FRAUD ANALYTICS DASHBOARD
Redesigning fraud workflows for faster decisions
A manager dashboard consolidating fragmented fraud data into one strategic command center,helping teams prioritize critical cases and stay motivated.
Timeline
4 months
Aug - Nov 2024
Platform
Web
SaaS
B2B
Team
Tracy Dillon -
Investigator Interface,
Nicole Sharratt -Stakeholder
Role
Lead Product Designer -
Manager Interface
Tools
Axure RP
Figma
FigJam
Google Suite
SOLUTION AT A GLANCE
A three-layer dashboard consolidating fragmented data into one command center
Layer 1: Strategic Overview
View department performance, queue health, and team metrics at a glance. One screen replaces 3 separate reports.
Layer 2: Tactical Drill-Down
Click any queue to see case-level details, investigator assignments, and bottleneck indicators.
Layer 3: Direct Action
Take immediate action: reassign investigators, escalate cases, create team challenges, or report AI issues.
Research Insights
Three gaps blocking manager effectiveness
Working with Nicole Sharratt (former VP Design, FICO), I analyzed the Phoenix platform and interviewed stakeholders.
Gap #1
Accessibility Crisis
3-7 clicks to answer basic questions. No visual hierarchy. Manual screen refreshing every 5-10 minutes.
Gap #2
Operational Blind Spots
Can't see who's avoiding tough cases. No AI model degradation alerts. Bottlenecks visible only after delays.
Gap #3
Motivation Vacuum
No continuous feedback. Top performers are unrecognized. 3-6 months for new hires to reach productivity.
Key Insight
Managers needed dual-layer access: high-level analytics for strategy + drill-down for immediate action.
THE PROBLEM / UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Managers drowning in disconnected systems
ACME's 25-year-old Phoenix platform forced fraud managers to toggle between 4-5 different tools just to answer basic questions.
Pain Point #1
Fragmented Data
30 minutes every morning, checking 3 separate queue reports. No single source of truth.
Pain Point #2
Blind Spots
Couldn't identify bottlenecks until queues were critically backlogged. No early warning system.
Pain Point #3
Burnout
Investigators received zero feedback between annual reviews: High turnover, inconsistent fraud detection.
"I'm constantly reacting to fires instead of preventing them."
- Janine, Fraud Manager
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we help managers make faster, more confident decisions?
DESIGN STRATEGY
Building systems for decisions, not data
I structured the dashboard using the Object-Action conceptual model, organizing everything around the core objects that managers interact with.
Each object has transactional attributes (for case-specific details and immediate action) and analytical attributes (for aggregated data and trend analysis)
This made sure every screen follows the same interaction pattern. Managers always know where to find information and how to act.
Prioritization: Impact vs. Feasibility
With 4 months, I mapped features on a priority matrix.This prioritization kept the team focused on features that delivered maximum value
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Organizing for speed
The IA is structured so managers can easily find, understand, and act on information.
Task-based, not data-based navigation
Phoenix required managers to switch between different systems. I organized the information by tasks to help them find and act on it easily.
Consistent vocabulary
Standard terms are used consistently across all screens to reduce cognitive load.
Smart defaults
Cases auto-sort by time to surface urgent items. Filters persist, and search works globally, designed for managers to analyze patterns and eliminate repetitive setup.
ITERATIONS
Key decisions and pivots that shaped the final solution
Rethinking Efficiency Metrics
For the Queue Performance dashboard, I initially showed efficiency as normalized percentages (87%, 92%) to ensure fairness across different workload sizes.
During stakeholder review, this proved confusing. Percentages didn't communicate whether a queue was actually slow or handling more complex cases.
Before
After
I changed to absolute values: "2.5 cases/hour" with trend indicators. This made bottlenecks immediately obvious and gave managers actionable numbers.
The Gamification Pivot
The most significant design change came from a fundamental misunderstanding of who should be motivated.
My initial approach gamified managers themselves, they would compete for "Best Manager" awards, earn personal badges, and receive individual bonuses based on how their role ranked against others. The idea was that manager competition would drive better overall results.
Stakeholder feedback from Nicole Sharratt pointed out the critical flaw: when managers compete for personal recognition, they focus on individual success rather than company growth
"You're gamifying the wrong thing. Managers should facilitate team success, not compete."
- Nicole Sharratt , Stakeholder
Before
After
I redesigned the system entirely. Managers became "game designers" who create challenges for investigators. Their success is measured by team engagement and productivity, not personal rankings.
This shift aligned incentives correctly: managers succeed when their teams succeed.
Optimized the Information Architecture (IA) to ensure maximum usability
The initial navigation was cluttered, making it difficult to distinguish important information. Therefore, I organized features by task priority, placing case management and investigator monitoring at the forefront.
Before
After
Key Solutions
Overview Dashboard: Strategic command center for department health
The Overview consolidates what previously required 30 minutes checking multiple reports. Information is organized by task priority: recognition and alerts at the top, performance trends and queue in the middle, model status at the bottom.
Performance & ROI
Quarterly leaderboard ranks top teams. ROI tracking shows the value of gamification initiatives.
Queue Health Cards
Efficiency rates and backlog status for all 3 queues. Early warning system for bottlenecks.
Team Performance Charts
Productivity, accuracy, teamwork trends over time. Compare teams at a glance.
Model Performance
AI confidence scores and false positive rates. Quickly identify if models need retraining or are generating too many incorrect flags.
Queue Performance: Identifying bottlenecks before they become critical
Managers couldn't see which queues were backing up until it was too late. By then, cases had been waiting for days and customers were frustrated.
I designed a side-by-side queue view showing all three queues (High Risk, Top Priority, Quality Control) with real-time health indicators.
Each queue card displays the metrics managers check first: active cases, longest waiting case, resolution rate, backlog size, and investigators currently working.
Gamification Tools: Manager-controlled challenge creation
Managers design investigator challenges through a 6-step flow.
The ROI dashboard tracks effectiveness across productivity, accuracy, and teamwork metrics
STAKEHOLDER VALIDATIONS
What Stakeholders Felt About My Design
"The ability for managers to design investigator challenges and preview the performance is clever."
- Nicole Sharratt, Head of Product Design, Leidos | Former VP of Design, FICO
"Strong systems thinking. You balanced strategic oversight with tactical control, not easy in one dashboard."
- Daniel Rosenberg, Former SVP Global UX, SAP
FINAL THOUGHTS
What Changed How I Think About Design
This project taught me enterprise UX isn't about making things pretty; it's about making decisions faster.
The best design is invisible. It surfaces exactly what managers need, when they need it, without ceremony.
Success isn't adding features. It's knowing what to remove. Cutting manager gamification felt like abandoning a clever idea, but it was the right call.
Design for outcomes, not outputs. I could've delivered 100 polished screens. But the real win was creating a system that helps managers prioritize more effectively, support teams more effectively, and catch fraud faster.
That's design that matters.
