Improving Title Loans by reducing manual processes, providing real-time updates, and streamlining workflows
Project Overview
Auto Approve specializes in providing consumers with automotive loan refinancing. This project aimed to evaluate the existing processes among Title Specialists to identify issues and pain points. These findings were leveraged to redesign Auto Approve's internal loan processing software, Approve Engine. The end goal for the Approve Engine redesign was to digitize as much of the loan process as possible.
User Research, Service Blueprints, User Flows, Personas, Wireframes & Mockups
Background
I joined the team during the project's initial phase. While another product designer was transitioning off the team, I was being onboarded. I assisted with client discussions, high-level interviews, and a service blueprint that was a work in progress.
Approach
Each portion of the project is laid out linearly for this case study. Our accurate approach resembled the Double Diamond process. I conducted research throughout the process, and weekly stakeholder discussions helped define the scope and drive the ideation and solution process.
Service Blueprint
The team created a service blueprint to outline goals and requirements for the future Approve Engine Process. This blueprint helped outline the technical details alongside critical points of interaction. The blueprint provided a proper North Star for the project, aiding functionality, scope, and requirements discussions. This work was in progress when I transitioned to the team. My contribution and focus were on the Title Specialist portion of the blueprint, collaborating with developers, clients, and project management.
Working Sessions
Definition of Scope
Through the workshop discussions, the clients determined that the project's initial focus would be Title Specialists and their processes and workflows. This role was deemed the most important in the process, as delays in the current processes can significantly affect the loan process. While our Service Blueprint outlines workflows for other roles, the core focus of our solutions was on Title Specialists' work.
Contextual Inquiry
To understand title specialists' processes, I conducted on-site shadowing of title specialists and associate title specialists. These sessions closely examined Title Specialists' loan processing workflows, which included observations of specific documents utilized and a review of the use of Approve Engine in person. These observations were crucial in uncovering challenges and inefficiencies for Title Specialists and understanding the complexities of Title Processing. I leveraged these sessions for process maps of the Loan Process workflow, including ideal workflows and workflows to correct errors.
Process Mapping
User Interviews
User interviews were also conducted during the project to better understand the distinct roles and processes within the different roles among title specialists at Auto Approve. By engaging directly with varying levels of specialists, we gained insight into how tasks among Title Specialists are assigned. These findings uncovered that redesigning specific portions of Approve Engine can significantly impact the Loan Processing workflow without a complete redesign.
User Interviews Affinity Map
User Personas
Leveraging the insights from the user interviews and contextual inquiry, I created User Personas to lay the groundwork for outlining issues and further refining our backlog of requirements.
Approve Engine Design
Narrowing Scope
Design occurred concurrently with the interviews, user flow creation, and client working sessions. Approve Engine's initial release scope involved two workflow tools: the Lender Update Summary Tool and Title Specialist Workflow Queue. Working alongside clients, the team determined that designing these tools would have the most significant initial impact on increasing the completion of loan processes. These helped accomplish three core problems identified by Auto Approve.
The current Auto Approve System (Approve Engine) cannot prioritize titles.
The status of a title packet sent to the title vendor (Wolter Klowers) is outside the Approve Engine.
The current Approve Engine does not provide alerts for title packets at risk of expiration.
Style Guide
The initial style guide leveraged Google's Material UI kit. It provided a base for the visual design of the updated Approve Engine tools.
Lender Update Summary Tool
This tool allowed managers to properly track the funding status of loans sent to the lender (Wolter Klowers). Initial wireframes included detailed tables outlining which reports had issues the manager needed to examine for further review. These wireframes were reviewed and discussed with Auto Approve's development team, clients, and Title Specialist management.
A simplified overview provides the manager with a report highlighting how many updates are in Approve Engine via the lender, what will require a manual review, and the ability to download a detailed report for each loan. This simple design significantly impacted management by surfacing titles needing additional review before expiration dates.
Title Specialist Workflow Queue
This workflow queue provided specialists with a daily list of specific titles to process grouped by particular tasks. The queue allows specialists to view their assigned tasks for a given day. It also provides a simple progress update capability alongside a link to the more extensive Approve Engine information in this phase. At the same time, managers no longer had to assign and review tasks manually every week.
Conclusion
This project marked the first step in an ongoing process of improvements for Approve Engine, dramatically improving the efficiency and accuracy of the loan processing workflow. By integrating employee insights and identifying challenges, we provided initial streamlined solutions to accelerate loan completion and enhance the user experience for Title Specialists. This transformation reduced loan processing times and the ability to correct submission errors before expiration.