To get quotes
What a carrier needs to price the risk.
- Countries
- Study details
- Participants per country
- Study dates
- Supporting study documents
- Country-specific items
All case studies
Case study 01 Quick peek 2 min read
Global Research Coverage Platform
Designing a digital experience that helps research organizations navigate country-specific insurance requirements and move from study details to coverage through a clearer global workflow.
Real enterprise project anonymized
The challenge
One research program can become dozens of insurance journeys.
A research program may run in several countries, and each can add its own insurance requirements, participant information, documents and research-site details.
The legacy experience relied heavily on forms, email, documents and coordination among clients, brokers and carriers.
The design question
The challenge was not simply: How do we put an insurance application online?
How might we make a complex global coverage process understandable and actionable for an organization running research across multiple geographies?
My role
From a complex global process to a product people can use
I worked closely with Product and business stakeholders to turn a complex global insurance process into a digital product experience.
With Product and the business
- Business rules and country requirements
- Workflow mapping across client, broker and carriers
- Release scope and roadmap
My design work
- Journey and workflow design
- Information architecture
- Interaction design
- The early interactive POC
- High-fidelity UI, iterated as requirements evolved
The complexity
Three parties, many countries, one lifecycle
- Research organizationNeeds coverage in every country where its program operates.
- BrokerCoordinates the application and goes to the market for quotes.
- CarrierUnderwrites each country, sets terms and issues the policy.
AApply
- Plan the research program Client
- Select countries Client
- Understand requirements Client
- Submit study details Client
- Upload supporting documents Client
BQuote
- Broker and carrier processing Broker · carriers
- Receive quotes Client
- Select coverage Client
CBind
- Provide binding information Client
- Bind Broker · carriers
- Receive policy documents Client
DService
- Manage changes and renewal Client · broker · carriers
Key insight
Quoting and binding are different information moments.
Clients don’t need to give every answer up front. Some information gets quotes; more is needed only when the client decides to bind.
To bind coverage
Only once the client chooses which quotes to accept.
- Carrier-specific binding requirements
- Confirmed organization and insured details
- Payment arrangements, where required
Product principleAsk for the right information at the right moment.
Product decisions
Three decisions that shaped the product
- 01
Start with geography
Country selection drives what the client needs to know and provide. The system has to handle many countries at once, not behave like a single-country insurance form.
- 02
Reveal requirements dynamically
Don’t show every possible question. The countries a client selects surface only what applies, such as:
- participant counts
- localized study information
- research site details
- documents
- country-specific requirements
- 03
Design beyond Submit
Submitting isn’t the end. The experience has to help answer:
- What happens next?
- Are quotes ready?
- Is action required?
- What’s needed to bind?
- Where are the policy documents?
- What happens when the program changes?
The product is a lifecycle, not a form.
Key design moments
Four moments that move the story forward
Concept reconstructions with Northstar branding and sample data, not the final product UI. Country rules are illustrative, not regulatory guidance; the real product, client and partner details stay confidential.
A
Country selection and “what you’ll need”
- Problem
- In the existing process, it was hard to know what each country would require until an application was well under way.
- Decision
- Start with country selection. Then show one checklist of what every application needs, and a table of the extra items specific countries add.
- Why
- Clients can gather documents and details before they invest time in the form, and the scope of a multi-country application is clear from the start.
B
Study details, country by country
- Problem
- Participant counts and study dates differ by country, so every added country multiplied the data entry.
- Decision
- Capture the study details once, then give each selected country its own row, with dates pre-filled from the general details so the client only checks or adjusts them.
- Why
- Less repeated typing, and each country’s numbers stay explicit, which is what carriers price.
C
Review, then hand off
- Problem
- Submitting is the moment the work leaves the client and moves to the broker and carriers, so mistakes get expensive to fix later.
- Decision
- A review page grouped the way the application was built, with a way to change every group. Submitting gives an application ID, a PDF copy and a contact.
- Why
- Clients can check a dense, multi-country application in one place and leave with a record of exactly what was sent.
D
Save, exit and resume
- Problem
- An application draws on information from colleagues and research sites, so it may not be finished in one sitting.
- Decision
- Save and exit on every step, a warning before the session times out, and an offer to resume on the same step at the next sign-in.
- Why
- The application fits how research teams actually gather information, instead of forcing one long session.
Early concept prototype
Making the workflow tangible early
Before the experience was fully defined, I built an interactive POC to make the journey tangible for stakeholders and expose questions about information requirements, country logic and flow. This version keeps its workflow and reasoning with a new interface and sample data.
Explore Concept (opens in a new tab)
Works on desktop and phone
Outcome
What the work established
- Moved a fragmented insurance application process toward a structured digital experience.
- Created a clearer path through country-specific requirements.
- Connected application design to the broader quoting, binding and servicing journey.
- Established a foundation for greater client self-service.
No launch metrics: the product was still in development when I left the company.