Boosted Paralegal Efficiency and Accuracy with 50% Faster Financial Reporting

SaaS Platform
Dashboard
Product Design
Reduced time taken by paralegals in discovering their reports and manage their clients. I explored design interventions on various touch-points on the platform to help users spend less time managing and more time generating reports.
MY ROLE
Design Strategy, Ideation, User Journey
Stakeholder presentations, Rapid Prototypes, Usability Testing
TEAM
Design Manager , Product Manager, Engineers
Subject Matter Experts
TOOLS
Figma , Mural, Sketchbook
TIMELINE
8 Weeks
PROBLEM BREAKDOWN

Paralegals struggle with the high volume of reports, spending 50% more time managing them than on core legal Tasks.

This excessive time commitment creates a ripple effect, leading to missed deadlines and discrepancies. These issues can have serious consequences, jeopardizing filing timelines and ultimately lead to huge fines by SEC.
Keeping track of 100’s of filings simultaneously is challenging.
Manual tracking sheet is always out of date, sometimes missing.
Every client has a different method of communication.
Status Reports gets lost in external tools ( slack, gmail etc)
Alerts are documented in files and are difficult to find.
Spend a lot of time in information discovery.
SOLUTION

One Dashboard for complete visibility and control over filings

Get full oversight into the report filings workflow with an intuitive and personalized dashboard
Track key performance indicators
User can access a centralized dashboard to track and manage reports, status updates, and report reviews.
Live Activity feed
Users can see where their reports are , review comments in a glance so they can spend less time managing reports on other tools like gmail, slack messages, excel sheets etc.
Schedule Overview
Access a centralized dashboard to track and manage reports, status updates, and report reviews.
Personalized Dashboard
Users can now choose the widgets they want to see, where they want to see it—from recent file to upcoming release requests.
Project Overview

Elevating Work Efficiency Through Enhanced Financial Oversight

I had the honor of collaborating with a skilled team and engaging with stakeholders. Starting from the project kickoff and information gathering to presenting innovative solutions in the final stage, our collective efforts led to a successful project outcome. This not only granted Workiva a competitive edge but also enhanced work efficiency and saved time for platform users.

Project duration

12 week

Role

Product Designer

Contribution

Discovery research
Stakeholder Discussions
Brainstorming workshop
Prototyping
Development Handoff

Collaboratioon

Bhavik Donga - Myself
UX Manager
Product Manager

The Challenge

Presently, Workiva Platform users (fund managers and accounting professionals) handle numerous client filings, requiring multiple rounds of checks to ensure accuracy. The existing approach involves using outdated legacy systems and methods like email tracking, sticky notes, and Excel sheets to track filing statuses. However, these methods are prone to errors and are time-consuming, particularly during busy filing periods, ultimately reducing efficiency.

The challenge lies in optimizing the usage of Wdesk within the customer base. Although Wdesk is designed to enable seamless collaboration on financial documents and data in a controlled environment, a significant portion of our customers predominantly treat it as a file repository system, and missing out on the platform's full potential. This situation presents a key opportunity for Workiva to enhance user engagement and competitive advantage by creating offerings that emphasize and streamline financial reporting within the Wdesk platform.
Our Goal

To provide oversight over the Filing Management process while providing financial services professionals a way to be more efficient and save time during filing period.

Solution

The Solution & Outcome

The proposed solution involves integrating a dynamic reporting dashboard within Wdesk, offering a centralized view of multiple client filings with real-time progress, status, and key metrics. The outcomes include heightened efficiency by consolidating filing management, increased transparency through real-time updates, improved collaboration, and empowered decision-making through performance analytics.
Desire to Excercise
Failure to create a habit
Staying heal on their own
iPhone mockup
Mobile screen with design of the track
iPhone mockup

My Approach

I led Product Design and collaborated with a Product Manager, Engineer, and a UX Researcher on this project. When I joined, one of my first challenges was to understand the business and workiva platform. Time was not on my side, and I had one week to turn the game around.
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My first focus was to start connecting with seniors and PM and research to understand the platform and virtual experiences, platform capabilities and what we could potentially achieve. I also studied Workiva Personas thoroughly. Workiva had its own design systems and guidelines, so I had to consider that too which helped me while creating Hi-Fi Prototype.
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The engineers and I also dug into the current technical feasibility of the platform to determine which features we could use, dismiss, or what we would implement with minimum development debt.

