Global Incentive Fee Awards: a fund’s realisation screen with the process streamline, allocations and awards, in front of the tree map and the dashboard

Saved millions of dollars in taxes

By improving stakeholder visibility and coordination across a complex, multi‑stakeholder process (GIFAGlobal Incentive Fee Awards), helping prevent the delays that result in tax liability.

Team
Product Manager, Sprint Master, Designer (me), Developers
Client
LaSalle Investment Management

The problem

Stakeholders around the world managed a complex business process (GIFA), working on overlapping tasks with limited visibility into each other’s decisions and progress.

Data discrepancies

Stakeholders kept separate versions of information, creating inconsistencies that needed time-consuming reconciliation.

Limited visibility

Stakeholders lacked clear updates on task progress and changes made by others, making it harder to coordinate work and spot delays.

Project challenges

GIFA work flows
GIFA core concepts
Core concepts relations
Stakeholders and responsibilities

Requirements given as solutions

We received an initial brief that outlined proposed solutions before the underlying user problems were fully understood.

How we approached it

To uncover the real challenges, we questioned the existing process, the stakeholders involved, their responsibilities and the difficulties they faced.

GIFA work flows
GIFA core concepts

Limited access to users

The stakeholders involved were occupied with other critical organisational matters, making it difficult to schedule time with them.

How we approached it

After understanding the workflows, stakeholder responsibilities and known pain points with the product manager, we pushed to secure limited user access and used focused conversations to identify the root causes of the issues.

Core concepts relations
Stakeholders and responsibilities

Problem causes & solutions we designed

Problem

Errors and roadblocks went unnoticed

EditorsPersona responsible for opening, closing and moderating the realisation (GIFA). only discovered errors and roadblocks when they returned to work on the process.

Solution designed

Clear process view with automated alerts

Every step of a fund’s process in one view, with alerts the moment something needs attention.

Impact
  • Improved process visibility
  • Early issue detection
  • Faster corrective action
Process streamline panel
Problem

Changes and decisions lacked visibility

Stakeholders couldn’t see each other’s overlapping actions, leading to data discrepancies and time-consuming reconciliation.

Solution designed

Activity log

Records every data change and the decision behind it, so everyone is on the same page.

Impact
  • Greater transparency
  • Less reconciliation
  • Better-informed decisions
Award activity log
Problem

Approvers manually reviewed hundreds of awards

ApproversPersona responsible for reviewing and giving final approval on all realisation (GIFA) decisions. manually reviewed hundreds of awards to identify those matching their criteria.

Solution designed

Criteria-based award filtering

Predefined criteria automatically flag the awards that match.

Impact
  • Less unnecessary review
  • Time spent only on relevant awards
  • More precise reviews
Criteria builder

Project impact

One shared workspace replaced a fragmented, spreadsheet‑driven process, and the results showed up in the following award cycle.

Tax liability avoided

Awards were approved before the taxable deadlines, so delays no longer turned into tax liability.

Faster approvals

Faster from award allocation to final approval, with issues caught and cleared early.

One source of truth

Every stakeholder works from the same up-to-date information, with no separate versions to reconcile.

Product designs

Approver dashboard
Fund details page
Fund details: tree map view
Realization activity panel
New criteria: criteria editor
Fund details: flagged award