Sovos - Enterprise Compliance Software
Importing Data
Researching how to iterate year over year to streamline a previously complex data importing workflow
Over the span of two tax year off-seasons, we have iterated on the solution to reduce the complexity and improve user success in importing complex data sets into the product.
Project Goals
Handle varied and complex data with no custom code
The data import workflow is one of the most varied workflows within the product because every client has their own data management practices. This results in different data structures, data cleanliness, data validations, etc.
The previous product team often built custom solutions to help clients get their data in, a solution that would not be scalable in the future. The data import workflow must be able to account for all the variants that exist across our clients in an easy and intuitive manner.
Reduce time spent importing data
The previous import workflow was a prime example of the Pareto effect in that clients and their managed service representatives would spend 80% of their time importing data. If we could simplify the complexities into easy and digestible steps, clients and managed service team members could work on more complex projects.
The Process
Learning from the Past
The data import workflow was included in the 2019 product launch of Tax and Information Reporting Enterprise (TIR Enterprise), a product focused on tax compliance and reporting within the United States. In the first tax season, we had created a workflow following design thinking practices with the resources we had available. In the first tax season, we piloted the product with only clients who had managed service subscriptions. After that first year of TIR Enterprise, I spent time researching about the last year to learn pain points and opportunities to further improve the experience.
User Interviews
Over the span of two weeks, I interviewed many of our managed services team members about their experience with the data import workflow. After the interviews I worked with our team to map out the responses and prioritize opportunities.
Qualitative Surveys
Finally, I surveyed many of the team members about specific steps of the import workflow that had come up during some of the user interviews to get a more general understanding of the user needs.
Support Ticket Analysis
Pulling a report of the support tickets, we could dive into the breakdown of what where areas of concern. From there I collaborated with the product team and managed service team to further understand the core issues of the ticket categories and potential solutions.
Research Results
Redefining an import template
Originally we created import templates to accommodate all the varied types of data that each client owned. They solved the need to save import configurations and settings for future use and thereby reducing the amount of repetitive setup each tax year.
In the first year of the product, we included the file as part of the template but based on the research, the file should not be part of the template as, “in pretty much every case, changing the file will be needed as client’s don’t tend to keep the same file name year over year.”
Fear of losing work
The original import template was built on sliding panels meaning that leaving the import workflow felt very consequential.
Users were unclear whether or not clicking off the sliding panel would result in losing their progress or their work
Separating the workflows
Due to the fact that typically the only thing that would be modified in an existing template was the file, users quickly advanced through the other configuration steps.
We learned that managed service team members would perfect their template before the season; making any necessary tweaks to last year's template, but after it was configured to the clients data set, would not modify elements throughout the season. .
Final Deliverables
01
Low hanging fruit that required no design work
While there are no visual design elements to show, my research highlighted many fixes that could be made to the backend that would greatly improve the user experience with minimal effort.
02
A streamlined import workflow centered around using an existing template or creating a new import template
Based on the research, the majority of edits made to existing templates was to change which file was included. By removing that from the template and creating an existing template workflow, users could quickly select an existing template and then select their file for import in two simple steps. If on the other hand, users wanted to create a new template, they could do so in a separate workflow that smoothly fed into the import process.