Context
Filevine is a legal management platform — customizable to help law firms manage their cases in a way that best suits their needs. Among its many features, Filevine allows org admins to manage phone and fax numbers for texting directly within the platform.
I was the designated designer on a team with 4 developers, a QA, and a product owner. We were normally assigned to billing and timekeeping, but were the only team with the bandwidth to take on this project when it became urgent.
The Problem
In 2021, wireless carriers rolled out regulations for messages sent from applications to personal cell phones using 10-digit numbers (A2P 10DLC). These regulations are designed to make it easier for businesses to connect with customers while also countering spam.
As part of these regulations, businesses sending SMS messages through Filevine needed to register their use case with providers — as well as each individual number — to avoid messages failing to deliver or being marked as spam.
Two registration tiers were available:
- Tier 1 — No additional cost. Up to 5 registered numbers, limited to 3,000 messages per day (1,000 to T-Mobile).
- Tier 2 — Paid feature. Up to 5,000 registered numbers, more than 3,000 messages per day.
"We had 5 weeks to design a solution that would let users register their business and numbers before the regulation took effect — or customers would face service disruptions."
Process
Because this was a brand-new interaction, I started by brainstorming a user flow map. The majority of users would only need Tier 1. The existing Manage Org Phone Numbers section had all phone numbers — texting and fax — in one place. We decided to split them into two separate tabs and add a dedicated registration tab.
After mapping the user flows for both org and number registration, I moved to sketching and wireframes to understand the design of the solution.
Because this was a high-priority project on a very tight timeline, I went through multiple design reviews — including executive design reviews with C-level executives — to make sure we were solving the correct issues and moving in the right direction. After final approval from the CEO and Sr. Director of Technology, I began high-fidelity design.
Design System Contribution
While designing, I ran into an issue: I needed a notification banner to show different statuses — including an error state for when an org is not registered — but this component didn't exist in our design system.
I went through many variations of notification banners to find one that felt consistent with the rest of the system. Working with a senior designer on my team, we created a banner component with multiple states that we felt fit well with our existing design system — a component that could be reused beyond this project.
Completing high-fidelity designs and prototypes — with quite a few variations and multiple rounds of UX copy editing — was where I spent the bulk of the 5 weeks.
Solution
The final solution allowed org admins to register their business (each org within the platform) and register each of their numbers directly within Filevine's Advanced Tools section — without leaving the application.
The restructured phone number management section split texting numbers, fax numbers, and registration into distinct tabs, making the workflow clearer and reducing the risk of accidentally affecting unregistered numbers.
Results
Although this was a very large ask with a quick timeline, we delivered a finished solution within the 5-week window with no glaring issues. Existing customers were able to register both their orgs and numbers with no service interruptions.
5wk
From kickoff to shipped solution
0
Service disruptions for existing customers
+1
New design system component shipped