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3:56:31AM

Kubiat Inyang

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3:56:31AM

The Phoenix Legacy App Redesign

Overview

In the competitive world of investment banking, efficiency and accuracy are paramount. The Phoenix Legacy App, a 30-year-old internal tool, was essential for booking fees, calculating financial metrics, and submitting journal entries. However, its outdated interface and fragmented data management were hindering productivity and compliance, leading to inefficiencies and increased risk of errors.

To address these challenges, the goal of the project was to redesign the Phoenix Legacy App, streamlining workflows, centralizing data, and enhancing usability to create a more efficient and intuitive experience tailored to the needs of global and regional users.

Role

UX Designer

Industry

Finance

Services

UX/UI Design, Requirements Analysis/Definition, Content Planning & Distribution Strategy

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Illustrator

Duration

6+ Months

Please note that the client's name has been redacted and every visual has undergone a significant revision to protect the Client's intellectual property.

The Problem

Despite its critical role, the Phoenix app faced significant challenges. By addressing these pain points, we aimed to create a more intuitive and efficient user experience that catered to both global and regional needs.

Lack of Data Centralization
Cumbersome User Interface
External Dependencies
Regional Incompatibility
Irrelevant Information Overload
Off-App Work

Lack of Data Centralization
Cumbersome User Interface
External Dependencies
Regional Incompatibility
Irrelevant Information Overload
Off-App Work

The Solution

The redesign of Phoenix focused on creating an intuitive, efficient, and integrated user experience through:

A simplified Navigation: By confirming key pages and building a linear workflow, we reduced the number of clicks needed to complete tasks.

Enhanced Features: We introduced task-oriented dashboards, data validation, and system integration to streamline workflows.

A Comprehensive Design System: This ensured consistency and ease of use across all user types and future updates.

Research

Understanding our Stakeholders

For this project, we spoke with several senior executives but mainly focused on two main decision makers. Both stakeholders were Super Users of the product, providing valuable insights on KPIs and standardizing deliverables.

Stakeholder One

Vice President | US Region

Focused on business metrics and the need to standardize outputs, bringing a clear view of how the app affected business performance

Stakeholder Two

Managed Non-US Regions

Stakeholder two was more concerned with the quality of the process, especially since non-US users had more functionality issues. Their focus was on making the interface more user-friendly and efficient.

Identifying our User Types

The design team conducted 40+ hours of interviews with 25+ users across four regions over the course of 5 weeks.

Associate

Associates are typically new or infrequent users who lack confidence in navigating the product. They rely on clear validation and feedback to confirm they are using the system correctly.

Pain Points

They face frustration with frequent timeouts, unclear error messages, and excessive search results.
They desire more intuitive search defaults, a reduction in unnecessary features and the ability to upload Excel files directly to streamline their workflow.

Manager

Managers or Legacy users are experienced, daily users with extensive product knowledge. They are confident in their workflows but often skeptical of new technologies and highly vocal about inefficiencies.

Pain Points

They struggle with tool integration, often resorting to Excel for deal tracking.
They find many tasks redundant and prefer a simplified, single-deal focus without needing multiple tabs or windows.
They seek a more structured system, like a monthly calendar view and features to reduce manual check-ins, especially for tasks involving auditors.

Super User

Legend users have admin-level permissions and focus on high-efficiency workflows. They work primarily at a client level and aim to complete tasks as quickly as possible.

Pain Points

They are slowed down by the lack of a linear process and reliance on third-party tools.
They prefer a more task-oriented interface that excludes completed tasks, a static deal calculator, and progressive document input.
They want features to allow for team backup assignments and require precise calculations due to their work with auditors.

Mapping out our users’ tasks and emotions

After conducting interviews, we synthesized our research and user maps to understand the users’ experience and ideate the best solution to improve the pain points and improve the application.

During this phase, we were able to create journey maps for each user type. We recognized where products differed and remained consistent throughout the user’s experience, producing the following key insights:

After conducting interviews, we synthesized our research and user maps to understand the users’ experience and ideate the best solution to improve the pain points and improve the application.

Journey Maps

Identifying Pain Points Around the Globe

We discovered 7 recurring themes that transcended every border.

Error Reporting

Project Management

Streamlined Workflow

Excel Features

Save Progress

Data Validation

System Integration

Bringing Ideas to Life

Recognizing key pages and simplifying the workflow with page types

We confirmed key pages with the client to build the navigational framework and feed into the workflow pages that establish the linear workflow based on the user journey maps. In doing so, we built a product flow that could confidently predict the user’s next steps.

Low to Mid-fidelity Wireframes

We created Low fidelity wireframes of the 12 main pages along with their sub-pages. In the early stages of this phase, we had a lot of review sessions with the client to confirm the page contents. After working with the client to confirm the content block, we created the initial structure of the wireframes in low fidelity where we expanded upon the features and functionality of the screens. Once approved, we moved on to Mid-Fidelity and Hi-Fidelity screens.

Low fidelity wireframes

Mid-fidelity Wireframes

Designing a Data-Centric Dashboard for Multiple User Types

Since project management was a core feature, the product focused on how to direct users to a solution in the same view as the task request. It also highlighted the importance of validating successful completions to avoid negative associations. The product required satisfying multiple needs in a single view.

All users need to know about pending and outstanding tasks.
Managers need a pulse check on monetary balances and overall status.
Auditors need to validate and confirm all completed math related to a deal.

The design team over-delivered and provided a total of 19 pages. The final delivered pages were not only a visual enhancement but improved the overall experience for their users.

All users need to know about pending and outstanding tasks.
Managers need a pulse check on monetary balances and overall status.
Auditors need to validate and confirm all completed math related to a deal.

The design team over-delivered and provided a total of 19 pages. The final delivered pages were not only a visual enhancement but improved the overall experience for their users.

Building a Design System from Scratch

The design system is comprised of components, style guides, and examples of how to apply those modules and components. It established a shared visual vocabulary and key elements for repeated use and to provide a reference for current and future phases. Due to the robust nature of this product, the design system was a crucial component to the project’s success.

Throughout this project, I implemented a comprehensive design system. This design system ensured consistency across all components and pages of the Clinical Trial Management Tool (CTMT), promoting a cohesive user experience and facilitating efficient design and development processes. By establishing clear design guidelines, reusable components, and standardized patterns, the design system contributed to the overall success of the project, enabling rapid iteration, easier maintenance, and scalability of the CTMT.