This project was part of Handelsbanken’s migration from a legacy mortgage platform to a new system. As part of this journey we needed to support all types of journey to fully transitioning to new system. One of the key areas I explored was the End of Benefit (EOB) journey, the point at which a customer’s preferential mortgage rate (such as a fixed or tracker period) comes to an end and the loan transitions to a new rate. My role was to analyse the existing process in the legacy system and redesign it to be more intuitive: reducing the number of steps while still capturing all the necessary information.
Handelsbanken, London, UK
UX Designer
Introduction to Project
Our Goal
Discovery to Design
Measuring Success
Lessons learned
Figma
Challenge
Complexity of a Legacy System:
Much of the workflow in legacy system relied on outdated logic, and simplifying these into a more intuitive experience without breaking existing flows required a lot of mapping, collaboration, and creative thinking.Limitations on Using Automated Process:
Due to system constraints, we couldn’t fully migrate or automate the movement of cases from the legacy platform to the new system.Time Pressure and AD Hoc Requests:
There were unexpected shifts in delivery timelines and business priorities, which meant parts of our proposed solution had to be adapted or de-scoped.
Results
25% Reduction in Processing Time:
By simplifying workflows and introducing smarter filtering and search capabilitiesIncreased Stakeholder Confidence:
Through frequent design reviews, storytelling sessions, and showcasing user insights, we gained the trust of product owners and BAs. This led to faster sign-offs and more openness to design-led decisions.Better User Experience with Less Friction:
Even though automation wasn’t possible, we tried hard to created a smoother and more guided journey for users.
Improved Team Collaboration & Visibility:
By running internal workshops and sharing design updates, I helped foster better understanding of UX practices across the product and tech teams.
Introduction to Project
This project was part of Handelsbanken’s migration from a legacy mortgage platform to a new system. One of the key areas I explored was the End of Benefit (EOB) journey, the point at which a customer’s preferential mortgage rate (such as a fixed or tracker period) comes to an end and the loan transitions to a new rate.
The EOB concept was completely new to me, so if you are hearing it for the first time, you’re not alone. :)
To illustrate, imagine a 35-year mortgage: it may start with a 20-year fixed period, followed by an 8-year tracker, and then a 7-year fixed period. EOB events occur at the hand-offs between these benefit terms, making it essential that the system communicates changes clearly, guides users through the transition, and reduces unnecessary complexity or duplication.platform.
What made this project especially complex?
It was system migration challenge. Handelsbanken had many active loans in the legacy system that needed to be transferred into the new one. However, this couldn’t be done automatically, branch staff had to handle it manually. This created an additional layer of design: not only building the EOB journey for the new system, but also creating a specific path for bringing old cases into the new
1- Design EOB journey for New system
2- Design EOB for cases from Legacy system
3- Supporting subsequent journeys
The challenge?
We had to design 2 different journeys and 2 separate designs.
1- One for our new system to enable our branch users to create EOB for cases already in New system
2- One for our legacy system to enable them to Create EOB case in our new system with using the data already available in our legacy system
You may say, transferring data can be easy and quick, but not.
It wasn't possible to do to bring old cases to new system automatically, and if wanted to let them enter the case from scratch this is the flow they needed to go through, so many steps to go and information to fill in.
Normal user journey of creating a case from scratch
Discovery to Design
I needed to do some discovery
Focus group sessions
Hear each member's point of view, while they might be contradictory sometimesInterviewing with Subject Matter Expert
To check the policies, we need to be careful aboutInterview with Branch users
Ask more in-depth questions , looking at the legacy system and how they are working now
Going through different versions and options
As well as making sure that whatever I’m going for is feasible and supported by our design system
"After all these sessions we had a really good progress, understanding what I need to work on and how to design"
Collaboration and involving other team members
Started involving influential members of Devs, QA.
Asking for other team members' ideas and opinions.
Having regular calls with the PO to keep him updated ,
Working closely with the BA during the project
‼️What didn’t we expect? Wait, a curveball was coming
What happened
We had our refinement sessions when they cut the deadline short, which as a result some part of the process was now fancy to have
What I learned
That’s when I got this fact that having approve of everyone is not end of the game
What I did
Organising calls with DH and other team members to see which part can be achieved within the same timeline
Plus sharing rationale of the decision we made
After going through different versions, finally we were able to capture the right amount of information within less number of steps. In the picture below the green parts, show the steps they need to complete.
Use Journey for cases coming from Legacy system to New system
This is the the flow for cases that are already in new system
Use Journey for cases coming from Legacy system to New system
After the final design
Some random screens
Measuring success
20% Reduction in case completion time (This is for cases already in the Legacy system)
Easier → fewer steps
Faster → Fewer data entries
Specific & Accurate
Build both journeys in a way to support subsequent journeys as well
What I learned?
1- Being adaptable
Changes are out of my control, but stay ready and adapt quickly to the situation.
2- I don’t owe the solution
A design or solution isn’t permanent; it’s valuable only as long as it solves the problem.
3- Keep everyone in the loop
Sharing the story of the design and data with team to keep them update, help them to feel more connected to the project