Since the team was having a hard time with prioritizing the elements on the dashboard and their arrangement in previous conversations, my strategy was to design and conduct research with stakeholders and SMEs to brainstorm and work together towards a shared understanding.. This would allow me to dive into more discovery work and make informed decision later.
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Turns out it was a great call. After the workshop , we had the clear idea about what elements and information our users felt important, allowing the team to ask more questions and go deeper into the Dashboards design. The workshop output assisted me in making the experience more personalized and also helped prioritizing the features.
Discovery

Early discovery discussions and some outstanding questions emerged


How could we attract Filing professionals to perceive value and extract real benefits by utilizing this platform?

How could we get consumers to use these platform capabilities?

Why would someone join? Will this be a viable business differentiator?

Challenge

Complexity of Oversight with Volume

Mapping the filing experience journey with multiple connected personas revealed how the complexity of oversight in financial services management increases significantly with a high volume of transactions and data. In the financial industry, effective oversight is crucial to ensure compliance, risk management, and operational efficiency. However, as the volume of financial transactions and data grows, the challenges associated with oversight become more intricate.
Dashboard mockup
Research

Incorporating Research and data insights to Design decisions

To further explore these questions, we started with a consumer survey to verify how and in what frequency people use similar platforms. Including Stakeholders throughout the process was very constructive, and we noticed that getting them to partner with the platform has many challenges. Among them were the obstacles to personalizing the platform according to their process and jumping between different tools utilized by them in their workflow.
Mockup
Interviews with key stakeholders unveiled a clear demand for a personalized platform tailored to their specific filing processes, aligning with their unique needs and preferences. These insights exposed recurring patterns and distinct configuration requirements essential to meet their expectations and enhance usability.
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Mockup
To further explore these answers, I interviewed some of these users. I found that many users are used to juggling different tools for managing their filing status, even though juggling between tools can be time-consuming at times. That led us to ask ourselves: What would our team focus on to encourage users to bring their management workflow to Workiva platform?
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Mockup
I leveraged pre-existing persona profiles to develop authentic user representations that dynamically adapt to users workflow. These refined profiles are meticulously calibrated to project objectives, providing a compass for the creation of customized user experiences that cultivate empathy throughout the design journey. These profiles have proven invaluable in steering well-informed decisions regarding the design of a template-based dashboard aimed at achieving a highly personalized platform.
Problem

The Why's and What's

Wdesk is a cloud-based productivity suite developed by Workiva Inc. It is a platform designed to streamline and enhance collaboration, data management, and reporting for enterprises. However, a significant portion of our customers predominantly treat it as a file repository system, potentially missing out on the platform's full potential, particularly in the realm of financial oversight. This situation presents a key opportunity for Workiva to enhance user engagement and competitive advantage by creating offerings that emphasize and streamline financial reporting within the Wdesk platform.

Why is there a Problem of Financial oversight ?

Here is Kevin, A Paralegal with more than 30 clients. He is stressed and working on a tight deadline as it is filing season.
Filing process is a multi-step process, with each step carrying a significant risk of errors.
Keeps track of the status of 10s of filings ,and communication between stakeholders is crucial.
Spends excessive time and effort rectifying mistakes or tracking down missing documents.
Dashboard mockup
Mockup
Mockup

Communication Overload over Volume of Data

Our users currently rely on a multiple legacy system(sticky notes, excel sheets) to manage their filings and monitor the status of reports resulting in a significant amount of time dedicated to coordinating and sharing information.
Mockup

Manual Management Chaos

Managing multiple filings manually becomes overwhelming, especially during the filing period when numerous stakeholders are involved. The reliance on manual texts and emails often results in communication getting lost, potentially leading to discrepancies in the process.
OUR GOAL

Peace of Mind from Managing Reports


Spearheading the collaboration with other pillars of the organization, our teams agreed to split this project into two phases. Given our team's ownership, we prioritized on solving the problem of oversight while planning to address the integration part later.
What's in it for Workiva Business?
A boost in active platform users, and increased revenue from new platform offerings and a new step toward a more connected scalable platform ecosystem.

Enhanced Collaboration

Foster seamless communication and cooperation among team members.

Implementation Strategy

Outlines the systematic steps, timelines, and key milestones essential for a successful and organized deployment
Solution

Unifying Financial Insights with Our Single Source of Truth Dashboard

The proposed solution involves integrating a dynamic reporting dashboard within Wdesk, offering a centralized view of multiple client filings with real-time progress, status, and key metrics. The outcomes include heightened efficiency by consolidating filing management, increased transparency through real-time updates, improved collaboration, and empowered decision-making through performance analytics.
Desire to Excercise
Failure to create a habit
Staying heal on their own
Mockup

Efficient Personalized Filing Management

Instead of toggling between disparate tools or methods, users can now efficiently oversee and manage various filings within a unified and organized interface personalized for each user.
Mockup

Increased Transparency via Real-time Updates

Instant access to the latest status, progress, and any modifications made to the filings. This  eliminates any ambiguity or uncertainty, ensuring that all team members are aligned and well-informed about the ongoing progress.

