In 2022, EY partnered with Code and Theory to ideate a guided experience for an internal workflow, where AI recommendations and automation support auditors in determining relevant events and conditions.
Creating an efficient workspace
Auditors use various tools and information sources to ensure accurate evaluations of an entity’s financial health and adherence to legal and industry standards. In 2022, I was part of a team at Code and Theory that was tasked with designing an experience for auditors to complete comprehensive workflows within one interface.
The outcome was a split-screen product that combined existing tools with AI-generated support, reducing the time spent searching for materials and references, thereby enabling auditors to focus more on decision-making during assessments.
Details
2022 - 2023
Code and Theory
Role
Concepting
User Experience
Interaction Design
Prototyping
The Challenge
Auditors at Ernst & Young faced the challenge of using multiple tools and information sources to accurately evaluate an entity's financial health and compliance with legal and industry standards. The identification of relevant events and conditions typically occurred outside the primary tool, requiring auditors to manually upload findings. This process was heavily reliant on auditor discretion, with limited opportunities to support judgments with practice-level insights. Additionally, data and evidence were not seamlessly connected with the identified events and conditions within the tool, creating inefficiencies and potential for oversight.
UX Phase
During the UX Phase, we developed a new interaction paradigm to streamline the audit workflow, minimizing the need for multiple tools and applications. Through stakeholder interviews and discussions with internal product owners, we identified key pain points and generated ideas for design solutions and features. Our focus areas included:
Enhanced Utilization of Screen Space
Demonstrating clear use and reference of utilized documentation throughout all phases of an audit
Evolving Interaction Patterns
Our solution resulted in a guided experience leveraging AI recommendations, driving greater consistency in identifying events and conditions. We integrated functionality from several in-house applications into one consolidated experience. As a result, we developed a split-screen product that integrates existing tools with AI-generated assistance. This innovation reduces the time auditors spend searching for materials, allowing them to concentrate more on decision-making during assessments.
Visual Design
We leveraged EY’s existing design system and brand guidelines to create our design comps and prototypes. The UX and Visual Design teams collaborated closely to develop a system that used EY’s branded yellow to represent guidance and AI recommendations. This partnership ensured that our designs both pushed the boundaries of EY’s current design system and made the best use of it to create an intuitive and seamless user experience.
Drag and drop interaction
The main action in the workflow involved bringing relevant content into the work area after confirming its relevance.
We gave users the ability to perform this action through a drag and drop pattern, allowing them to browse references on the right side of the screen and move them into their documentation cards on the left side. The drag-and-drop motion was straightforward but demanded enough attention to emphasize the significance of marking something as evidence for the audit.
Split screen paradigm
After conducting stakeholder interviews and consulting subject matter experts, we realized the complexity of the audit process. The major pain point identified was the constant need to exit the working product to access references and source materials.
From an experience perspective, we simplified the audit process, recognizing that auditors must provide answers and evidence in their evaluations. This perspective inspired our split-screen interface concept with "work on the left" and "references on the right" as the foundational structure.
Support Panel
The support panel incorporated knowledge, insights, and AI recommendations into the digital audit workflow. This was executed by integrating key information from existing products in the auditor's platform ecosystem and AI suggestions derived from previous client audits.
Outcome
At the conclusion of our client engagement phase, we provided our design work and functional annotations to the client's internal team. They conducted their own design sprints and implemented our foundation. We have since observed how our conceptual work is being applied and utilized in daily operations.
More Work
