SUBMITTABLE INC

Building an End-to-End Awards and Payments Solution to Unlock $9M Sales Pipeline and Meet Compliance Needs

ROLE

Lead Designer

User Research

User Testing

UX Copy

Data Visualization

STATUS

Shipped

TEAM

Product

Engineering

Fintech

Accounts

TIMELINE

6 months

(Design + Dev)

PLATFORM

Web + Mobile

YEAR

2024

CUSTOMER IMPACT

Awards and payments are crucial in grants management, with errors or missing info posing audit risks, especially for federal grants. User testing showed our new solution meets complex financial needs, reduces external documentation by 45-50%, and streamlines the audit process.

BEFORE

Inefficient Awards and Payment Processes: Inflexible Awards and Payment Processes and Compliance Issues.

ROLE

Lead Designer
User Research
User Testing
UX Copy
Data Visualization

TEAM

Product
Engineering
Fintech
Accounts

STATUS

Shipped

2024

YEAR

PLATFORM

Web + Mobile

TIMELINE

6 months
(Design + Dev)

AFTER

Enhanced Financial Oversight: Streamlined Awards and Payments with Awards Summary, Fund Name, Remaining Balance, and Award Details

BEFORE

Inefficient Awards and Payment Processes:Inflexible Awards and Payment Processes and Compliance Issues.

CUSTOMER IMPACT

Awards and payments are crucial in grants management, with errors or missing info posing audit risks, especially for federal grants. User testing showed our new solution meets complex financial needs, reduces external documentation by 45-50%%, and streamlines the audit process.

CUSTOMER IMPACT

Awards and payments are crucial in grants management, with errors or missing info posing audit risks, especially for federal grants. User testing showed our new solution meets complex financial needs, reduces external documentation by 45-50%, and streamlines the audit process.

ROLE

Lead Designer

User Research

User Testing

UX Copy

Data Visualization

STATUS

Shipped

TEAM

Product

Engineering

Fintech

Accounts

TIMELINE

6 months

(Design +
Dev)

PLATFORM

Web + Mobile

YEAR

2024

Background

Submittable supports over 3,500 federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and departments. The grants management software (GMS) is utilized by foundations and government entities to launch, manage, and measure programs of all sizes through a single, secure platform

Research Methodology

We built this feature from scratch using customer feedback and sales insights. Partnering with our UX researcher, I conducted user validation and live interviews, uncovering key improvements in navigation, usability, readability, and alignment with awards and payments needs.

Customer Interview Quotes

“We're lacking the accounting elements that we need. For example, adjusting a grant award through an amendment so it reflects properly from an accounting standpoint.” MJ Murdock Charitable Trust

“I have to track 70 grants, each having multiple budgets, and multiple organizations submitting expenses across those grants and budgets. I have to track alignment across the entire thing”

State of Nebraska

“I have to track 70 grants, each having multiple budgets, and multiple organizations submitting expenses across those grants and budgets. I have to track alignment across the entire thing” State of Nebraska

“When we are awarding, we can see everyone’s funds, and it's very easy to accidentally hit a button. It would be great to not have access to other grant teams’ funds. It makes me nervous” Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF)

Insights & Findings

1.
Significant Business Impact: These gaps led to customer dissatisfaction, $9M in churn risk, and pain points worth $1.7M in annualized transaction revenue (ATR).

Significant Business Impact: These gaps led to customer dissatisfaction, $9M in churn risk, and pain points worth $1.7M in annualized transaction revenue (ATR).

Significant Business Impact: These gaps led to customer dissatisfaction, $9M in churn risk, and pain points worth $1.7M in annualized transaction revenue (ATR).

2.
Static Budget Handling: Budgets were treated as fixed, missing crucial support for updates, compliance checks, and linking to reimbursements or advance payments.

Static Budget Handling: Budgets were treated as fixed, missing crucial support for updates, compliance checks, and linking to reimbursements or advance payments.

Static Budget Handling: Budgets were treated as fixed, missing crucial support for updates, compliance checks, and linking to reimbursements or advance payments.

3.
Limited Tracking and Reporting:
No robust tools for tracking award spending, auditing changes, or generating advanced reports, forcing users to rely on external tools like Excel.

Limited Tracking and Reporting: No robust tools for tracking award spending, auditing changes, or generating advanced reports, forcing users to rely on external tools like Excel.

Limited Tracking and Reporting: No robust tools for tracking award spending, auditing changes, or generating advanced reports, forcing users to rely on external tools like Excel.

4.
Misaligned Awards and Payments: Lacked flexibility to fit diverse grant-maker processes, failing to integrate with complex financial systems and compliance needs.

