As one of the top 10 most utilized Connect applications, Initiate Request is the entry point for workflows that span more than 11,000 users from Advisors to Client Services and Operations professionals. The opportunity was to improve the usability of the existing application and scale the application as a service. Bringing functionality to users in environments they are already working in that has all their relevant content and data. These improvements aimed to increase accuracy, completion rates of requests, and the ability to get the job done right the first time for more than 2,000,000 requests annually.
Project
Initiate request redesign
Role
vp, user experience design team lead
Year
2022
The problem
The existing legacy application was severely outdated leading to thousands of man hours lost due to repetitive tasks, mistakes in work initiated, and confusion within task naming taxonomy.
the process
legacy usability study & persona creation
We established who our users were; their needs, their feelings, and their day-to-day. Conducting interviews with investors, bankers, and advisers from both Operations and Client Service. In our usability testing, we baselined the experience and assigned a score to quantify it. The trends that emerged became the basis for our MVP.
personas
Post Research Prioritization & sketching
The product
user feedback
Overall response from users was overwhelmingly positive; especially to the features leveraging machine learning, ability to bundle workflow initiations, and the general clean look and feel.
taxonomy refresh
As users were having a difficult time finding the work they were trying to launch; we proposed a simplification of the bloated, overly complex workflow taxonomy that had long been in need of an update. With the new taxonomy our team proposed color-coding by the highest category with actionable phrasing that would be more intuitive to front office users, especially those who are newer to the firm. We also proposed simple iconography to help easily identify the category type.
