Regulator Workspace
NASAA
Company Problem
FINRA is a financial industry regulator with a suite of complex business applications that serve internal and external organizations including state regulators, the SEC, and firm users. Client relationships and trust are essential in the regulatory space, and our group was in the process of reforging this trust with one of our key partners. Internal collaboration was inconsistent, resulting in poor client communication. The process internally needed to be completely overhauled to gain efficiencies, accelerate delivery and improve quality.
UX Problem
A legacy system was no longer accessible and lacked key features needed for an optimal workflow for state users. We custom designed a modern experience centered around state user needs. We successfully fostered trust by overhauling our internal collaboration process and client communication approach, shipping user-centered features that helped adoption of the modern system.
UX Solution
The legacy system wasn't merely old; it had been the same for the past two decades. Over the years, users had developed a profound familiarity and comfort with the system—a behavioral inertia and resistance to change. While the need for an updated user experience (UX) was evident, the challenge was multifold. Product, engineering, design and client collaboration needed to be completely overhauled despite resistance.
We also needed to maintain the core functionality that allowed state regulators to review requests for specific individuals, comprehensively see all related details, and make informed decisions—whether to approve, deny, or seek further investigation. This operational aspect had to remain intuitive while being nestled within a more modern and user friendly interface.
Cross functional collaboration was disjointed when we started, but through focus and persistence we were able to transform the way we worked together. We streamlined requirements definition by offering clear instructions and examples of best practices including well written user stories during our collaboration meetings. This approach allowed us to kick-start our design process efficiently without the need for extensive back-and-forth communication. Additionally, we expanded our weekly meetings to dedicate time to unpacking requirements and recording tickets in real-time, improving working practices.
Improved Cross Functional Collaboration
Starting with clarifying and prioritizing requests, UX owned the situation and worked to establish realistic delivery times and implemented internal reviews for quality control.
Define Requirements and Process Discipline
A Win For All
Client communication transformed from tenuous to effortless, with the client expressing gratitude for the improved collaboration and dedication to communication. The team, maintaining strong cohesion, established a proactive workback schedule, allowing for ideation and explorations without compromising delivery times, resulting in smooth and efficient communication and collaboration.
A Peculiar Request
We had a unique feature request from the client because of the nature of repetitive tasks with their work, efficiency was a top priority. The users requested to open specific search result items in a new tab by default on a left click which challenged standard web conventions. We found a creative approach to fulfill the client request but the greater challenge was advocating for the user throughout the process.
Open In a New Tab
Amplifying Empathy
First and most importantly we listened intently and empathized with the users. In our biweekly check-ins we discussed in detail the problems the users were facing through the extra clicks in their profile lookup experience. We also empathize with our tech partners who helped us analyze technical constraints, risks and usability challenges inherent in challenging standar web conventions for this custom experience the users requested. While defining requirements, because of the complex nature of solving this seemingly simple problem we found it valuable to illustrate the solutions in UX Flows to clarify with our dev and product partners.
Rapid Ideation
We started in very low fidelity creating user flows and diagrams to discuss some of the possible approaches for this feature. We would increase the quality of the mockups only as necessary to ensure that the diagrams were conceptual and easy to understand but also very easy to update so we could quickly work through multiple iterations. It took many approaches to find one that could satisfy user needs and meet technical feasibility.
Interactive Prototype
Once we had aligned on a direction to move forward, we prepared interactive medium fidelity prototypes to review with the state regulators and ensured they could be accessed for further review asynchronously.
Test, Measure and Validate
During our bi-weekly touchpoint we discussed the approach, allowing the users time to review and bring their concerns and further pain points. We were able to validate the direction, adjust and iterate based on user feedback and quickly provide the optimal feature approach for the users. While we didn’t study how much efficiency was gained in this change, we did hear a resounding approval from the state users who were ecstatic about the new update.
Hand Off and Implementation
Working with the product and dev teams, we prepped files for hand-off including documentation and assets for development. We discussed potential limitations and ensured that proposed improvements seamlessly integrated with the legacy system.
Remarkable Collaboration
World Class Communication and Collaboration
Presenting feature enhancements goes beyond showcasing new ideas; it's a collaborative effort where user feedback takes center stage. We are always actively seeking insights and opinions to ensure that the proposed solutions align with user expectations. Our dedication extends to fostering trust through clear and transparent communication. We bridge the gap between technical constraints and user-friendly explanations, ensuring users understand the why in our approach.
Conclusion
User Advocacy Against the Grain
What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to delivering solutions, even when user requests are unconventional. Trusting the instincts of our users, we elevate their experiences by implementing their suggestions. In essence, we are not just service providers; we are advocates for the users, constantly striving to make their voices heard and their needs met.
This holistic approach defines our collaboration as a true partnership where we travel together on the journey towards better, more user-oriented solutions.