FX Cashflow Manager

The FX Cashflow Manager is a new product being introduced to our Risk Manager suite. It is meant to give clients a simple view of cashflow forecasts netted against all existing hedges, including any hedges with their counterparties. This gives options to our clients to help balance their underhedged positions.

Methods & Process

  • Live Usability Testing

  • Survey

To validate our hypothesis, I determined that we needed to conduct usability testing and a survey to yield the best results. Usability testing of our prototype allowed us to collect the appropriate data points for this study. Three users did a live usability testing session. The stakeholders (PMs, Designers, and myself) observed them while engaging with the prototype, then asked questions accordingly.

The survey had questions about their demographics and experience with managing cashflows. We also collected their thoughts about the prototype with some close and open ended questions. Overall, we had 23 users. Three of them were live session and the rest were unmoderated.

My Responsibilities:

  • Spearhead the discovery session with stakeholders

  • Find and recruit users for usability testing and the survey

  • Collecting data and synthesizing the results

  • Presenting results and solutions to stakeholders

Findings

Our theory that this product would be useful for our clients was correct. The feedback we received from users was mainly positive, especially once they figured out how to interact with the elements on each screen and see how helpful the risk management tool can be. Many of our clients use Excel to calculate and make notes of their hedges, then get into contact with their dealers to decide on how to balance their books. This simplifies the process by showing which methods clients can use to hash out the issues with their cashflow. We recognized that many of our clients use Excel to complete a fifth of what the Cashflow Manager does and found an opportunity to make a product that is an all-in-one solution for them.

Main Objectives

In collaboration with product management, we held a product discovery session and built a learning agenda to establish a set of objectives for our investigation into the design. Next, we surveyed existing clients with various personas, ranging from experienced users to new users. We held live testing sessions with a select few clients to get a better grasp of their behavior while interacting with the low-fi build.

  • Understand the most appropriate user journey for our customers to provide cashflow forecasts.

  • Understand where businesses record their cashflow forecasts. Are sales and invoices in the G/L or elsewhere?

  • Learn more about how the CFO/Controller is managing FX risk today for their businesses. What products are they using?

  • Understand what market information might be important to the CFO. When is it important - at the time of buying a hedge or at another stage?

  • Understand the important measures and analysis a CFO/Controller needs to see on our CRMS dashboard for their current “on the books” hedge portfolio