2022 - 2023
UI
Research
Service Design
Deputies submit an annual report of their transactions on behalf of a vulnerable client. Debited and credited accounts have to be logged which formulates a financial statement of their expenditures, including transfers.
The brief
Problem
Deputies experienced issues when it came to tracing financial imbalances. These translated into missed deadlines and wasted resources.
Challenges
How do Deputies currently translate which transactions they've paid?
When in the reporting period do Deputies opt to input their transactions?
What drives a Deputy to mis-record a transaction?
How can we build a more flexible register of transactions & transfers?
Approach
The decision was pre-defined to go in the direction of a web app as the primary customer facing channel. We defined a plan of action for learning spending habits & reconciliation we hadn't known.
Research
Methods used
PM, UR and I had carried out 5 research sessions with Deputies, each Deputy having varying levels of experience in completing a report, and varying satisfactions scores of their reporting experience. Aim was to gage the financial input experience, as well as the capability to trace their previous transactions if there's a discrepancy.
Standout insight was recognising relationship between the details on the Transactions summary screen, and other screens in the same flow.
Assumptions were challenged, namely on Deputies needing a way to see previous bank transfers to help them differentiate between them.
We pivoted our approach by outlining methodical goals:
Differentiate between financial accounts
Learn the financial input experience, as well as the capability to trace their previous transactions if there's a discrepancy.
Use technology to complement paper bank statements, including individual payments & bulk payments
Ease cross-checking financial information for both for the Deputy and for the Case Worker - the internal staff member that checks the submitted report
I used 'levels' to show the screen flow of Deputyship services, in this case one called Transfers
Iterative design-development collaboaration
Cross-team alignment was built in every stage of the process. This allowed us to catch problems early.
Provided the multi-dis team (UR's, Devs, PM's) with a walkthrough of Figma designs to discuss the feasibilities of the iterations, stemming from User research over various interactive sessions for the team. Commented and left remarks on Figma & Miro for future reference. Gathered a general consensus of the group, at a glance.
In numbers
Satisfaction 80% plus target efficiencies
Helped us make steps towards our organisational goal of a simplified and reliable access to legal aid services by reducing the risk of change. The cross-checking helped Deputies to reduce their reporting time amidst the transition from paper reporting to digital.