ADVISORLAB
AdvisorLab is a PCS-owned software at aimed at The legacy dashboard, lifted directly from the old system, was outdated and cluttered, slowing financial advisors down and making it difficult to access essential tools, client insights, and track progress.
UX SPOTLIGHT
The legacy dashboard, lifted directly from the old system, was outdated and cluttered, slowing financial advisors down and making it difficult to access essential tools, client insights, and track progress.
THE CHALLENGE
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN DATA AND ACTION FOR FINANACIAL ADVISORS
The previous dashboard offered information, but not insight. Advisors were spending more time searching for data than acting on it—navigating multiple tabs, redundant widgets, and scattered workflows to complete everyday tasks.
For PCS, this meant that the product that they had intended to ease the cognitive and work load of the advisors was in fact doing the opposite.
This case study documents the efforts to truly understand the needs of advisors and design a platform that truly functions as an extension of the advisors themselves.
MY ROLE
To uncover pain points, I analyzed existing workflows and synthesized feedback from customer service records and advisor insights. The original dashboard provided too much information in an unstructured manner, while burying critical actions behind unintuitive workflows.
MY ROLE
To uncover pain points, I analyzed existing workflows and synthesized feedback from customer service records and advisor insights.
MY ROLE
To uncover pain points, I analyzed existing workflows and synthesized feedback from customer service records and advisor insights.
MY ROLE
To uncover pain points, I analyzed existing workflows and synthesized feedback from customer service records and advisor insights.
35%
INCREASE IN WEBSITE TRAFFIC
25%
BOOST IN SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
15%
UPLIFT IN PRODUCT SALES
THE NUMBERS
What this helped achieve
For PCS, this meant that the product that they had intended to ease the cognitive and work load of the advisors was in fact doing the opposite.
THE USERS
Who I designed for
I use the dashboard to support primary advisors set up documents or help complete pending paperwork or report generation. I usually impersonate an account and do not have my own set up.
Support Staff/ Coordinators
Tertiary
I use the dashboard to oversee advisor performance, pipeline health, and plan activity. I need visibility into trends, bottlenecks, and opportunities for coaching or business growth.
Advisory Firm Managers
Secondary
I rely on the dashboard daily to track leads, and monitor plans. I need quick insights, clear navigation, and efficient workflows to save time and improve client interactions.
Financial Advisors
Primary
design
ROADMAP
Strategy
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This phase focused on establishing a clear understanding of the existing system and its challenges. A comprehensive review of advisor workflows, usage analytics, and feedback highlighted inefficiencies in navigation, visual hierarchy, and task management.
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Insights from this analysis informed a set of design priorities: optimizing layout structure, reducing redundancy, and improving visibility of key account information. Benchmarking against comparable industry tools further guided the strategic framework for redesign.
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Blending user research insights with business priorities to deliver a dashboard that feels both intuitive and visibly useful
Execution
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Informed by the strategy phase, the design direction emphasized clarity, modularity, and data accessibility. Information architecture was restructured to reflect logical user flows, while visual and interaction design principles were refined to promote focus and consistency.
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Prototypes were developed and iterated through multiple validation cycles with advisors and internal stakeholders, ensuring that each enhancement addressed verified user needs and business goals.
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An execution map for a staggered release of important features was developed, discussed and approved before the delivery stage to ensure each release
Delivery
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The final phase involved the systematic rollout of the redesigned interface and supporting components within the broader design system.
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A contextual onboarding framework was introduced to familiarize users with the new environment and minimize disruption during transition.
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Clear documentation, design specifications, and usability validations ensured a smooth transition from design to build, minimizing gaps between intent and implementation while setting the stage for a measurable impact.
BREAKING DOWN THE DESIGN PROCESS
Through a combination of interviews, contextual inquiry, and feedback analysis, I uncovered core usability issue.
USER
RESEARCH
STRATEGY
SECONDARY
RESEARCH
STRATEGY
DEFINING DESIGN GOALS
STRATEGY
FEATURE
AUDIT & SORTING
EXECUTION
INFORMATION HIERARCHY
EXECUTION
STRUCTURAL GROUPING
EXECUTION
USER RESEARCH
Through a combination of interviews, contextual inquiry, and feedback analysis, I uncovered core usability issue.
