Solution + Impact
In summer 2024, I designed a document-sending functionality for the BMO eTasks Client Portal. This bridged a critical communication gap between commercial bankers and their clients, increasing user adoption by 7% within the first month of implementation.
Who did I work with?
North American Commercial Banking executives and senior stakeholders on the eTasks Portal team as the lead UX/UI Designer.
What was I responsible for?
Designing the UI, and creating the UX and user flow on Figma reusing the eTasks pattern library.
Collaborating with the Product Owner (PO), Business Analyst (BA), and Developers to refine the solution.
Creating two tailored user flows: one for commercial bankers and another for clients.
The Problem
Bankers lacked the capability to send documents for clients to view and download directly within the client portal.
Discussions between the product owner and bankers identified this as a key barrier to portal adoption.
So what can they do?
In the existing workflow, bankers could request documents (e.g., tax returns) from clients through the portal. Clients would upload the requested documents, which were then processed by the bankers.
However, bankers can’t send one-way documents to their clients that require no action from the clients, such as informational updates.
What if a banker wants to send one-way documents to a client?
They usually do so through secure email - a time-wasting effort of going through back-and-forth threads that creates difficulty tracking which documents were viewed and sent.
We needed to create a way for bankers to do the above in the portal in order to increase user satisfaction and usage.
Problem 1 - How will bankers send documents to clients?
In a way, this problem served as the Job to be Done. Our team is driven by leveraging proven solutions. Therefore, I designed a flow similar to the other two user flows on the eTasks portal: checklist requests and eSign.
Current Flows
Checklist Requests
In the checklist requests flow, users can select the entities (companies) from which they need documents.
eSign
In the eSign flow, you’re able to upload the documents to be signed and to whom they’ll be sent.
I reused the functionality of selecting an entity, document upload, and recipient selection that we were using in the above flows and worked them into our solution.
Key Features
Initiating the flow
Bankers initiate the process by clicking the ‘Send Documents’ button located on the Client Profile or Client Documents page.
Entity Selection
Bankers select the target entity (e.g., a company) to which the documents will be sent.
Document Upload
As they scroll down, bankers can upload files and add optional descriptions.
Recipient Selection
Bankers assign recipients based on associated contacts within the selected entity. It is useful if they don’t need certain people to view the document.
Document Management
Submitted documents are accessible on the client documents page for tracking, with options to save drafts and revisit them later.
Results from the above
Ultimately, the banker's view was very simple and easy to put together, taking less than a week to design and be approved by the business.
Problem 2 - How will clients view, receive, and download their documents?
While the banker view was seamless to create, I couldn’t say the same about the client view. There were two designs that were heavily contested between team members, and it wasn’t something that was going to be easy to decide and able to solve overnight.
But first, let me explain the state of the client view we were working with.
The ‘Before’ State
There were two tabs on the client view that were mainly used at the start of this project, named My Tasks and Completed Tasks respectively.
My Tasks
My Tasks is the hub of the client view, the landing page they first see upon signing in. The key actions they can do here are view their notifications, and what they need to complete, such as upload or sign documents.
Completed Tasks
Completed Tasks is a table/reference page where users can see and keep track of their past uploads and history. Usually when a document has been uploaded or signed on the My Tasks page, that event will then move to this page.
The Roadblock - Design 1
The initial design I created was a new page titled “Documents from BMO.”
All documents would be sent here for the client to view, with the ability to exchange messages and download documents.
Myself, along with our business analyst and lead dev were big advocates of this design.
Why this view?
The ability to scale is larger and easier for the future, we can add features such as deleting, archiving, document forwarding, and chatting. This could eventually operate like an extension of Outlook.
Subjectively from a user’s mental model, viewing and downloading a document doesn’t feel like an exhaustive task, whereas uploading and signing documents are.
Congestion on the My Tasks page. A dedicated page just for viewing and uploading documents feels less congested and easier to understand, especially as more documents are sent as time goes on.
When a document is viewed and downloaded, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s been ‘completed,’ which makes it different from the My Tasks/Completed Tasks flow.
Hypothetically, a document can be viewed and downloaded multiple times.
Ultimately, my idea was rejected in favor of reusing the existing My Tasks and Completed Tasks architecture, as preferred by the product owner and VP.
After numerous conversations and ordeals over Teams calls and refinement sessions, we compromised and settled on a new tab to be displayed on the My Tasks page titled “Documents from BMO,” where clients view and download documents sent from bankers.
My design process almost always involves designing more than one solution to a problem, so it was a good reminder for me to not be attached to any one idea.
Key Features - Final Design
Client Notification
The client is notified on the home page upon logging in. They can click on the “New Documents from BMO” item in the Notifications widget and are redirected to the document.
View and Download Documents
From there, they can view and download the documents that were sent to them. They can see which company is related to this document, the date it was sent, and view any accompanying description.
Separate tabs for uploads and downloads
In the “Upload to BMO” tab, clients can see the document requested from their banker and upload the respective document by selecting the “Upload” button.
How did we do?
Upon its release in January 2025, the new functionality led to a 7% increase in user adoption and achieved a SEQ score of 5.7 out of 7, indicating high user satisfaction.
What are the next steps?
Actively monitoring user feedback through surveys and heat maps.
Holding monthly advisory council meetings where bankers are free to express concerns and ask questions.
Explore opportunities for scalability, such as integrating advanced document management features like archiving or forwarding.
What did I learn?
This project reinforced an essential lesson: success in UX design is about balancing user needs with business outcomes.
While the ideal design might not always align with stakeholder preferences, finding a practical, collaborative solution is key to driving impact. Your ability to accept this as a designer determines your success in the industry.
2024 was known as the year of business outcomes meeting product and UX design head-on. If you aren’t able to articulate design decisions in a way that positively meets business goals, it won’t be long until you are the one biting the dust in layoffs.
Special thanks to Anfisa and Melody Koh for the inspiration of this case study and for influencing my writing style.