tekion Corp 2024
Reduced time taken by accounting clerks in reconciling bank transactions and respective accounting entries
Team
Product Designer (Myself)
Lead Product Designer
Product Manager
Lead Product Designer
Product Manager
My Role
Research
Conceptualization
Design
Dev handoff
Conceptualization
Design
Dev handoff
Duration
6 Months
Background & problem
Still Stuck in Manual Mode While Business Needs Evolve?
Bank Reconciliation serves as a critical daily process where dealerships match their bank transactions with account entries in their ERP/accounting software, specifically Tekion’s ARC.
While our Bank Reconciliation application has effectively handled manual operations for our current user base, our expansion to larger enterprise clients necessitates automation of key tasks and the development of advanced features to meet growing demands.
Old reconciliation process—Bank statement on the left; GL Posting on the right.
Users reported that it takes 2-4 hours to reconcile ~100-200 transactions.
Painpoint 01
Users struggle with complex scenarios like partial payments, split transactions, and transactions with timing differences.
Painpoint 02
Users lack visibility into the mapping between individual bank transactions and their corresponding accounting entries.
Painpoint 03
Focus Area
Let's first focus on establishing the essential foundation.
BAI2 file format was launched in 2001 (one year before I was born) and yet our product was not utilising the features of this file format in 2024, presenting us with significant untapped potential for enhancement and innovation.
We’re living in the age of ML and AI—at the very least, the easy stuff should be automated by now.
Introduce .bai2 file format
Automate some of the reconciliation
Challenge 01
Solving the biggest challenge
Banking reconciliation presents four distinct scenarios: reconciling a single bank transaction to one accounting entry; reconciling a single bank transaction to multiple accounting entries; reconciling multiple bank transactions to a single accounting entry; and reconciling multiple bank transactions with multiple accounting entries.
Developing a solution that elegantly handles all these complex matching patterns represented one of our most significant technical challenges.
One-to-One Matching Scenario
One-to-Many Matching Scenario
Many-to-One Matching Scenario
Many-to-Many Matching Scenario
Initial Approach : Splitting & Consolidating Transactions
During our competitor analysis, we observed that QuickBooks offers a feature that comes close to addressing our problem. With a few thoughtful adjustments, we believe we can offer an even better solution.
Specifically, by giving users the ability to split a single entry into multiple entries or consolidate multiple entries into a single one, we thought we can significantly streamline the reconciliation process and better meet user needs.
However, in practice, it introduced additional complexity and made the reconciliation workflow more cumbersome, rather than simplifying it.
Complexity in Splitting & Consolidation
When it came to splitting entries, the workflow was relatively straightforward: the user could select an accounting entry, input the split amounts, reference numbers, and transaction types — a simple and intuitive process.
However, consolidating entries introduced several challenges. Key questions emerged, such as:
- How should users select multiple entries for consolidation?
- What should the affordance and signifiers look like to make the consolidation action clear and discoverable?
- How would the system handle conflicts or mismatches between the selected entries?
These considerations made the consolidation workflow significantly more complex compared to splitting, requiring more careful UX design to avoid user confusion and workflow breakdown.
Challenge 02
Distinguishing Between Reconciliation Statuses
We also needed to display the reconciliation status for each entry — whether it was auto-reconciled, manually reconciled, or yet to be reconciled.
During discussions, the PM raised an additional point:
"Areyy! If a user can un-reconcile an already reconciled entry, shouldn't we also show an 'Unreconciled' status?"
As more statuses kept getting added, the system was at risk of becoming too complex and overwhelming for users, making it harder to maintain clarity and simplicity within the workflow.
An 'Un-Reconciled' status didn't make sense in the current design, as reconciliation is simply a check or uncheck action.
The Bigger Picture
Modernizing Bank Reconciliation with BAI2 Integration
By introducing BAI2 file support, we enabled automatic reconciliation through intelligent matching of transaction amounts and types. This also opened the possibility to display bank statements directly within the UI by parsing the imported data.
I revamped the reconciliation interface with an intuitive two-column layout, enabling users to directly compare bank statements with accounting entries within the system, replacing the outdated manual process of uploading and cross-referencing PDFs.
Getting buy-in from the PMs and securing additional development bandwidth was a challenge, but it was essential to deliver the improved experience.
Old Reconciliation Page
New Reconciliation Page
But how does this solve our biggest challenge?
This new approach removes the need for users to split or consolidate entries during reconciliation. Instead, they can intuitively select the relevant bank transactions on the left and directly match them with corresponding accounting entries on the right.
Previously, reconciliation was treated as a simple toggle — checking or unchecking entries to mark them as reconciled. While lightweight, the old design lacked accuracy. With the new interaction, reconciliation becomes a deliberate, aligning with the way accounting should work: precise and intentional.
Reconcile once Statement Amount & GL Posting Amount matches
Solving the Reconciliation Status Confusion
I explored a range of interaction patterns — from using tabbed layouts to experimenting with visual indicators — all with the goal of reducing friction and making reconciliation statuses easier to scan and act on.
Each direction aimed to balance clarity with efficiency, ensuring users could stay focused without any unnecessary clicks or confusion.
Tabs meant more clicks than necessary. We saw room for a smarter solution.
The indicator for ‘Manually Reconciled’ was straightforward — a simple check mark inside a circle. But designing a clear, non-intrusive visual cue for ‘Auto Reconciled’ was a pain in the a**. Still, after rounds of iteration, we cracked it.
After speaking with multiple subject matter experts, we realized one key insight — users don’t really care about what’s unreconciled. Their focus is on what’s matched and what still needs action.
Manually Reconciled vs. Auto Reconciled (Various Iterations)
Small Tweaks, Big Experiences
Improving 1% of every aspect
I didn’t stop at solving just one part of the problem. I took a step back and evaluated the entire bank reconciliation experience — from selecting an account, uploading and processing a BAI2 file, to displaying only the most essential information during reconciliation, and finally, presenting users with a clear, detailed reconciliation summary.
Prerequisites of Bank Reconciliation
Old Workflow
New Workflow
Bank Reconciliation Header
Nothing more than the essentials
Nothing more than the essentials
Reconciliation Summary (Download/Print)
Old PDF with little to no information
Improved PDF with detailed matching information
Reconciliation Details
We took this opportunity to build a Reconciliation Details page
Signing off
Waiting for the report Card (metrics)
The revamp launched less than a month ago and we're currently monitoring early performance metrics. Key features implemented to address user pain points:
Users reported that it takes 2-4 hours to reconcile ~100-200 transactions.
Painpoint 01
Users struggle with complex scenarios like partial payments, split transactions, and transactions with timing differences.
Painpoint 02
Users lack visibility into the mapping between individual bank transactions and their corresponding accounting entries.
Painpoint 03
With the capability of auto reconciling more than 50% percent of the transactions, we believe that the time taken will be reduced to ~1-2 hours.
Solution 01
With the ability of selecting multiple transactions or entries to reconcile, this solves the complex matching scenarios.
Solution 02
With reconciliation details page, users get to know exactly which bank transactions are mapped with which accounting entires.
Solution 03
key takeaways
This project was jam-packed with a lot of work, explorations and discussions with stakeholders. It feels almost impossible to boil down my learning, but if I had to, here they are!
You won't have the complete requirements upfront. You'll need to collaborate with the Product Managers to define and improve them throughout the project.
Learning 01
You have to work closely with developers to understand technical constraints early and iterate on designs based on implementation realities.
Learning 02
You should not be constrained by existing design system components - you can create custom solutions when user needs require it.
Learning 03
