Proyect Details

• Star date: May, 2018

• Client: External client

• Industry: Financial Market

• Task: Software Design and Development

• Methodology Scrum

My Role

• User research & Analysis


• Persona creation


• Wireframes


• UI Design & Prototyping


• Design Thinking Facilitation


Context

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a regional development institution whose purpose is to contribute to promoting economic and social progress in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its activities are divided into sectors, regions and countries. It has a presence in all the countries members of the IDB. The IDB considered necessary to collect data on all loans offered to different countries in all regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. They sought to consolidate an interconnected system that would allow fluid access to a single platform where this data can be accessed.

Problems

The problem was the large number and the differences in workers' profiles at the bank. They would have access to this information to carry out their daily tasks. This showed us that we had to work defining and grouping these profiles to generate accesses and views of the information according to the specific roles within the Bank. The different areas grouped by regions and countries, projects and sectors would give us first ideas to begin the division of profiles.

Whit this lack in the organization and visual unity in the information, they couldn't access the data. We leverage this shortcoming to generate a better design. They were usually in Excel tables that weren't clear to everyone. It generated problems for making important decisions. Not having access to information on delinquency statements and financial data from different countries, regions and sectors, prevented having a clearer picture to resolve decision-making.

Research

Understanding what was the position of the bank's users regarding the actions taken around a loan for a country, in a region in a certain sector. They allowed us to develop Design Thinking workshops to visually understand what would be the best graphic decisions to display the data.

We take this lack of organization and visual unity that they had to access the data. These were usually in excel tables that were not clear to everyone. It generated problems for making important decisions. Not having access to information on delinquency statements and financial data from different countries, regions and sectors, prevented having a clearer picture to resolve decision making.

Finding Solutions

We seek objectives that are specified in the visualization and access of the data: The concept of Dashboard began to appear here. An online platform for internal use by Bank employees, where they accessed data with different visualization possibilities, different types of graphs and different filters to understand detailed information.

This system must guarantee a correct visualization of all the data by countries, regions and sectors. This data should be categorized by importance into layers that can be accessed using filters to display it clearly and easily to read, and then decided on a basis that all stakeholders can understand.

Users understanding again and testing

We needed to solve the hypotheses raised regarding the information hierarchies and, above all, how the best way to visualize the data would be. Specifically, we had to find a way to associate certain data with a specific graph. Based on this, we conducted video conference interviews to talk about our prototypes. Using informatation from our Design Thinking sessions to gather information with representative users from different countries, positions and sectors. This representative group was very important to be able to understand more and the most important was understand them conexition to resolve problems with the loans. The needs that they had as users to solve their daily tasks. In this way, we managed to get very close to their needs and, above all, how we should contemplate them when working with hard data so that they are optimally visualized in the Dashboard. carried out interviews and observations to connect and capture the interests of the user. They contributed invaluable information with their perspective.

Problems to be solved to develop

This part was a very big bending point in the project that, as we considered ourselves, we changed technology. We always knew that we would work with some software the Business Inteligent but the tool was not fully defined. First, he began testing Power BI and this software did not provide all the desired customization capabilities, nor were the responses to filtering and processing data in real time as expected.

After a few changes to the project, we ended up getting to know Tableau. This software became the perfect interactive data visualization medium. Our learning time was less, the developers and I as a designer were guided by two BI specialists to have work with the visual design and customization that was born from the research and design thinking sessions. The response of the data in real time, made it possible to test the user client journeys faster. Here we were able to really test the performance and the surprising reduction in times was very good.

Changes on the road

This was a project in stages that would be launched according to development and when we were about to launch the system, the first two layers of information accessible to users, the filters to access a third layer of information were not working and the Graphics that should be shown according to data processing were not correct. This was a problem with development, with the scripts thrown in the querys.

This problem led to a redesign of new screens with graphics with less information than if they showed the correct data. A momentary solution that we implemented was from the third level to use excel. This temporary solution became definitive as we realized a mistake we made while designing. We wanted to show all the information in a very visual and intuitive way and we lost focus that perhaps tables were needed at some levels. Something simple that would work as before, since for them it was always intuitive to use these tables in excel.

For a third and final launch of this Dashboard, we were able to better work on this data that was pending and that could not be shown in graphs. We were able to solve the technical problems but added to that, we left an access to the tables from which the data was extracted so that users familiar with excel could consult a deeper level of detail in a table.

Results

The results of this project were very good. We are all very happy. The feedback from important Bank executives gave the company security to create an area specialized in Business Intelligence in our Company.

Personally, I felt very happy when the owner of the project of this project in the bank, told us that users began to share much more with each other, to nourish themselves from their experience and share them to have references in making decisions. Also with the dashboard we generate a lot of autonomy and control over the results of the work established by the Bank's employees at that time. In many cases, an intermediary was no longer needed to access the information.

By giving them access, it was possible that they could identify things that others would not see, also establish connections and relationships between the business.

Finally, as improvements in the results of real-time monitoring is one of the great advances in the use of dashboards, which reduced the analysis time and the long line of communication that previously affected workers between areas, countries and sectors.