Origin Topside Refresh (AWS Fintech)
Building a Scalable Revenue Planning Tool: Supporting 120+ AWS Services with Advanced Financial Modeling
Championed a user-centered redesign of Origin's financial reporting dashboard in 2024
User Research: Conducted 10 key user interviews to deeply understand needs and pain points within the 'topside go-get' project.Design System Adoption: Pioneered the adoption of Cloudscape 3.0vr components, leveraging AWS Fintech common patterns.
Key Achievements:
- 17.85% increase in CSAT scores (from 3.16 to 3.72).
- 36.51% increase in CES scores (from 2.59 to 3.54) – the highest gains across the organization.
Strategic Alignment: Successfully delivered on two CFO-level objectives.Process Improvement: Streamlined the 'topside go-get' feature, reducing processing time from 48 hours to 1 hour during key financial planning periods.Innovation Leadership: Established Origin as the first AWS Fintech team to adopt Cloudscape 3.0vr, raising the bar for UX and efficiency.
During the "Topside Go-Get" project, I played a key role in empowering Origin's finance teams to achieve more agile and accurate financial planning and analysis. My contributions spanned two distinct phases, focusing on iterative improvement and close collaboration with the development team.
Phase 1: Laying the Foundation for Control
Recognizing an opportunity to improve revenue distribution processes, I championed the introduction of a manual control mechanism for finance teams. While this initial phase still involved service team approvals, I proactively identified this as a potential bottleneck and initiated discussions with the development team to explore automation possibilities. This collaborative approach ensured that future development would build upon a solid foundation. Even in this preliminary stage, my focus on user needs resulted in a 17.85% increase in CSAT scores (from 3.16 to 3.72), demonstrating the value of increased control for finance users. I actively communicated user feedback to the development team, ensuring their insights were incorporated into the next phase.
Phase 2: Driving Automation and Seamless Integration
Building on the momentum from Phase 1, I partnered closely with the development team to implement full automation. I identified the integration of SCARF, our supply chain management tool, as a critical opportunity to streamline the process. I worked with the team to define the requirements for direct input of leadership-approved revenue totals by SFP&A, enabling the system to automatically distribute revenue based on SCARF usage data. This eliminated the need for service team approvals, significantly increasing efficiency and agility. My proactive identification of this integration point and subsequent collaboration with the development team were instrumental in achieving a 36.51% increase in CES (from 2.59 to 3.54). Furthermore, I championed the simplification of key tasks, resulting in an 84% reduction in navigation clicks (from 6 to 1). This streamlined experience, which I advocated for, also contributed to a 33% reduction in engineering effort, shortening development time from 24 weeks to 16 weeks. This demonstrated the impact of my focus on user experience and efficient development practices.
Through my proactive approach, partnership with the development team, and focus on user needs, the "Topside Go-Get" project significantly improved both user experience and operational efficiency for Origin's finance teams. I was instrumental in driving the project from initial concept to successful implementation, consistently seeking opportunities for improvement and collaborating effectively to deliver impactful results.
As a product designer and strategic partner on the V1 data grid project within the AWS Fintech ecosystem, I played a crucial role in bridging the gap between engineering and user needs, ensuring the product met both technical feasibility and user expectations. My contributions directly supported the CFO/AWS CX VP goal of an Amazon-wide release and advanced two of Origin's CFO-level goals by conducting market research to identify user needs and designing a solution that addressed those needs while also meeting business objectives. This strategic alignment was critical to securing executive buy-in and resource allocation.
I led the user research effort, conducting interviews with 20+ users to deeply understand their workflows and pain points, specifically focusing on the topside adjustment process, which previously averaged 48 hours. This research revealed significant frustration with manual data entry and a lack of visibility into the process. Based on these insights, I designed the "topside refresh" feature, automating the process and reducing the average processing time to just 2 hours for service finance users. This represents a 96% reduction in processing time, freeing up valuable time for financial analysts to focus on strategic initiatives.
Furthermore, as a strategic partner, I developed and executed a go-to-market strategy to drive adoption of the data grid across AWS Fintech. This included creating training materials, hosting workshops, and presenting at team meetings. This strategic outreach, combined with the demonstrable time savings from the topside refresh feature, resulted in a faster and more agile financial planning process. Specifically, automating this process provided financial analysts with greater confidence in the highlighted intersections and data points, enabling more informed decision-making. This strategic approach led to 100% adoption across key services – EC2, S3, and EBS – establishing foundational partnerships with our largest and most diverse services. This widespread adoption significantly broadened the impact and reach of the data grid.
My contributions as a product designer and strategic partner on the V1 data grid project have delivered a user-centered and accessible data grid that has become a core component of the AWS Fintech ecosystem, driving widespread adoption through effective collaboration and strategic planning, and ultimately improving the efficiency and consistency of AWS Fintech tools. The 96% reduction in topside adjustment processing time and the 100% adoption across EC2, S3, and EBS demonstrate the project's significant impact on the organization.
Origin's upgrade to Cloudscape 3.0vr was pivotal for AWS Fintech, and our UX team's strategic approach was key to its success. To address developer skepticism, we created a concise "Do's and Don'ts" guide, demonstrating the upgrade's feasibility within a week. This, combined with ongoing support and iterative feedback, proved invaluable.
This initial success served as a compelling proof of concept. Our incremental improvement approach, focusing on continuous refinement based on developer feedback, streamlined the process and addressed emerging challenges. As a result, Origin's implementation became a model, driving a remarkable 90% adoption rate across AWS Fintech (18 of 20 eligible products). This widespread upgrade significantly improved UI consistency and reduced technical debt. This initiative, along with other UX-focused improvements, contributed to a 17.85% increase in CSAT scores (from 3.16 to 3.72), demonstrating the positive impact of user-centered design.
