Streamlining application management

Research-led redesign of a bloated staff portal.

Open Technology Fund (client)Staff portal

I led user research with customers and internal staff of a complex funding application portal, identifying critical workflow issues, forming a structure and design for a simpler, streamlined platform that eliminated unnecessary tool switching.

Role

UX Researcher & Designer (Agency Contract)

Team

PM, Developers, UI Designer

Challenge

The client, Open Technology Fund (OTF), managed a complex, multi-stage funding process involving applicants, internal staff, external advisory reviewers and compliance teams. Their existing portal had grown bloated and confusing, with unused features and staff relying on Google Sheets to fill the gaps.

OTF wanted a rebuild that reduced wasted effort and brought the right information to the right people at the right time.

Impact

Staff moved from three scattered systems to one purpose-built portal

Separate Google Sheets tracking and copying back and forth from emails were a sign the portal wasn't doing its job. The redesign eliminated the need for both.

Staff reached the right functions faster

Role-scoped views, clearer pathways, and surfaced deadlines reduced the chasing, duplication, and context-switching that had slowed the process down.

Client left confident enough to build

A validated direction, grounded in research and tested with real users led to positive staff feedback and enthusiasm to proceed with the build.

Result

A role-specific portal that replaced scattered systems and manual workarounds.

*Contracted for discovery through to design handoff, I delivered a validated direction: one place for the full funding application process, designed around how each user type actually worked.

Each user type landed in a view built for their work

Application managers, advisors, applicants, and compliance staff each got a dashboard scoped to their role, surfacing what mattered to them without noise from the rest of the process.

Role-specific dashboard views for each of the four user types in the redesigned OTF portal

Annotated Application Manager dashboard wireframe with callouts for role-based navigation, outstanding actions, submissions snapshot, and progress timelines

Everyone could see where things stood and what needed to move next

Unclear timelines had been causing delays across all roles. Surfacing dates and deadlines gave each person a clear picture of what was due, without needing to chase or be chased to find out.

Annotated wireframes of the Submissions and Determination screens, showing how priority information, comments, and deadlines are surfaced without overwhelming users

No more switching between the portal, a spreadsheet, and email to do one job

Parallel tracking across Google Sheets was a sign the portal wasn't doing its job. The redesigned flows brought submissions, status, and key information into one place and removed the need for workarounds.

My Part

I mapped the full application & review process to find where it was breaking down, and made it visible to the team.

Research across roles, systems, and workarounds.

Interviews and observation sessions across four distinct roles revealed a consistent pattern:

Unnecessary manual effort

The application manager was spending significant time chasing reviewers and duplicating data between the portal and Google Sheets.

Lack of timeline transparency

Timelines and deadlines were unclear, causing delays across the whole process.

Complexity leading to delays

Advisory Council members needed simplicity: get in, complete a review, move on. They weren't going to navigate the portal unprompted, and delays in their response can hold the whole process up.

Four distinct roles, four varied sets of needs.

User portrait cards for the four roles in the OTF funding process — Application Manager, Applicant, Advisory Council, and Compliance — each showing key needs and a representative quote — Prioritised portraits for each role gave the whole team a concrete picture of who we were designing for.

Task model of the OTF funding review process, with three key pain points called out: unclear timelines, confusing communications, and scattered information across systems — Task model mapping the full process across all roles. The pain points emerged clearly once the full picture was visible.

I turned research findings into user stories to collaboratively scope v1.

Transparent planning, shared decisions.

Translating uncovered tasks and needs into user stories gave us a shared language for planning. Working through these with the agency and OTF team, we reviewed and prioritised features for v1 together, giving the client full visibility of what was in scope, what was being deferred, and why.

User stories for the OTF funding review process. — Prioritising user stories for the OTF funding review process.

I restructured the portal around the core needs of each role.

Bringing essential tools & info to the forefront

Before tackling screen details, I mapped how each role would move through the key stages of the process - what they needed to do, in what order, and where their paths crossed with other roles.

This task-first framing changed the navigation structure significantly. Rather than surfacing everything globally, each section was scoped to what mattered for the role using it, reducing noise without removing functionality other roles still needed.

Improvements:

Clear overviews of assigned tasks for each role.
Completed reviews in one space for easier comparison.
Smoother flow between the review screen and submission info.
Direct route via email to specific submissions for time-poor advisors.

Mapping a more streamlined review flow for application managers and advisors.

I balanced density and clarity, surfacing the right information in the right place for each task.

Joining the dots to provide a complete picture.

It wasn't all about stripping away information, but rather bringing the right data together to give overviews where needed and communicate the overall picture.

Side-by-side wireframe of the determination screen, showing the response form alongside completed reviews from all advisors — Side-by-side layout: completed reviews available alongside the determination response form.

Leads had full context from all internal reviews to guide responses to applicants.

1. Side-by-side panel: The UI designer and I landed on this solution to keep essential context in view, enabling consolidated feedback without endless back and forth.

2. Response preview: Leads feared making mistakes in important communications. This additional checkpoint built confidence.

Submissions overview table showing columns for status, review progress, deadlines, and communications across all active submissions — Submissions overview: column and filter design to support triage across a large volume of active submissions.

Submissions overview: density without overwhelm

1. Flexible filtering

2. Most valuable information surfaced

3. New comments highlighted

4. Deadline alerts

5. Latest activity in sight

I tested with real users and handed off with clear next steps.

Building confidence in our solution.

Remote usability testing of wireframe prototypes gave us confidence that the direction was right. OTF staff saw huge improvements over the existing system, and applicants responded well to clearer progress visibility.

Our developer attended as many sessions as possible, building shared context that made solution discussions and the handoff significantly more productive.

Usability testing session recording showing the OTF portal communications view, with Determination status labels visible including 'In discussion → Undetermined' — Usability testing sessions highlighted what worked well and areas in need of more work.

Findings needing follow up:

Applicants valued the portal as a central comms record, but collaborative editing often happened outside it.
Sharing OTF feedback with collaborators was documented as a clear priority for the next phase.

Outcome

One system replaced the workarounds

The work that had been split across a portal, a spreadsheet, and email came into one system. Clients were left enthused by the vision of a simplified portal, with confidence the direction was grounded in research and validated with real users.

Reflections

Structure before polish

Getting priority flows, connections, and navigation right is what makes complex work simpler. The later visual refinement could then elevate a robust structure.

Tight scoping made a credible v1 possible

Prioritising ruthlessly for v1 meant the scope stayed realistic and the handoff credible. Keeping stakeholders close through those trade-off decisions meant any cuts were fully understood.

Developers in the research room

Making sure developers attended sessions paid off in solution discussions. Shared first-hand context meant less translation at handoff. If I ran it again, I'd bring the whole team into ideation earlier too.

More featured work

Crowdhouse

Strategic roll-out of an ambitious new feature

De-risking release with lean experiments

I led end-to-end UX on a new feature enabling buyer-property matching by capturing investment preferences, de-risking delivery with a lean rollout and low-cost experiments, driving 63% of new buyers to create profiles.

End-to-end ownershipLean experimentationData-informed designUsability planningFlow design

Crowdhouse

Unpacking legal complexity to unblock German market launch

Rapid exploration & a pragmatic staged release.

I led work to uncover complex energy information requirements, quickly designing platform adjustments for sellers, buyers and staff, allowing our first German sellers to list properties without delay.

Discovery & analysisCross-functional collaborationPragmatic deliveryLogic flowsDesign system usage