"The current system did not provide adequate information or support for an advisor as they progressed through their daily task flow."
REPORTING
CHALLENGES
The report generation process demanded excessive clicks and time, making it difficult for advisors to act quickly in dynamic situations.
OVERWHELMING
DESIGN
An overload of widgets and redundant features that coukd not be personalized made key tasks longer to complete.
NO QUICK
ACCESS
Advisors working with high net-worth clients needed quick access to portfolio details without extensive searching
NO DATA
VISUALIZATION
Simplified navigation structures were common in top tools, with clear hierarchies and fewer layers and clicks to access key information and tasks.
TAKING NOTES FROM THE BIG NAMES
Analyzing platforms such as Vanguard, Morningstar Advisor Workstation, and eMoney Advisor through a heuristic evaluation to understand their strengths and limitations.
This process helped identify what we were doing right and what features we could benefit from enhancing. Incorporating unique product offerings would set it apart from its competitors.
Simplified navigation structures were common in top tools, with clear hierarchies and fewer layers to access key information.
Clear, color-coded data visualizations improved comprehension, helping users quickly identify critical metrics and insights.
Dynamic, customizable widgets allowed for tailored user experiences, enabling advisors to prioritize relevant data such as market trends or portfolio performance.
Streamlined reporting tools with one-click export features, cut down task completion time in half saving users significant time
DEFINING DESIGN GOALS
The primary goal of the redesign was to keep advisors IN THE KNOW of their business, but in a way that empowers them and does not overwhelm. This broad goal was broken down into further components, each of which tackles a key area in an advisor's daily task flow.
The new dashboard aims to be customizable so that it can be tailored to the advisor's specific needs and processes while keeping the navigation intuitive and eliminating redundant clicks.
KNOW WHERE THINGS ARE
The new dashboard should provide actionable insights, such as client recommendations, potential cross-selling opportunities, or overdue reports/ documents that advisors can take immediate action on.
KNOW WHAT IS CRITICAL NOW
KNOW WHAT IS COMING UP
The new dashboard should aim to reduce cognitive load by providing alerts for upcoming meetings or compliance deadlines, helping advisors be well prepared for following through on impending deadlines.
KNOW HOW YOU ARE DOING
The new dashboard aims to replace overwhelming charts and data tables with robust data visualization that gives advisors an accurate overview of how different components of their business are doing without digging into reports.
EXISTING DASHBOARD
Not all users may be familiar with industry-specific or company specific terms. CTAs should be named intuitively.
The layout feels crowded in places and sparse in others. (e.g., under each lead category and in the pipeline table). Without clearer spacing or visual grouping, scanning becomes difficult.
Analyzing platforms such as Vanguard, Morningstar Advisor Workstation, and eMoney Advisor through a heuristic evaluation to understand their strengths and limitations.
Lead categories and pipeline items don’t appear to offer sorting by value, urgency, or last activity. Advisors likely want to prioritize high-value or time-sensitive opportunities.
Menu items under these icons hide several frequently used user options and information.
Static and outdated branding does not reflect the current program selected, with no accessible CTA to change it.
The number of results generated is intimidating and lacks immediate relevance. Most users can’t or won’t process 38k entries without filters.
There’s a tiny map pin icon, but no label or interaction feedback is provided
Not all segments are equally important for every user. For instance, if "Employer Sponsored" is the primary segment, it should visually lead.
Important CTAs here hide vital information useful to the advisor for business opportunities, and are visually rather forgettable/ easily missable.
Lead search to find new clients
FOUNDATIONAL FEATURE AUDIT & SORTING
An audit of the core and foundational features that currently exist but are not utilized to their full potential due to core usability issues or lack of visibility.
Lead search to find new clients
Lead search to find new clients
Lead search to find new clients
Lead search to find new clients
Lead search to find new clients
Lead Insights categorized based on client type but these are not tailored to who an advisor can sell to
List of recently searched leads/ clients but is easily missed and thus rendered useless
Lead Search
to find new clients and look up existing ones
Prospect pipeline to track the status of every lead in
progression
Map view of
nearby clients and leads but shows an overwhelming number of results that a user cannot practically parse through
Geo-locate search for leads supported with zip code and proximity filters to find closest leads
Freeform search for a plan and/or participant but is not supported by accurate predictive search results
Market Insights to compare existing plans with current trends but is currently hidden under several clicks
Customizable filters for lead insights
Lead search to find new clients
Lead search to find new clients
OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIGH IMPACT
A documentation of some of the high-impact features that were found to be crucial to an advisor but fundamentally missing in the core experience of the product. These were distilled from the findings of user and product research conducted previously.
