DESIGN PROCESS
Team IBD stakeholders, Business Team, Dev Team, Product Designer, Product Management
My Role User Experience Design, UI Design, Interaction Design, User Research, User Testing
Tool Figma, Adobe Illustrator
Timeline Jun 2021 - Oct 2021
Staffing Overview
Staffing app is an AI-driven process&data management platform I’ve designed to help staffers make staffing decisions effectively. It digitalizes the staffing process, and provides an easier way to support staffer manage bankers and projects information.
For staffers, staffing decisions are based on many criteria, but the information is everywhere. The current assigning process is offline, complex and time-consuming. For bankers, there’s no transparency to understand why they are assigned a project.
Our goal is to provide a tool that helps staffers make decisions assigning bankers to deals and projects with the best and equal opportunities, streamline the assigning process, and manage staffing-related data within one place.
Impact
Staffing has launched on Feb 2021, adopted by over 50 staffers across industries and regions in Investment Banking. It accelerated deal team allocation by ~40%, and significantly improved staffing efficiency. We received continuous positive feedback from admin and users.
The challenge
RESEARCH
Understand Current Process
We talked with 20 staffers in order to understand the following questions:
When does staffing happen?
How staffing is notified today?
How staffer making staffing decisions when assigning a banker on a project?
How staffers track off the on boarded projects?
We also interviewed 15 junior and senior bankers about their current process on being staffed on a project, pain points and needs.
The Pain Ponts Staffers and Bankers were facing:
For staffers, there was no tool for them to manage projects - there was no way to easily view all bankers staffed on a project, and there was no transparency between juniors bankers and staffers when a milestone is updated. Also, there was no robust data for staffers to manage in one place - information is everywhere, and they need to manually transfer data to Excel.
For bankers, there’s no transparency to know the staffing details and how staffing decision has been made. They might work on things staffers don’t know about - there’s no effective way to reflect their workload and active projects; and not all senior bankers provide enough detail about the request, so there’s no easy method for junior bankers to understand the staffing details.
SYNTHESIZE
Define areas to explore
Based on the previous research, I synthesized the interview findings and insights, discussed with the product and dev team for feasibility and limitation, and prioritized the key areas that we can focus on.
Summarize the data we gathered before
Our team collaborated together and created Information Architecture to organize all need data and summarize current flow around the three areas (staffing process, bankers information and projects requirements).
Design Proposal
We found the key elements that might address the current problem in each category and co-designed with users for validating the requirements.
Here are the design proposal for features:
One tool to to manage staffing related data
Digitalize staffing process
Help making staffing decision based on criteria
Review bankers capacity and projects
Manage projects
Selected Feature Overview
Staffing Feature
This feature is the platform’s core feature. It aggregates project requirements, uses AI to highlight matching bankers, and provides a structured, step-by-step process to compare and assign talent efficiently.
1. Staffing Table
Displays a comprehensive list of staffing inquiries with filters to sort by status, project type, and other key details.
2. Staffing Request Details
Provides a detailed breakdown of project requirements, including banker levels, skills, and timelines. A primary ‘Select Bankers’ button allows staffers to begin the assignment process.
3. AI-Powered Banker Recommendations
Uses AI to suggest the best-fit bankers based on skills, experience, and project history. Two views:
Recommendation View: AI-backed top banker suggestions with reasoning.
All Bankers View: A complete list of bankers for manual selection.
4. Banker Comparison & Selection
A structured view of all available bankers, showing title, region, department, and workload, with a color-coded workload indicator for quick decision-making.
5. Banker Profile Side Panel
Clicking on a banker’s name in the All Bankers table opens a side panel displaying their past experience, skills, and project preferences, helping staffers make informed decisions.
6. Gantt Chart View for Capacity Planning
Staffers can visualize bankers' workload over time using a Gantt chart, ensuring availability aligns with project timelines. Clicking on a Gantt bar reveals specific projects occupying the banker’s capacity in a side panel.
7. Workload Filtering & Color Coding
The Gantt chart uses color-coded workload indicators for quick insights. Staffers can apply filters to view availability status definitions, ensuring the right banker is chosen for each project.
8. Assignment Confirmation & Notifications
Once bankers are assigned, the system sends an on-screen notification to staffers, confirming the update. Assigned bankers receive an automated email informing them of their new project.
Design System Contribution
I used IBD design system components to build the layout for high-fidelity prototypes over 50 pages and customized components when needed. For example, the Gantt chart component that didn’t exist in any GS design systems, which has been adopted and consistently utilized in multiple GS large projects.
Confidential:
If you are interested in staffing, email me and let's chat about cases and details!