The goal:

“To transform how we manage a deceased client’s assets, to enable executors/beneficiaries/successors to resolve all financial matters related to the client’s assets in a way that is easy, empathetic, and transparent.”

The welcome screen of the Estates Case Manager software, used in CIBC branches and at the National Estate Centre.
  • One of the first Agile projects at CIBC.
  • The team consisted of Product Owner, Scrum master, Business Analyst, UX Designer, Developers, Process engineer and Q.A. Lead.
  • Built upon the PEGA platform
  • Designed using CIBC’s own Design System and branding guidelines so that users would find the interface familiar and intuitive because of their experience with our other applications
Screens from the Estates Case Manager software used in branches at CIBC.

The work (in steps taken / process): 

  • Tackling the steep learning curve of the Estates subject, business and processes and reviewing prior work by the team
  • Create style guides to assist multiple developers in keeping the UI consistent
  • Address issues with the current software build being used in our pilot with 45 branches: alignment issues, mismatched icons, typography issues and poor contrast when states or highlights were applied over text, affecting legibility and accessibility needs
  • Interviews with branch managers and staff who work with Estate clients
  • Creating Agile stories as a team to define features and future functionality of the software
  • Creating, reviewing, validating and overseeing the development of designs
  • Presenting design demos with stakeholders: Executives, UX Leadership, Business Strategy, Process Engineering and Service Design
  • Incorporate feedback and review with the team
  • Share designs with the staff at branches and the estates call-centre for insight and feedback
  • Iterate by incorporating user feedback and review again
Addressing UI issues, I created documentation that annotated the needed revisions and gave context for the change.
This would be used by developers to update the designs and Q.A. to create their test cases and test the software prior to releasing it to our branch pilot users.

The challenges:

  • Agile was new to CIBC and the Estates team, with the Product Owner and Scrum-master being new to that role, with only 6 weeks of experience when I joined
  • An early MVP of the Estates software was being used by 45 branches in our pilot program and an additional 200 branches were to be added in just 7 weeks
  • Future plans and features were undetermined
  • No research had been done

Below is a sample of screens from my presentation to the team, executives and stakeholders on the Estates project. The presentation shared the findings of my branch visits and interviews, raised a few concerns and shared user feedback. 

In last two slides I raise a risk to our project’s success through a user’s frustration with their current equipment. It would be necessary to update the branch’s scanner/copier hardware, used to scan and upload documents to the Estates Center, if our project was to succeed.

View the entire
Branch Pilot UX Interviews PDF

The result:

  • On Day 1 of National roll-out, our adoption rate was 95% 
  • Calls from branches to the estates call centre were reduced by 40%
  • Service Levels increased to over 90%. 
  • The Estates Team became advocates for Agile and began coaching and assisting other teams 
  • I received requests to create software prototypes for other lines of business, so that they can present them while pitching their projects
  • After only three months use, further budget was given to the project to increase functionality. This expansion was dubbed ‘Estates Express’ and gave branches the power to settle and close simple cases. In the past it was necessary for the call-centre to complete certain tasks and they alone were responsible for closing all estate cases.

Branch Employee feedback:

“I love that we can access this system quickly while the client is here in the office, and tell them exactly what information we will need, right away.”

“…really great experience with the Estates team. I submitted the case and received documents the next day.”

“Possibly the best thing to happen in the branch since ATM’s!!”

Coworker feedback:

Collaborator feedback from a colleague on the Process Engineering team, through an internal CIBC portal for employee recognition, where managers receive a copy of the comments.