Research-led redesign of a bloated staff portal.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
1. Flexible filtering
2. Most valuable information surfaced
3. New comments highlighted
4. Deadline alerts
5. Latest activity in sight
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.
Findings needing follow up:
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.
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.
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