Earlier case study

Designing across a 20,000-user wealth management platform

Overview

Connect is an enterprise desktop platform used by more than 20,000 people across front-office advisory, client service, operations, and other wealth management functions.

As a Senior UX Designer on the Connect Core Team, I worked across the design system, UX governance, and consulting engagements that shaped how applications entered the ecosystem. This case study outlines that platform role, then examines Financial Entry, a ten-month project I led as the sole designer.

J.P. Morgan Chase Connect wealth management ecosystem

Duration

2 years

My role

Senior UX Designer

Scope

Design system · UX governance · Product design

Platform reach

20,000+ users

Front-office advisors, client service, operations, and other wealth management teams.

Core responsibilities

System + governance + consulting

Shared experience standards and direct product engagements across the ecosystem.

Featured deep dive

Financial Entry

A scalable workflow for capturing held-away assets across 22 asset types.

01

Platform Role
& Scope

Supporting the shared foundation behind every Connect application

The Connect Core Team managed the parts of the ecosystem that every user encountered. My work combined system stewardship with direct product design across multiple teams.

  • Authored component documentation and best practices for the Connect Design System
  • Identified and submitted enhancement requests for shared components
  • Evaluated applications against design and ADA standards through UX governance
  • Led full and limited UX consulting engagements for teams without dedicated design support
02

Platform
Contributions

Connect Design System

Documented components, their variations, and appropriate use. I also identified opportunities to improve shared patterns.

UX Governance

Reviewed new applications and features with teams across the firm to understand business goals and evaluate alignment with design and ADA standards.

UX Consultancy

Led several engagements at once, from complete design processes to focused support for teams without dedicated UX resources.

Connect UX Governance process
03

Selected
Engagements

Extraction & Digitized Document Integration (EDDI)

Designed an interface that helped teams identify and repair extraction errors in digitized documents. The application reduced manual data entry.

Financial Overview + Entry

Designed a net-worth dashboard that included external accounts and a streamlined workflow for adding assets and liabilities.

Life Insurance

Designed a strategy and cross-application experience that moved data between J.P. Morgan and third-party tools within the advisor workflow.

04

Financial Entry
Deep Dive

Financial Entry

Enabling advisors to capture a client’s complete financial picture

Financial Entry established a scalable way to capture held-away assets. It reduced an advisor workflow that took one to two hours to between three and fifteen minutes.

Duration

10 months

My role

Senior UX Designer · Sole project designer

Impact

  • Reduced entry time from 1–2 hours to 3–15 minutes
  • $10B in held-away assets entered
  • 94% of entered assets used in other advisor applications
05

Strategic
Opportunity

Only 5% of clients were aggregating assets online

Advisors often collected statements and tracked held-away assets through spreadsheets, PDFs, and personal workflows. The process required significant administrative effort and created inconsistent records. It also left the firm without a complete view of client wealth.

The opportunity was to make external asset entry sustainable within an advisor’s daily workflow and create a single source of truth for planning, reporting, and other wealth management experiences.

Advisor friction

Manual entry reduced the time advisors could spend on relationships and business growth.

Business risk

Disconnected records increased the chance that financial information would become incomplete or outdated.

Platform gap

Downstream applications lacked consistent access to a client’s complete financial picture.

06

Ownership &
Leadership

Leading a foundational initiative through changing requirements

As the sole project designer, I defined the advisor workflow, conducted research, drove interaction design, facilitated usability testing, and partnered with Product and Engineering through delivery.

  • Created structure around changing priorities and committed deadlines
  • Aligned stakeholders around requirements and design direction
  • Established earlier planning and clearer documentation with Product
  • Worked ahead of Engineering sprints to reduce ambiguity and rework
07

Research &
Product Direction

Understanding how advisors managed held-away assets

Advisor interviews showed that disconnected tools created repetitive work and inconsistent information. Advisors valued a dedicated view that made gaps in a client’s portfolio visible.

How might we help advisors enter external assets quickly enough to make aggregation sustainable within their daily workflow?

Key insights

  • Advisors manually tracked assets across spreadsheets, PDFs, and other disconnected tools
  • Centralized visibility could improve planning, reporting, and client conversations
  • Advisors preferred speed and simplicity over highly configurable entry experiences
  • Bulk uploads and statement ingestion could reduce effort in future releases
08

Designing
for Scale

One reusable framework for 22 asset types

I identified the structures shared across asset categories instead of designing 22 separate workflows. Each asset type combined core account information, asset-specific information, and review or management actions.

We started with the most complex asset type to stress-test the framework before applying it to simpler categories. This reduced design complexity and created a consistent foundation for future expansion.

The asset-specific area could support different content such as tables or forms.
09

Strategic Decisions
& Tradeoffs

Consistency over customization

We prioritized a shared framework over one-off workflows for individual asset types. This reduced cognitive load and simplified implementation.

Foundation before optimization

We focused the release on a reliable asset-entry foundation. Additional integrations and downstream use cases could build on that system later.

10

Cross-functional
Direction

Creating a more predictable path through delivery

The product owner was new to the role, requirements changed frequently, and deadlines had been committed before the team was staffed. Engineering teams risked revisiting work as priorities evolved.

  • Introduced earlier design and product planning
  • Clarified requirements through shared documentation
  • Worked ahead of Engineering sprints
  • Created more structured stakeholder alignment
11

Validation

Testing efficiency before scaling

Moderated usability sessions validated the value of streamlined workflows, consistent layouts, and multiple entry methods. Bulk upload capabilities also reduced perceived effort.

The findings guided refinements to the dashboard and entry screens. They helped decrease cognitive load and time to completion before the framework expanded across asset types.

12

Final Experience
& Outcomes

The final workflow gave advisors a faster, consistent way to capture held-away assets and created a centralized source of truth for downstream planning and reporting.

$10B
held-away assets entered
87.5%
time saved for advisors entering held-away assets
94%
of entered assets used in other advisor applications
13

Retrospective

The project strengthened my ability to lead through ambiguity, align teams, and design systems that extend beyond a single release.

If I approached the work again, I would establish stronger requirement governance earlier and align teams before major design exploration began.

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