Fintech: From single-filing to bulk with the SEC

Workiva builds the platform mutual funds use to prepare and submit SEC filings. As Staff Product Designer, I owned end-to-end UX over 9 months, leading research framing, IA, interaction design, and scope, with a researcher, design leadership, and a 5-person remote dev team. Delivery was fixed at 5 months against hard SEC release dates.

The Problem

Users submitted filings one at a time, even when filings were related (485BPOS and 497K). With no shared workspace, no batch status, and no centralized credentials, teams configured each filing from scratch. Professional Services routinely absorbed the gap, a clear signal that the product, not the support model, was the problem.

Design Strategy

Success meant Fund Managers could meet SEC deadlines without escalating to Professional Services. The initial bet was a Spotify-inspired one-to-many folder pattern, but peer reviews exposed too many SEC edge cases for a net-new pattern in 5 months. I chose NOT to ship a fresh paradigm and extended the existing filing experience with a Bulk Filing template and updated IA. Less change management, faster path to value.

Process

A story map of the end-to-end filing journey surfaced where single-filing constraints compounded. With a researcher, I co-designed moderated sessions across Fund Managers, Administrators, and Professional Services. Wireframes were reviewed with design leadership before testing, catching direction issues early. Killing the Spotify-style concept in peer review and pivoting to a template extension was the project's defining trade-off.

Solution

A unified workspace held all files for a bulk set in one place, labeled Health, Test, and Live, with per-filing status visible at a glance. A built-in password manager centralized SEC credentials. Ordering and queuing let users sequence submissions, critical for paired forms like 485 and 497K. A redesigned Live Filing confirmation explained risks before the queue started.