Folio: MOBILE First Internal Research
My Role: UX Researcher/Designer
Team/Scope: 2 Designers - Research, Strategy, UI Design, User Interviews / Testing, Prototyping Duration: 1 Year+
Project Status: Ongoing. Company: Oppenheimer Funds
BACKGROUND
Folio is an in-house application that allows Research Analysts to share and collaborate on research documents with Portfolio Managers.
PROBLEM:
Analysts e-mail research to Portfolio Mangers who spend the majority of their time on the road. Accessing corporate e-mail can be quite cumbersome while traveling and communication with the analyst team is de-centralized. Portfolio Managers need a one-stop solution for accessing research and communicating with their team when working remotely.
Product Solution:
User is offsite → Mobile First Application (ipad/Phone)
Uploading and updating research is time consuming→ Auto folders using tagging system
E-mail Feedback is cumbersome → In-app feedback/chat/collaboration
Multiple sources for checking performance → One app solution with Portfolio Performance tab
DiscoverY
Interviews > FIRST ITERATION OF FOLIO
Feedback from Developing Markets Team - 4 Analysts and 1 proxy Portfolio Manager.
Key Takeaways:
PAIN POINT: The PM needs quick access to company research and it takes too long for the analyst team to upload and organize their work into specific shared folders.
FEATURE SOLUTION: Via Folio’s “Workbooks” using tags, the PMs can create folders that auto-compile analyst and third-party documents.
Folio Landing Page
-Left panel: Workbooks as secondary navigation.
-Body: Sectioned Notes - Analyst, Primary & Third Party Research.
Read Document Mode
-Tags in document header, feed automatically into workbooks.
-The user can edit the document or open a chat with the author, allowing for collaboration and feedback.
Edit Document Mode
-Left panel: Note Editor with addition/removal of tags.
-Right Panel: Document Properties and sharing.
Search
-A robust search allows for quick sorting through thousands of documents using filters and company tags.
-Thumbnail view was used in both the landing and search screens.
Subsequent FEEDBACK from rollout to more TEAMS→ Scalability Issues → Findings show that Investment Teams though similar in structure work differently
Define & Re-Design
USER JOURNEY MAPPING
Because of how various Investment Teams work there were issues with the initial design. However, through user feedback, it was revealed that most teams follow the same work cycle when it comes to producing, consuming and sharing research.
Prep → Offsite → Create → Share → Consume
Competitor Analysis
Feedback from the Analysts led us to compare other products being used at the company. While Microsoft OneNote and Evernote shared some features with Folio, they were lacking streamlining internal research, protecting intellectual property, displaying portfolio holdings, and ticker tagging.
DeliverY - Re-Designed Application (Ipad/Desktop/Mobile)
FEEDBACK FROM USER JOURNEY MAPS → ADDITIONAL FEAtureS TO CONSIDER
Many users still use pen and paper for taking notes > Folio will feature scanning in the FAB options.
Heavy Consumption of sell-side research > Folio introduced Thomson Reuters document feed.
Non-equity users do not use company tags > Custom tickers/tags on a team by team basis.
Screens across platforms shown
Conclusion & Next Steps
The application will continue to be disseminated to the remaining Investment Teams. As any new requirements arise all changes are made across all the platforms Ipad, Iphone and Desktop.