Redesigning Qazwa’s Internal Dashboard: A Story of Constraints, Clarity, and Collaboration

Role

Product Designer

Company

Qazwa.id

Platform

Website

Timeframe

1 Month

Overview

Qazwa is fintech platform P2P Lending Syariah. Credit analyst admin uses its dashboard to verify incoming financing on the Qazwa platform.

Context : The Dashboard Nobody Loved

I joined Qazwa as first product designer at a time when our internal tools were lagging behind the needs of our growing Credit Analyst team. Every financing verification started with a dashboard, but ironically, it was the least used screen. Most analysts skipped past it entirely.

The challenge wasn’t just UI, it was purpose. Why would someone return to a page that didn’t help them do their job better?

Image : What Qazwa financing analyst dashboard used to look like

Digging Deeper: What Was Really Broken?

Instead of jumping into redesign mode, I started by embedding myself in their workflow. I spent time with 4 analysts during their verification tasks and asked them to narrate what they wished they had in front of them.

Here’s what I discovered:

a. Analysts worked with repeat financing from the same organizers, but had no overview of historical repayments.

b. There was no single place to see “what’s critical today” like overdue financing or totals verified this week.

c. Visual noise: equal weight was given to all information, regardless of importance.

They weren’t just ignoring the dashboard, it was actively invisible to their daily decision making.

Here’s what I discovered:

Analysts worked with repeat financing from the same organizers, but had no overview of historical repayments.

b. There was no single place to see “what’s critical today” like overdue financing or totals verified this week.

c. Visual noise: equal weight was given to all information, regardless of importance.

They weren’t just ignoring the dashboard, it was actively invisible to their daily decision-making.

Here’s what I discovered:

Analysts worked with repeat financing from the same organizers, but had no overview of historical repayments.

b. There was no single place to see “what’s critical today” like overdue financing or totals verified this week.

c. Visual noise: equal weight was given to all information, regardless of importance.

They weren’t just ignoring the dashboard, it was actively invisible to their daily decision-making.

The Design Problem (Reframed)

How might we turn a dead dashboard into a trusted command center for Credit Analysts?

This became my North Star.

The Shift: From Static Screen to Strategic View

I proposed a pivot: instead of designing a dashboard as a “summary,” we’d redesign it as a decision-support tool. To do that, I restructured the experience into three layers:

Today’s Priorities: What needs your attention now? (Overdue financing, approvals due, volume verified today)
Organizer Insights: How is this organizer performing over time? Is this their third financing? Are past payments complete?
Milestone Awareness: Where is each financing in its lifecycle? Can we predict bottlenecks or potential delays?

Image : We ran a card sorting session that was composed of members from our Credit Analyst teams. We used this technique to determine which functionalities of the dashboard should stay, be relocated or be eliminated based on our platform’s information architecture and how much value it was adding on the dashboard.

Prototyping With Trade-Offs in Mind

Qazwa, like many startups, faced constraints: we couldn’t build fancy data infra or add complex charts from scratch. So I focused on:

• Using existing chart libraries (from an outsourced library)

• Reorganizing information into digestible chunks based on our card sorting discussion

• Avoiding “blank state fatigue” with real-time indicators

• Designing with devs in the loop for scope validation every week

One idea I had was to use a heat map for location-based insights. But due to technical limitations, we simplified it to a location list with sortable stats.

Qazwa, like many startups- faced constraints: we couldn’t build fancy data infra or add complex charts from scratch. So I focused on:

Using existing chart libraries (from outsource library)
Reorganizing information into digestible chunks based on our card sorting discussion
Avoiding “blank state fatigue” with real-time indicators
Designing with devs in the loop for scope validation every week

One idea I had was to use a heat map for location-based insights. But due to technical limitations, we simplified it to a location list with sortable stats.

Qazwa, like many startups- faced constraints: we couldn’t build fancy data infra or add complex charts from scratch. So I focused on:

Using existing chart libraries (from outsource library)
Reorganizing information into digestible chunks based on our card sorting discussion
Avoiding “blank state fatigue” with real-time indicators
Designing with devs in the loop for scope validation every week

One idea I had was to use a heat map for location-based insights. But due to technical limitations, we simplified it to a location list with sortable stats.

Image : wireframe and first iteration

Final Design

After confirming all technical feasibilities, especially those related to our challenges, we have finalized the flow and design. We ensure that the design aligns with both user and business goals. Here is the final version of the dashboard feature

Image : The latest iteration of the dashboard

Image : Separate the financing list and verification menu for better visibility, giving the team more data insights on the verification menu than ever before

What Changed? (And What Didn’t)

Analyst sentiment improved, from “I don’t use it” to “I check it at the start of every day.” Retention increased, but even better, analysts started requesting more dashboards feature. especially for the needs of interaction with OJK

Still, we left room for improvements: deeper filtering, customizable views, and better anomaly detection for unusual financing.

Reflections

User trust isn’t built by UI polish, it’s earned by utility.

Constraints are creative fuel. The lack of resources forced us to prioritize features that truly mattered.
Internal tools deserve empathy too. When your team has better tools, your product gets better too.