Problem, Need or Opportunity

I work for a privately owned mortgage company headquartered in San Diego; within the last two years we have experienced a huge growth spurt, almost doubling our size. As is typical with most companies, growth in branches does not necessarily mean growth in corporate personnel to accommodate additional work. As a result, some areas have suffered, our website being a key area.

Almost four years ago, we did a complete re-vamp of the website, and we scrambled to find information to add to it.  Today the problem is just the opposite; it is a complete mish-mash of links, information, worksheets, policy information, etc.

At this point in time, it needs to be completely reorganized. New pages need to be defined, then added, so the user can find what they are looking for without having to wade thru non-essential information. Each user profile, Loan Officer (LO), Loan Processor, Managers, Funders, Underwriters, etc should have their own page, and each page needs to have links to specific areas, to accomplish specific tasks, and to prevent one page being too big.

For my final project, I am going to tackle just one area, Secondary Marketing.  I have selected this department due to the relatively small amount of needs to be addressed and because of its importance. Secondary Marketing is where LOs go to lock their loans, get interest rates for various products and nuances of a loan, and ask questions. If a loan is locked incorrectly, the LO, the company (or both) could lose money.

Audience

The primary audience will be the LO or the Loan Officer Assistant (LOA). The secondary user will be the support staff, Loan Processor, Operations Managers (Ops Managers) and non-producing Branch Managers.

Most users are already computer literate for what they need to know, there would be no additional technical skills required. If they can surf the web, they will have sufficient knowledge to find the sites.  

User Needs

User’s needs are two fold:

• What does Secondary Marketing want on the site?
• What does the end user want?

Each group is very distinct on how it assimilates information. Secondary Marketing typically wants an abundance of information disseminated, whereas LOs fall more into the Big, Bold, Brief category. They want the information quickly and cleanly. My challenge will be to find a happy medium, with the understanding that Secondary Marketing approves and oversees the information, but do not use the website to do their job. The LO and branch personnel will be the end users.

The clue is asking the same question to the different groups and see where they mesh.

Environment

LOs work at home, on the road, at the office, basically anywhere they can balance a laptop and a rate sheet on their knee. Depending on where they are at any given moment, sound may of may not be a nuisance to someone in the area. 

Support staff is typically office bound, work in cubicles and have desktop PCs.

Since PowerPoint and (hopefully) Captivate will be used, Adobe will be required, a link to install Adobe should be part of the website. For both, typical Internet connections can be used.

Resources and Limitations

I have full access to the company’s website, and while I will not have any copyright issues, I will need to be sensitive to security concerns. For the final project, those links may be disabled (or “Latin” info installed to illustrate the concept). Live, each user has a user name and password to enter the company website.

I will generate all the material and text, as I am a subject matter expert.

I will be limited to the company’s colors and logo. I will not be able to cover one feature completely  (Advanced Lock) as a portion of the project. I have a Mac at home and Calyx Point, the software LOs use to take an application, is not Mac compatible. As such, I will not be able to capture any Point images as part of any video modules. Any images captured will come from the website. My company’s website is workable with Safari and Firefox, but is geared more towards Windows Explorer, so I may have some issues with the Rate section.

General Solution

The website will solve the LO’s problem of trying to locate quickly final pricing and locking guidance in a sea of options. The site will not be a jumble of information, but very specific to defined needs---locking loans, getting pricing and communicating with Secondary Marketing. Included in the website, training materials located within the application being used.