changes over time, and analyse the relationship between different categories at the same time.

As a result, a single chart answers several questions at once and helps users understand the situation faster.