Overview

FINRA used to conduct public records review yearly. At the beginning of 2018, FINRA changed its strategy to do regulatory review proactively which means FINRA examiners need to conduct more and more regulatory reviews on a regular basis. As a result, there is a need to design a new workflow app to streamline the review process. I worked alongside a PM and a front-end engineer in this project.

The Challenge

Given this is a new web app, the team decided to do a POC first to evaluate the feasibility.

The primary goals are:

1. Streamline and automate the review process for examiners.

2. Deliver minimal viable product (MVP).

Context

What’s FINRA?

FINRA is a government-authorized not-for-profit organization that oversees U.S. broker-dealers to protect investors and safeguard market integrity. 

How FINRA oversee broker-dealers?

FINRA requires individuals and firms who wish to conduct business with the investing public to achieve and maintain certification as members of FINRA. FINRA-certified brokers have registered and undergone qualification exams and are required to complete ongoing continuing education programs each year. FINRA maintains the central licensing and registration system(CRD) to store all the data, the general public can also access to the information to find trustworthy brokers to work with(Check BrokerCheck). When a broker violates the rules, the firms who hired the broker had to submit a report to FINRA. FINRA will undergo the review process and update CRD so that the general public can access to the most up-to-date data.

What’s public records review?

FINRA partners with local courts to receive update about brokers who are accused for wrongdoings. Not waiting for firms who hired the brokers to report back, FINRA will go ahead and start the regulatory review process. FINRA changed its strategy at the beginning of 2018 to do regulatory review proactively which means FINRA examiners need to conduct more and more regulatory reviews on a regular basis.

Understand

We uncovered a lot of useful insights from user and stakeholder interviews. 

Who are the users?

Users are internal examiners that conduct the regulatory review as their day to day job.

Main Task

Users have to review the reports submitted from the firms and compare them with the reports coming from Public Record to ensure the final reports are correct. They also have to ensure that the reports have all the necessary data, if missing data is found, the users then have to contact the firms and ask for a resubmission.

Current Workflow Problems

• Users have to manually maintain a database using Microsoft Access to create tasks, track progress, and assign tasks.

• Users have to manually copy data from FINRA’s database to their database. 

• Users have to use different applications(MS Access, Web CRD, TransUnion, Lexis Nexis) to compare and verify the information.

User Needs

• Users need to compare and switch between relevant tasks frequently.

  • A lot of times there will be duplicate tasks for the same report because they are coming from different sources(from the company or from the court) which then will be created as different tasks.

• Users need to digest data quickly.

  • Their work performance is evaluated by the number of tasks they completed.

  • Most of the reports are 30 pages long.

Solution Overview

• Automate the review process:  

  • A review task will be automatically created by the app. 

  • Auto-tracking progress. 

• Single source of truth : 

  • Users don’t have to switch back and forth different apps to look for information.

Info Architecture

I created IA to visualize the app hierarchy based on user insights and product requirements.

Ideation

With PM and team, I sketched and wireframed a number of different interaction modal concepts for the overall layout. Together, we discussed the pros and cons of each direction and landed on one that meets all of the users’ requirements. After deciding the overall layout, I wireframed the design for the details report section and action panels.

Overall Layout

Report Details

Action Panels

Iteration and Validation

I worked closely with our front-end engineer to build out a prototype to test out the initial concept. As the app is for internal use, we ran a one-hour focus group showcasing the prototype to 4 examiners and 2 managers to get feedback.

Results

• Users were satisfied with the inbox layout and tab design.

• Users felt the action panel is a little bit overwhelming and helped to prioritize action items. 

• Users expressed needs for auto-matching data from the court and from the FINRA database.

Quotes

“Can we use it next week? Super excited!”

- Examiner 1 

Polish

Scrolling Effect

Conclusion 

The POC approved and the users are all excited about using the tools.