Governance, Risk & Compliance Dashboard
9 months
Principal Product Designer
3 Designers, 8 Engineers, 2 PMs
Project Overview
An executive dashboard designed to simplify complex risk management, audit tracking, and compliance reporting for Fortune 500 enterprises.
Business Background
Compliance teams were managing risks across global markets using fragmented spreadsheets and legacy software, leading to high error rates and severe regulatory penalties.
The Problem
Risk officers lacked a unified, real-time view of their compliance posture. Critical alerts were buried in raw data, and audit reporting took weeks to compile manually.
Objectives
- Provide a real-time global risk posture view
- Automate audit trail generation
- Reduce time spent on data reconciliation
Success Metrics
- Decrease audit preparation time by 50%
- Increase daily active usage by risk officers
- Zero regulatory reporting delays
The Challenge
Designing for extremely high data density while maintaining clarity. The dashboard needed to serve both C-level executives (needing high-level summaries) and compliance analysts (needing deep-dive data tables).
Discovery & Research
Kickoff & Audit
Conducted a 3-day workshop with Chief Risk Officers (CROs) and compliance analysts to map the end-to-end audit lifecycle.
Audited the client’s existing 45-page Excel risk matrix.
Key Pain Points
- Finding the source of a compliance failure required navigating through 8 different screens.
- Data visualizations were misleading or lacked contextual tooltips.
- No clear hierarchy between critical regulatory risks and minor internal policy breaches.
Opportunities
- Implement a unified "Risk Score" metric.
- Use progressive disclosure to handle data density.
- Create role-based dashboard views.
Research Methodology
Contextual inquiry (observing analysts at work), in-depth interviews with 8 risk officers, and concept testing.
Key Insights:
Personas & Journey
David, Chief Risk Officer
Executive
Goals
- • Monitor global risk posture
- • Report to the board
Behaviors
Logs in daily for 10 minutes. Relies on visual indicators.
Elena, Compliance Analyst
Investigator
Goals
- • Resolve compliance flags
- • Prepare audit evidence
Behaviors
Spends 4-6 hours daily in the app. Heavy keyboard user.
User Journey Shift
Before
Alert received via email -> Log into legacy system -> Export CSV -> Analyze in Excel -> Draft report in Word.
After
In-app smart alert -> Click to investigate context -> Add notes in-system -> Auto-generate compliance report.
Design Execution
UI Exploration
Typography: Roboto for dense data tables, ensuring high readability of numerical data (tabular lining).
Colors: Muted dark mode aesthetic to reduce eye strain for analysts, using vibrant, accessible colors (Red/Orange/Green) only for status indicators.
Design System Components
Final Design Execution
A high-fidelity look at the final polished interfaces, components, and key interactions that were successfully handed off to engineering.
Final Outcome & Impact
The dashboard transformed a chaotic, spreadsheet-driven process into a sleek, centralized command center for enterprise risk.
Key Learnings
- •Balancing the need for detailed data with executive summary views.
- •Navigating strict enterprise data security constraints during user research.
Future Improvements
- •Incorporate predictive AI to forecast risk trends based on historical data.
- •Develop a companion mobile app for on-the-go executives.