Role:
Product Designer Lead
Industry:
Finance
Duration:
18 weeks
Company
Farmtech is the strategic partner for the entire agricultural input supply chain that wants to request additional credit limits for its clients or finance the complete cycle of input commercialization. They simplify access to credit through a 100% digital platform without the need for real guarantees. Over R$ 22 billion has already been enabled, and more than 200,000 credit operations have been conducted.
source: https://www.linkedin.com/company/farmtechbr/about/
Project Context
First of all, it's important to understand the two different Farmtech platform user groups:
1. External Users: Clients seeking to request credit limits or manage their existing credit and payments.
2. Internal Users: Farmtech employees who assist these clients with their requests.
One of Farmtech's most significant advantages is that external users have the ability to apply for credit through an online platform without bureaucratic obstacles.
Once a request is submitted, our internal user begins reviewing it. With the credit approved, the same user now has greater control over the customer's account (external user), including the approved credit, future credit requests, and any other changes.
Project Specifications
Currently, the credit team manages two different types of credit: operational and indirect. These types are not necessarily linked to each other, meaning they can have different amounts and must be controlled separately.
Problem 🤕
It is necessary to enhance the existing credit maintenance process to include the ability to edit and manage these two types of credit separately, following the established patterns of parallel flows.
Goal 🎯
Enable credit team to manage different credit types in multiple accounts easily.
Design Goals 🖌️
Maintain a flow that closely resembles the current process to avoid slowing down the credit team's workflow. Additionally, introduce intuitive designs that allow for the seamless addition of new information and editing formats within this existing framework.
01 - Discover
The first step was to understand the context of this flow within the platform. Should it be included in the main menu, or if it belongs to a submenu, where would it be placed?
Collaborating with the credit team, we designed a comprehensive flow for this process, incorporating all the necessary features.
Part 1 -
On the main page of LI&LO, the user can view a list of all products filtered by the most recent entries.
Users also can search for specific products by name or number. Each product summary includes key information, such as the financial vehicle, type of credit, and value, along with the option to view more details.
A meeting to understand where to position this new flow was held with the users to collaboratively position this new flow so that it would make the most sense for both the user and the overall context.
In that meeting, we decided we wanted to keep this flow on the main menu, inside the "Credit" flow, since it's easier for the credit team to find this option.
It was also decided to abbreviate the original name of the process, "Indirect Limit and Operational Limit," to its initials, "LI&LO."
This change was made because the original name is too lengthy for the main menu, and users are already familiar with these initials from the internal process.
Part 2 -
By selecting the "See Details" option, the user is taken to the LI&LO product page, where they can find more specifications about originators, financial vehicles, and, most importantly, edit the type of limit.
After changing the type of limit, a different set of information will appear for the user to modify.
Part 3 -
On the LI&LO page, the user can view the change history from the last six months.
Upon saving changes, a confirmation modal will appear for the user to accept. If they choose to cancel, they will be returned to the LI&LO list page.
02 - Define
At this stage, weekly meetings were held with the project’s PM to gain a deeper understanding of the requirements and also some user testing with the credit team to understand more about the interaction between those explorations in their routines.
Many of our features focus on data representation, so our first choice is often to use a "table style" in the designs. This approach is user-friendly, as users are already familiar with it, but it may not be the most effective way to convey visual information.
The second frame groups the information by product into cards, creating a strong visual hierarchy. This design, like many of the new screens in the platform's flows, moves away from the traditional "table style."
04 - Execution
Given the importance of this feature for our credit team, we needed to deliver the project quickly. However, our development team was also busy with other projects. Therefore, we decided to approach this in two steps: first, we would launch a MVP with the core features, followed by the full project, which would include all additional features.
MVP
For the MVP, our focus was to deliver the main feature.
1. Upon entering the LI&LO page, users will see the "Products Catalogue," which displays each product a client has. Each card can expand to show the various credit limits associated with that product.
When a user selects a product, they will be redirected to the product page. Each product can have multiple "Financial Articles," and by selecting the edit option, users can manage different credit types.
On the editing page, users will have the ability to make multiple changes and save those modifications.
Full project deliver
The full project builds on the MVP described below, incorporating a "Changelog" feature and updating the saving modal to give users a clearer view of the changes they are making.
Since the credit team frequently deals with numbers across multiple clients, articles, and products, these two features will help ensure they are making the correct changes. They will also provide access to all past modifications and allow users to review everything before proceeding.
Results
This project significantly transformed the daily routines of our credit team. Previously, they were unable to manage credit limits directly, meaning that every time a client wanted to make a change, a new request of a new product had to be created. This project streamlined the process, benefiting both our users and the credit team.