Product Design

Streamlining a reporting process with strategic friction

INDUSTRY

Finance

PROJECT

MVP Design

ROLE

Solo Designer

FOCUS

UX/UI Design

Overview

I designed a platform that saved our users hundreds of hours and received rave reviews from program leadership.

When our team needed a better way to verify reporting data, I was challenged to come up with a transition plan that bridged their outdated system and introduced just enough friction to encourage users to resolve issues on their own while still being streamlined and intuitive.

I designed a portal that empowered our users to verify and correct their data, and saved our internal stakeholders hundreds of hours - all in a tight, two-week deadline and earning rave reviews from both internal stakeholders and the program's leadership.

Addressing a nebulous roadmap.

Our primary goal was to eliminate manual work for our internal stakeholders by creating an automated, easy-to-use process that encouraged third-party users to do as much as they could on their own before requesting intervention from our team.

Tackling Design Debt

Confusing navigation, misleading trackers, and awkward uploads made the platform harder than it needed to be—especially for users who only logged a few hours a month.

The Right Amount of Friction

Stakeholders wanted the flow to encourage independence, pushing external users to do as much as possible on their own before they tag in the internal team.

Tackling the Design Debt

This project was being reprioritized after more than a year on the shelf and had accumulated a large amount of design debt in that time, bringing it out of line with the rest of the platform.

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

Clearer Hierarchy

Users expected data to go from the highest level (user-level data) to low level (field-level data) as they moved from left to right on the screen. As a result, they were often confused as to which elements belonged to which types of data.

In the new design, I grouped like data and used containers to clearly indicate what data went with which report or data field.

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

Consistent Error Handling

Uploading was clunky — users couldn’t tell which files had errors and had to remember and reupload them one by one.

I redesigned the flow so files move through clear stages, with all errors in one place, making it easy to see what needs fixing and keep things moving.

Finding the Right Amount of Friction

Users should be able to handle most of the process themselves, but the system needed a small barrier before asking for help—balanced so it felt intentional, not frustrating.

1st Iteration: A separate reporting mode

Users would manually enter a reporting mode where they would individually select, justify, and submit errors to report.

This resulted in too much repetition - as the same issue might cause hundreds of errors that would have to be reported individually.

Iteration 2: Report all remaining

When clicking "Report", a modal would require users to check a box confirming that they had resolved all errors they possibly could.

We found that this amount of friction was just enough to keep them from submitting unnecessary errors.

Iteration 3: Adding comments & justification

The previous iterations had completely removed the process of justifying errors reported, when we brought it back we separated it from submitting the report, so we could create a historical record of reported errors and decisions without slowing users down.

Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.

Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.
Users shouldn't have to guess or memorize
By moving all of the errors to one place and eliminating the modal, the system no longer required users to try and remember which files they needed to check
A more actionable tool
Eliminating hundreds of emails and hours of phone calls, our new platform enabled users to reconcile data on their own 90% of the time.

Results

This project was lauded by design leadership, our stakeholders, and our program's CPO for saving hundreds of hours of manual process, eliminating design debt, and on-time delivery.

Rave Reviews from Leadership

This work was recognized as one of the most impactful in the division that quarter and was celebrated by the VP of the department as a major improvement for both internal and external users.

The business was able to retire hours of monthly and daily manual process and eliminate two layers of manual approval.

Higher Quality Work, Built Faster

The MVP launched successfully and ahead of schedule, thanks to strong documentation and deep collaboration with developers.

"Fumiko owns every solution she works on from start to finish. She knows when to include which partners, at which time in the process, and when to push back in support of good UX design, customer expectations, and sustainability.

Creative Director

"Within 2-3 weeks of joining us, Fumiko picked up on the complex project details and delivered phenomenal screens that not only meet the business requirements but are also very user-friendly and intuitive.

Product Owner