Misaligned Awards and Payments: Lacked flexibility to fit diverse grant-maker processes, failing to integrate with complex financial systems and compliance needs.

Misaligned Awards and Payments: Lacked flexibility to fit diverse grant-maker processes, failing to integrate with complex financial systems and compliance needs.

The Challenge

How might we provide an end-to-end awards and payments functionality to our government and foundation customers that aligns with the dynamic nature of funds and budgets in a grants application lifecycle?

User Flow

Laying the foundation: Configuring project settings to set up a program with awards and payments

Ideation

Paper wireframes helped define the award card structure and key admin details. During wireframe development, I focused on selecting data charts that clearly convey fund availability to grant makers.

Admin Experience: Project Settings

Enabling a grant maker to configure their project settings so that their awards and payments process better aligns with the structure of their funds distribution.

BEFORE

No Awards and Payments Tab: Disjointed and Hard to Access Information

AFTER

New Awards and Payments Tab: Introduction of Toggles, Chips and Streamlined Information Architecture resulted in a Scalable, Flexible and User-Friendly Solution.

BEFORE

No Awards and Payments Tab: Disjointed and Hard to Access Information

Easily Creating Budget Categories

A dedicated budget category management page for accounting, funds tacking and allocation; making payment reimbursement requests efficient and organized.

A dedicated page to manage and create budget categories for accounting purposes and better assign, manage and track awards.

Awards and Payments

Simplifying awards and payments creation, and allowing users to easily modify, delete and track their payments and quickly view funds available.

AWARDS CARD

The new award card has five different states to align with the requirements of a grant lifecycle.

Data Visualization

Dynamic charts provide admins and applicants a clear view of fund balances, payments, and total awards, minimizing disbursement errors.

MOBILE EXPERIENCE

What's Next?

Applicants track and manage their submissions on the Submittable grants management software. It is crucial that the applicant experience is aligned and mirrors the admin experience.

BEFORE

Software Limitations: Applicants were unable to view awards and track payments. This communication with the grant administrator took place outside the platform.

AFTER

Applicants can now easily track and manage their awards and payments related activity in the platform, along with visibility into total award amount and remaining balance.

BEFORE

Software Limitations: Applicants were unable to view awards and track payments. This communication with the grant administrator took place outside the platform.

Awards and Payments

Simplifying awards and payments creation, and allowing users to easily modify, delete and track their payments and quickly view funds available.

Customer Interview Quotes

“We're lacking the accounting elements that we need. For example, adjusting a grant award through an amendment so it reflects properly from an accounting standpoint.” MJ Murdock Charitable Trust

“I have to track 70 grants, each having multiple budgets, and multiple organizations submitting expenses across those grants and budgets. I have to track alignment across the entire thing”

State of Nebraska

TAKEAWAYS

User-Centric Solutions: Addressed grant-makers' critical pain points by creating a flexible and scalable awards and payments system tailored to their diverse needs, significantly improving usability and satisfaction.

Enhanced Efficiency: Introduced streamlined workflows and accessible financial data, saving customers substantial time and reducing reliance on external tools.

Risk Mitigation: Improved audit readiness by aligning the solution with complex compliance requirements, reducing the risk of errors and potential penalties.

Quantifiable Impact: Achieved measurable improvements, such as a 45-50% reduction in external documentation workload, simplifying audit processes for organizations.

Business Value: Closed functionality gaps to mitigate a $9M churn risk, strengthening customer retention and expanding the sales pipeline.

Collaborative Development: Partnered across teams and incorporated customer feedback to ensure alignment with real-world needs and technical feasibility.

Scalable Design: Delivered a solution that not only meets immediate requirements but is adaptable to future financial and operational complexities

Improved Transparency: Provided clear, dynamic data visualization tools for admins to track funds, payments, and balances in real time, enhancing decision-making and accountability.

Business Value: Closed functionality gaps to mitigate a $9M churn risk, strengthening customer retention and expanding the sales pipeline.

Collaborative Development: Partnered across teams and incorporated customer feedback to ensure alignment with real-world needs and technical feasibility.

Scalable Design: Delivered a solution that not only meets immediate requirements but is adaptable to future financial and operational complexities

Improved Transparency: Provided clear, dynamic data visualization tools for admins to track funds, payments, and balances in real time, enhancing decision-making and accountability.

TAKEAWAYS

Next Up

Empowering Grant Makers to Speed Up Reviews and Reduce $910K Churn Risk

View Case Study

Empowering Grant Makers to Speed Up Reviews and Reduce $910K Churn Risk

View Case Study

Next Up

Empowering Grant Makers to Speed Up Reviews and Reduce $910K Churn Risk

View Case Study

Next Up