Improved Collaboration and Informed Decision-Making through Performance Analytics

Performance analytics empowers users to analyze historical data and track key metrics. These insights aid in making informed decisions, optimizing future workflows, and identifying areas for improvement.
Mockup
UNDERSTANDING THE USER

Keeping users at the center of every desgn descision

When I joined the team, one of my first challenges was to understand the business and Workiva platform.
Start connecting with designer, PM to understand the platform experiences and capabilities.
Studied user needs from existing research on Workiva Personas.  
Explored the current Workiva design system , that helped me to create consistent designs.

Early discovery discussions and some outstanding questions emerged


How could we attract Filing professionals to perceive value and extract real benefits by utilizing this platform?

How are the users sepending their time managing their filings and is it a standardized process?

Why is oversight a problem for our users?

RESEARCH TO INSIGHTS

Complexity of Oversight with Volume

Mapping the filing experience journey with multiple connected personas revealed how the complexity of oversight in financial services management increases significantly with a high volume of transactions and data. In the financial industry, effective oversight is crucial to ensure compliance, risk management, and operational efficiency. However, as the volume of financial transactions and data grows, the challenges associated with oversight become more intricate.
Dashboard mockup
figure above shows the summarized view of stakeholders involved and their user interactions and hove the complexity increases with volume.

Incorporating Research and data insights to Design decisions

To further explore these questions, we started with user interviews to verify how and in what frequency people use our platforms. Including Stakeholders throughout the process was very constructive, and we noticed that getting them to partner with the platform has many challenges. Among them were the obstacles to personalizing the platform according to their process and jumping between different tools utilized by them in their daily workflow.
Mockup

Persona Analysis & User Painpoint

I utilized existing persona profiles to create authentic user representations meticulously calibrated to project objectives. This profiles proved invaluable in steering well-informed decisions regarding the design of a template-based dashboard aimed at achieving a highly personalized platform at later stages.
Mockup

Stakeholder and SME Interview Feedback

Interviews with key stakeholders unveiled a clear demand for a personalized platform tailored to their specific filing processes, aligning with their unique needs and preferences. These insights exposed recurring patterns and distinct configuration requirements essential to meet their expectations and enhance usability.
Mockup

Scoping Insights and Planning Phases

Further I undertook a scoping exercise to assess existing insights and findings, discovering that users commonly navigate multiple tools to manage their filing status. This multitasking approach, while familiar, can be time-consuming. This observation prompted the initiation of the ideation stage, leading us to a pivotal question: How can our team strategically guide users to seamlessly transition their management workflow to the Workiva platform?
Lets keep something for our meeting,
I would love to tell you more about this project.
Lets Chat
OUTCOMES

Phased Design Strategy Success

The phased design strategy proved effective, allowing the team to prioritize and address the problem of oversight first before moving on to integration, ensuring a focused and systematic approach.

Holistic User Experience Improvement

Beyond specific features, the project contributed to an overall improvement in the user experience, aligning with Workiva's goal of providing a seamless and intuitive platform.

Increased Platform Utilization

The project aimed to encourage users to perceive and extract real benefits from the platform, increasing active platform users and potentially leading to revenue growth.

Positive User Feedback

Iterative design processes, incorporating user feedback, resulted in positive responses, indicating that the proposed solutions resonated with the Workiva user base.
Dashboard mockup
Takeaways

Some of the learning that i will carry to my next assignment

Believe on your gut feelings and make executive decisions
I successfully battled the imposter syndrome that has haunted me in the past. By trusting my instincts in analysis and research, I found the courage to take initiative and continuously refine our solutions. Embracing the process of learning and adapting from unsuccessful decisions became a cornerstone of our progress.
Be prepared for surprises
I learned this the hard way. Rehearse the usability testing script and make sure that the Figma prototype is accessible by participants. Always check if the participants are able to access the technology stack you are using prior to the meeting.
Understanding the business is key
Doing prior research about the workiva platform and busineess came in handy while having conversations with stakeholders, During this project i understood how alignment with business is critical to ensure that design decisions support the company's strategic direction and contribute to its success.
Reflect after every meeting
Reflecting on each meeting allows you to evaluate how well it achieved its objectives. You can consider whether the meeting was necessary, if the agenda was followed, and if the desired outcomes were achieved.