Internal Application Revamp

UI/UX Design

Context

Shamrock Trading uses an internal tool to audit hundreds of thousands of invoices a week. Checking for accuracy, fraud, and other factors to decide on the purchase of an invoice or not. The internal representatives had been needing a revamp of the software they were using so that they could have a more streamlined process.

The Problem

Before the revamp process, representatives had to check multiple locations for information on deciding whether to purchase an invoice or not. The process was slow, inefficient, and did not give proper visibility on the front end of the audit process. Supervisors were also needing more visibility on the overall health of team queues at a glance, instead of manual documentation.

My Role

UI/UX Design
Research
User Interviews
Prototyping

*disclaimer* I am unable to give a complete explanation and a full scope of visual elements due to internal intellectual property

Research

Researching for this project was a massive undertaking for both me and my Product team. We spent many hours conducting user research interviews, data collection, brainstorming sessions as well as whiteboard discovery. The collection of our findings proved to be extremely effective in allowing designs to accomplish both a UI refresh, as well as providing much-needed upgrades to the overall experience.

Whiteboarding sessions allowed us to determine what all the data we had collected could be turned into. Matching points that were related, removing concepts that proved to be less urgent than initially thought. Finally being able to narrow down exactly what is needed to make our users more effective.

Once whiteboarding was completed, we needed to break out the aspects of what we were designing into smaller chunks. This allows our developers to make smaller improvements and also creates an environment for the users to not be shocked by so many changes. Our phased approach was implemented to soften the learning curve.

Site Map

Utilizing Figma's tool Figjam- a file was created while in the research phase to map out our findings in a digital way. This gave us the ability to share and communicate our findings with other parts of the business, product teams, and development teams. This communication was imperative for keeping everyone in the loop and creating an atmosphere of reviews and check-ins.

Open communication and teamwork have really proven themselves to be one of my biggest assets in the research and iteration phases. Being able to communicate reasoning, show problem-solving skills, as well as create trusting lines of messaging has immense value in my experience.

Wireframe

Wireframes

Creating the initial wireframes for this project proved challenging. Figuring out where each component that had been deemed as necessary in a visual way that was not too overwhelming created complexity quickly. These were all new concepts being thought out. Things our business had never used before, or knew how to handle. I took it upon myself to make these wireframes simpler and easier to understand in the beginning. That way conversations during the presentation stage could draw out more details.

Walking the stakholders of our project through these wireframes yeilded an effective outcome in the life of our project. Communication lines were started, discussion on what is possible made the project's value grow even deeper. Making sure that each side of the project air tight at this stage made for a much easier process down the road.

Final Designs

As I mentioned before, the final design process was made much simpler due to the work that was put in on the front end of the project. Being able to understand business goals, mixed with product and developer timelines gave me an effective route to follow. The designs were mixed with a complete UI overhaul and a total rethinking of how UX was working in our internal application. New features were included that drastically improve work efficiency, as well as new insights that help representatives make better decision during the auditing process.

One of the best pieces about this project is that the work really is never done. The process of auditing can always be improved and refined. New information to display, new workflows to develop, and new ways to innovate are always ahead. I learned an immense amount about complex interactions, filtering through data, and putting a creative spin on something that may not be always the most appealing of applications to revamp.

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