Product Design Intern @ Milliman
July 2024
Role
Product Design Intern
Duration
4 Weeks (July 2024)
Projects
5+ projects spanning design and research
Skills
Design Systems, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Information Architecture, Journey Mapping, XFN Collaboration, Visual Design
Tools
Figma, Power BI, Teams, Microsoft Suite
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FYI: I'm currently updating this case study, but have outlined the problem statement and solution below. Due to NDA agreements, please reach out to learn more about the process. Thanks!
Milliman provides services in risk management, insurance, healthcare, financial services, and employee benefits. While most employees are actuaries, Milliman has a robust technology team to deliver for its cloud-based software, such as Integrate.
Without getting into the complexity of this task, Bulk-Edit actions are a key task actuaries often need to take. This was a recurring pain point for users and an existing issue heard from clients. It's at the point that Milliman consultants are doing the heavy lifting on this task for clients, nervous about letting clients do this on their own.
While it should be a simple action, see some user data below as to the reality --
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How might we reduce complexity & increase usability around bulk-edit actions so that our users, especially new users and clients, can complete their bulk-edit tasks faster and easier?
The Before
A complicated Bulk-Edit process with multiple pop-ups, clicks, and an inability to review their action completed.
The After
Increase % of payments by reminding alumni of why they’re giving back and the impact they make.
Step 1: Changing Metadata
Within the correct file row, actuaries need to click the "override" button which brings me to a pop-up. Here, they change the value for "Category Metadata" and press save.
Issue #1: Inability to specify which projections to apply to
This applies the change to all projections for the file, which isn't what actuaries often want. Often, they want to apply to certain projections, such as to projections 10-80 only.
Step 2: Applying Certain Projections
Since that applied the change to all projections, they now need to click the "Change" button on the right, which brings me to another pop-up. Here, they can specify which projections they need to apply it to (ex: projections 10-80).
Issue #2: Redundant clicks, pop-ups, and screens
I often need to only apply a change to specific projections, so I always need to do this two step pop-up process. It's annoying; time adds up!
Issue #3: Lack of filtering ability
I can't filter for projections 10-80. Often, there could be hundreds of projections, and I might need to specify for projections like "8, 12, 89".
Step 3: Checking my Changes
I've completed my change and press "save". It brings me back to the screen, but it doesn't accurately show me the change I just made!
Issue #3: Inability to review changes. I have to re-click in.
On the side, it says "applied to all job steps", which is inaccurate. I can't see at first glance if my changes were correct, or if I mistyped something.
The Before
A complicated Bulk-Edit process with multiple pop-ups, clicks, and an inability to review their action completed.
The After
A Bulk-Edit process with less clicks, pages, and time wasted re-accessing pages to check a change.
Previously, the screen conveyed incorrect information per row, only showing the metadata for the largest bulk of projections. Each row now dynamically reflects the metadata values for all subset of projections, not just the largest bulk. When they've made a change, updates for specific projections are listed inline, allowing users to see a clear, detailed summary at a glance without additional navigation.
Outcome: Reduced the need for actuaries to re-click into "Override" to check their change.
I designed a consolidated pop-up interface that streamlined the workflow and introduced advanced filtering functionality. By combining the "override" and "change" actions into a single pop-up window, actuaries can now adjust metadata and specify projections within the same screen, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple steps. Advanced filtering in added.
Outcome: Reduced clicks. Screens reduced from 4 to 2. Actuaries completed task at least 20% faster.
Adopt key strategies for getting up to speed. It's hard to design solutions when grasping the problem space feels difficult. Integrate was complex and actuarial work is highly technical, so I realized that I needed to catch up quickly. I started recording meetings (with consent), ending each knowledge sharing session asking “do you have resources to share?”, leveraging genAI as an advanced Google search tool on unfamiliar actuarial terms, and more. I'm in the process of writing up a medium article of some more strategies I learned to leverage -- so stay tuned!