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Appian

Automating business processes through low-code / no-code solutions

Overview

I interned at Appian on the Financial Solutions team, working on Connected KYC which is a platform for compliance officers to monitor customer investigations. My top three projects were re-designing risk scores, building a trends dashboard from 0 to 1, and creating an internal design system for the Solutions organization.

Role

Product Management Intern

Timeline

June 2022 - August 2022

context

We start off with a questionable risk profile

KYC tools use risk scores to measure the level of risk a customer poses to the financial institution, typically around money laundering. This allows companies to protect themselves against fraud. For Connected KYC at Appian, we associate a risk profile with each customer and use the score to configure tooling such as the intake questionnaire or the decision engine rules. Therefore, it is crucial that our users clearly understand what a risk score is so they can build their monitoring system.

My first impression of the risk profile was that it made me ask a lot of questions and after poking around, I could not find the answers within the product.

Problem

I have no idea what a risk score is

Definitely not something you want running through the minds of your users.

Understanding the user pain was particularly challenging because Connected KYC was a new product that had not launched yet. In place of talking to real customers, we conducted several in-depth user interviews with individuals who had background in the KYC space. From there, we narrowed down on three pillars to guide us forward.

define

For a risk score to be useful, the user must understand its purpose. In addition, the definition must be consistent throughout the product.

calculate

Given risk scores are a rating, we must communicate how it is calculated and how the user can edit the calculation. This includes threshold levels and max/mins.

measure

Risk scores are used to customize a user's ideal compliance workflow. We need to provide directions on how to best use these scores to measure risk.

Solution

Provide education and consistency

We want to determine a solution that clearly explains to a user what a risk score is, how it is calculated, and what constitutes each risk level. A crucial piece of this project was also ensuring each screen was AA compliant, especially given the new color palette we planned to introduce.

define

What is it?

The term risk score was used interchangeably to refer to two different concepts, which was confusing. We re-named these terms so it was clear that there are two types of risk scores that are related but not the same.

average Risk score

/ˈav(ə)rij risk skôr/
noun
The average risk score is determined by averaging the risk scores of all existing customers. It is updated each time an individual customer completes an investigation and their customer risk score is recalculated.

customer Risk score

/ˈkəstəmər risk skôr/
noun
A customer risk score is calculated from a KYC investigation and indicates business risks posed by the customer. It is updated to the latest score each time an investigation into that customer is complete.
In addition, we identified and removed inconsistencies. Risk scores are now always defined by a numeric value and will show an associated color. A key on the page allows the user to determine what each color represents.

calculate

How do I configure it?

Given that the average risk scores stems from the customer risk score, we decided to place the calculation explanation on the screen that a user uses to configure the risk score. We added a card to inform the user how each question's response during the investigation can impact the overall risk score. The weight of that impact can be tailored to the financial institution's need.

Risk scores fall into three default thresholds: Low, Medium, and High

measure

How do I use it?

Once risk scores are configured, our users will need to monitor their clients. The research conducted pointed out that users care more about recent changes in risk compared to stagnant high risk customers. This prompted us to edit the risk profile on the homepage, swapping out top high risk customers with top changes in risk.
We also added the ability to sort by customer risk score and customer risk score changes.

context

Solutions Design System

The Head of Solutions Design created an internal design system containing common components and patterns used, along with branding guidelines. This was in the form of a Google Slides deck and called the Solutions Design Playbook. This was assigned to the Solutions interns this project for our Indie Time.

competitive analysis

Figuring out best practices

We compiled reports analyzing four popular design systems in order to understand what works well and what may not translate over to Appian. We reviewed Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Marvel.

Problem

Talking to the customer to understand pain points

After interviewing several members of the Solutions team, we identified three user personas that utilize the Playbook.
We used the research to organize our thoughts on a Miro board. This resulted in six categories that our users commonly spoke about. Then, we summarized each category into key problems and placed each one on a prioritization matrix.
Ultimately, we identified six core problems that were both high impact and feasible:
  • Users are unclear when to use certain components or patterns which results in inconsistency.
  • Users have difficulty navigating to find their desired information.
  • Users find components to be too broad and thus, unusable.
  • Non-designer users have difficulty understanding designer-specific language.
  • Users cannot find role-specific resources.
  • Users have no place to leave centralized feedback.

Process

Defining a structure

We knew that the end product would be a website built using Appian SAIL so we begun building out a site map that structures the primary and secondary navigation. A card sorting activity helped us determine which topics go where and how important they are to users.
Using the six problems listed above, we spent some time brainstorming possible solutions which we added under the relevant problem.

solution

A platform to house the design system

Below is a preview of the internal design system. Unfortunately, our internship ended before it could be completed but this project set the foundation of a larger platform.
made with love <3
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