Overview

FinX is a medium-sized accounting firm. The accounting firm found there were a lot of inconsistencies in both the billing amounts and the quality of work delivered to the client.

• 30% of discrepancies in billing
• 25% of the variability in time completing tasks

Problem statement

The accounting firm seeks a solution that can help the firm manage and standardise the work of the bookkeepers, also ensure consistent quality of work delivered to clients and assist the manager in delegating work effectively.

I, the product designer in the company, was asked to find a solution that can help the business to manage the workflow across the team, and assist the manager in task allocation to reduce the inconsistency in client billing and quality of work.

Understand the business

I started research by understanding the accounting business. From the information provided and my search on the internet, a typical medium-sized business provides various financial services to clients and they charge the clients hourly rates, fixed fees or retainer agreements.

The core objective: The primary goal for FinX is to provide exceptional service to clients, increase revenue, and work efficiently by managing resources, talent and technology.

About user groups

I have also spent some time understanding our users. There are two main user groups, managers and staff. while the staff’s responsibilities are focused on performing high-quality bookkeeping work, the managers are responsible for managing staff and workload, the quality of work, and client accounts.

The managers often find it challenging to archiving their goals: simplify the work process, improve consistency of work and efficient task allocation.

Design assumptions

Based on my research and study, I’ve made these design assumptions before creating solutions.

Designed billing process

Designed solutions

How might we create a centralised platform that can manage all projects and tasks? The managers can easily set up templates for project price and cost, estimated timeline, and track the hours spent on tasks. In the end, managers can generate accurate invoices for client billing.

1. A centralised platform where managers can view, assign and track projects and tasks

2. Easy to set up prices, costs and estimate timelines for tasks and create a new project

3. Simple steps for task allocation and tracking billable hours

4. Integrate invoicing feature to ensure accurate and consistent billing

Conclusion

As shown the in the prototype mockup, the proposed solutions have successfully

• Streamlined the project management and billing process
• Minimised inputs to reduce human errors
• Simplified staff assignment and task allocation

What’s next

If possible and time permits, I’d like to

• Conduct user testing to validate the design solutions
• Explore ways to view staff’s capacity and scheduled works
• Introduce a dashboard that can give a holistic view of the business

Thanks for reading : )