Streamlining document management in the Acre Client Portal

At Acre, we had recently overhauled the client portal and found it necessary to scrutinize and enhance our document management system. The system was designed to accommodate users' needs to upload documents independently or on behalf of another applicant. Along with a pre-determined list of necessary documents, we wanted to ensure the flexibility of uploading additional documents.

The system needed to not only facilitate the uploading of documents but also provide a seamless process to view and manage these uploads. This capability wasn't exclusive to users; the brokers interacting with the system also needed to manage and view documents effectively.

From the outset, it was clear that designing a document management system to meet these diverse requirements would be a complex task. To ensure that we fully addressed each need, I started by enumerating all the tasks that the proposed solution had to accomplish. As suggested by the image above, this list was extensive.

We had already established a design pattern for forms, derived from the Fact Find flow in our Client Portal. However, the existing system lacked a component for file uploads. Users were likely to upload files with potentially complex names, and this, coupled with the provision for bulk uploads, might create confusion for mortgage brokers trying to navigate through their clients' documents. Consequently, I took up the challenge of designing a new component that would enable bulk uploads and facilitate easy file renaming.

With the document upload flow in place, the next task was to design a user-friendly document dashboard. The dashboard was structured to segregate documents based on the uploader and incorporated a filter function. This design choice allowed users to effortlessly identify any actions they needed to take.

The entire flow, including all screens and components, was designed to be fully responsive, ensuring a smooth and efficient document management process in our client portal.