NAV Automation
Advance from manual, labor-intensive tasks to fully automated, 360 view around fund NAV calculations.
My Role
Senior Manager, Experience Design
As the Experience Design Lead, I not only drove the future vision of a NAV Automation tool, but was responsible for user research which consisted in-person interviews.
The unique challenge I faced was the very brief project duration:
4 weeks. Within this timeframe, I needed to become familiar with the business, complete user research and then apply my findings toward a proposed design which consisted of 35 screens.
Client
Top 5 hedge fund
Area of business
Net Asset Value (NAV)
The team
​Client: NAV Preparers
Client: NAV Approvers
Create connections
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Visibility into relationship between fund’s monthly calculation progress and particular deadlines within each month.
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Allow for transparency between business users, creating overall better communication.
Support business needs
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Drive efficiency through reduced manual tasks, allowing for more time spent on useful analysis.
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Allow for timely monthly reporting to clients.
Reduce risk
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Allow for automated calculations to eliminate risk of human error.
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Increase confidence in users that data is correct, eliminating burden of referring to Excel-based documentation.
AN OVERVIEW
Defining success
Efficiency
around operations.
Reduce
risk and human error.
Ensure
timely reporting.
Awareness
around all activity.
Key stakeholders and users
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Preparers
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Approvers
Key user pain points
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Current calculations process is manual, Excel-driven.
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Validation of data requires side-by-side comparisons, resulting in high level of risk for human error.
Project challenges
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Minimal onboarding, context setting for the project
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Limited to stakeholder interviews only
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4-week timeline for both discovery and design of 35+ screens scoped.
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I was the only experience design lead; one part-time BA for support.
The future workflow for NAV automation
Stakeholder interview sessions and workshops
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5, 30-60 minute interview sessions via phone call or in-person.
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2 full-day workshops attended by multiple stakeholders across various areas of business; 15-20 participants.
Key stakeholders
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High-net-worth clients
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Bankers/Associate Bankers
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Investment Finance Services (Underwriters)
Key user pain points
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Current lending approval process is highly manual, relying on Excel spreadsheets.
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7-10 days turnaround time for credit approval
Project challenges
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Conflicting opinions among stakeholders around how the approval process should work.
Summary view of funds progress
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Timeline tracking first 15 business days of each month to measure funds against completion dates.
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Tracking progress of funds against desired completion dates of various stages.
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Indicators of where funds progress is still incomplete and type of calculation.
A dashboard view summarizes the progress of all funds against the first 125 days of each month.
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Track progress of funds to specific target dates over the first days of each month.
Fund-level calculations and breaks
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Notifications of breaks/red flags
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Visualization indicating volume of breaks
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
60%
(Projected)
Reduction in manual hours to complete NAV monthly reporting
View at the fund level, displaying calculations and breaks.