Highlighting market insights on the dashboard to uncover trends and actionable insights
Clear and accessible CTA for advisors to seamlessly switch between programs
List of all available plan types an advisor is qualified to sell under their account
Single-click CTA to initiate account opening for new clients
Details of each plan type and its specific features to determine the best fit for each type of client
List of recently searched leads to go back to while finding new clients
Prospect pipeline to track the status of every lead in
progression
Appropriate branding on the dashboard to indicate what program the advisor is currently selling plans on
Real-time stats about their book of business performance
BALANCING PRIORITY AND VISIBILITY
I organized all features into a UX prioritization matrix based on two key criteria:
INFORMATION HIERARCHY — how critical a feature is to the core user experience (i.e., does it help users orient, decide, or act?)
TASK PRIORITY — how urgently users need or expect the feature in order to complete their goals efficiently.
TASK
PRIORITY
ACCOUNT
OVERVIEW
& PROGRESS
FIND NEW LEADS
CONVERT EXISTING LEADS TO CLIENTS
FOLLOW UP ON EXISTING CLIENTS
ANCILLARY
SUPPORT
SERVICES
INFORMATION
HIERARCHY
ACCOUNT OVERVIEW & PROGRESS
FOLLOW UP ON EXISTING CLIENTS
ACCOUNT OVERVIEW & PROGRESS
CONVERT EXISTING LEADS TO CLIENTS
FIND NEW LEADS
STRUCTURAL GROUPING
The final step leading into wireframing prototypes was to group all documented features into their respective task groups and lay them out in the order of task priority. This process organically evolves the design into a layout of task-specific cards that provide intuitive and meaningful entry points into various workflows for the advisors.
ENHANCED DASHBOARD
Use this space to promote the business, its products or its services. Help people become familiar with the business and its offerings, creating a sense of connection and trust.
Visual map-based lead search by location, with filters. Enhances discovery and geographic targeting—a major friction point in the previous experience.
The search card also offers a Recent Searches function to easily track back previously searched clients.
Dedicated market opportunities card offers filterable insights into employer types, participation rates, and other lead quality metrics. These can also be filtered geographically.
Plan vs participant view for the prospect pipeline offers more in-depth and actionable tracking of the status of each plan in progress
Quick-access modules for saving high-priority leads and returning to them without extra search effort.
Categorized plan listings with preview metrics and action buttons, helping users quickly identify relevant offerings.
Replaces the overwhelming or unclear layout of the old dashboard with a structured, user-friendly entry point and is easily customizable based on what plans the advisor is certified to sell.
Shows business health with comparative reporting to either reflect growth or areas that need attention.
Immediate visibility into business insights without drilling down into data.
BEYOND THE WIREFRAMES
Documenting the design process beyond the final prototypes to highlight certain key challenges and relevant takeaways for future design enhancements.
Implementing AI-driven insights to provide proactive recommendations and predictive analytics.
Expanding customization options with modular widgets that allow advisors to tailor their workspace without clutter.
Exploring voice and chatbot integrations to facilitate hands-free dashboard interactions for busy advisors.
Enhancing mobile experience with optimized touch interactions and compact data visualization techniques.
FUTURE
CONSIDERATIONS
The importance of iterative design, especially early usability testing and feedback loops, significantly improved the final product.
Customization is valuable, but too many options can overwhelm users. A balance between flexibility and simplicity is key.
Visual hierarchy and information prioritization play a crucial role in enhancing decision-making efficiency for financial advisors.
KEY
LEARNINGS
Addressing resistance to change from long-time users accustomed to the old interface
Balancing the complexity of financial data with a user-friendly design while ensuring advisors could still access deep insights efficiently.
Understanding the nuances of various processes that an advisor goes through and digitizing those flows.
NOTABLE
CHALLENGES
Built for the Web
Redesigned and implemented modular user dashboards with real-time data visualization, goal tracking, and adaptive components tailored to
Reimagining task & business efficiency through product design for financial advisors
LOCALIV
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