20 Requests in Seconds: Operational Leverage at Scale

Timeline
1 month
Role
Lead Product Designer
Company
Benevity
Demonstrates
Interaction Design, Research, UX

Decrease overall granting time by improving categorization and enable bulk processes

Overview

Grant admins spent hours on mechanical updates (5–20 min per request × 20+ at a time), when they may have several details in common for quicker categorization. This bottlenecked program scale. I quantified the ops debt, built the business case despite resistance, and led bulk actions design with Engineering. Bulk actions turned hours into seconds and freed time for more strategic work.

Grant management dashboard with a pending requests table of reference numbers, status, dates, organizations, and assigned users
In this earlier iteration you can see limited viewing options, some UI issues, and an inability to work comparatively across large areas or quickly.

Problem

  • Manual drudgery: Open each request, apply action (status/email), save, repeat.
  • Scale limit: Large programs overwhelmed admins; error risk was high.
  • Hidden cost: Hours/week lost; no visibility into total ops overhead.

Discovery & business case

  • Observed in sessions: estimated 100+ hours/program cycle wasted.
  • Interviews: admins wanted “batch everything” or a similar way to group and categorize like items.
  • Leadership move: Framed as platform infrastructure: “No bulk = growth ceiling.” Presented to PM/Eng with hours saved for admins and requests removed for Benevity support, solid math to secure prioritization.
Three data visualization sections of sticky note clusters, categorized as Good, Bad, and Passive, for internal sources, Versaic clients, and Benevity Grants clients

Collection of and synthesis of large swaths of researched information across many areas.

Service blueprint of a 5-step grant review process from notification to completion, mapping user journey, touchpoints, and supporting systems

Example of mapping existing flows into service blueprints to better articulate needs to stakeholders.

Quick view accelerators dashboard with a Problems section of issues and a Recommendations section of solutions, plus screenshots comparing data sorting and freezing options

Example of breaking larger interaction design down into smaller work tickets that are easier to test and measure.

Strategy & partnership

Approach: Safe, discoverable bulk ops.

  • Eng collaboration: selection models, permissions, audit logs.
  • Scoped MVP: I broke down Quick Views features into bite-sized stories, such as status changes, a new checkbox component, overlays, and more (starting with the safest and highest-return first).
  • Coached team: “Leverage > perfection; measure adoption first.”

Solution

  • List-level multi-select: Checkboxes, “select all matching filter,” count preview.
  • View settings: Quickly sort items based on complex categorization criteria.
  • Action drawer: Clear labels, safeguards (e.g., “20 requests will change status”).
  • Feedback: What can and can’t be undone, an undo buffer, activity/audit logs.
Grant requests dashboard in a filtered view, with pending status, reference numbers, and submission dates

Initial quick categories and view settings for grant requests helped people find what they needed to more efficiently.

Payment lines interface with two items selected and a dropdown menu of Pay now, Complete, Delete, and Edit options

The bulk action pattern was then easily replicable to other areas than just Quick Views, like making payments.

Table of donation requests with a dropdown menu to sort and filter the submission date column

Rearranging and control over columns of data allowed a level of personalization for outlier admins or niche tasks.

Bulk Edit dialog box with dropdown menus for status, country, focus areas, and approver settings

Various options available for bulk editing.

Grant management dashboard with a bulk actions dropdown of edit, decline, and export options

An example of the bulk action availability when multiple lines are selected.

Outcomes

  • 20 requests categorized and reviewed: from 1-2 hours to seconds.
  • Admins: time reclaimed for program strategy; fewer errors.
  • Benevity support: Top admin feature request removed, volume down 5%.
  • Team lesson: Quantify UX debt as business cost; use it to drive roadmap.