This was a full-year project, meaning we had one year to do proper research, brainstorming, designing, and testing. The project started with RLI explaining what exactly underwriting is and the process most underwriters follow. What we quickly learned during the early stages of this project is that underwriting is a very complex and deeply personal process, no two underwriters work the same. We were allowed to interview two underwriters which opened our eyes to some of the major gaps in their process. We ended the semester by sending out a survey that got around 40 responses.

When spring arrived, I took over as the lead for the UX side of the project. We used our survey findings to identify one main issue we could solve, data cleansing. After some brainstorming, the teams agreed that we would design an AI-powered solution that could clean dirty spreadsheets in just a few seconds. I was tasked with creating the UI designs and flows, while the business team handled financials and logistics for the hypothetical solution. In May we pitched our solution to the client, who gave very positive feedback and seemed interested in exploring the concept more.