Data Import - A Case Study

Caseware Working Papers is a large SaaS based platform used by accountants and auditors and has been a leader in its industry for the past 30 years. They are in the process of shifting their focus from the desktop application to the new cloud platform.

The data import in particular is a painful experience for the users who are used to the desktop method. Users complain that the import is difficult to use, too restrictive, missing key features required to verify data validity and takes too long, in fact sometimes it times out and they need to call support.

The Kickoff

As a Senior UX Designer I was responsible for all aspects of the design including user interviews, initial workflows, wireframes, the prototype, documentation and usability testing.

Problem Statement

How might we clarify the import process, increase import methods and reduce import failure and support calls?

Define Objectives

Research questions
Research methods
Expected outcomes
Decide on communication methods
Determine personas
Determine stakeholders

Expected Outcomes

Gain process knowledge
Desired features
Past experiences
Create data driven culture
Eliminate manual process

Research Methods

User interviews
Interview analysis
Usability testing

The Research

Target Persona
Jane Fintech

Jane Fintech is an auditor for Deloitte. Her primary responsibility is importing and mapping the data used to feed the audits for her company's clients and also analyzing that data for risks, errors, fraud and anomalies.

Jane primarily imports business financial transactions from Excel sheets but sometimes needs to be able to import from QuickBooks and other online accounting platforms. Jane’s files are often larger than 2GB and include 30,000+ records.

Interests

Happy clients

Collaboration

Education

Influences

Business goals

Market research

Fintech industry

Needs

Easy to use tools

Fast reporting

Saving time

Pain Points

Multiple tools

Wasted time

Bad data

Assumptions

We’ve made the following assumptions and will validate in our user interviews:

User can authenticate to the online platform of their choice
Data will be provided either in an online login or a excel sheet
Auditors have a specific taxonomy that matches ours
Data cleansing would be out of scope
Risk identification would be a separate project
One user at a time works on the import

The Interview Questions

Tell me a bit about your role

Focused on audit risks
Too many meetings
Import needs to be fast, accurate and secure

Walk me through a typical import

Not sure which button to press for my import type
Not sure why it failed or how to proceed when it fails
When it works, there's no clear path to the analytics or risks

Tell me about a time when you couldn't complete an import

Risks were not identified
Resulting reports were delayed
Cost the company money and client confidence

What chunks of data do you usually import

Monthly
Quarterly
Yearly

What data would be helpful to see

Summary snapshots to determine its the right data
A summary of all imported data
Tools to work with that data

Brainstorming

We set up several brainstorming sessions with the team and using the research results, reviewed the motivations, touchpoints and emotions of the existing user journey.

Some of the project challenges we faced were:

Lack of stored data to be able to provide decent messaging to the user on screen
The variations in the import flow depending on the method
No way to anticipate all of the import methods our users need