Reconciliation
Humanizing Reconciliation for a quicker, more scannable experience
Description: As the lead UX Writer on the Reconciliation project, Ali partnered closely with UX design and the product team to simplify complex workflows for Finance admins—bringing clarity, structure, and actionability to every step.
When her UXD partner shared the concept for the Reconciliation Dashboard, Ali saw an opportunity to elevate the experience beyond visual layout. She led a full content and structural rethink grounded in clarity, usability, and scannability.
Before
After
Alison didn’t just edit labels—she helped reframe how the experience was organized. Her IA-driven recommendations included:
Removing the vague “Goals Performance” header
The heading didn’t provide meaningful structure or support navigation. Ali recommended cutting it to reduce noise and surface more relevant content.Adding an “Overview” tab for orientation
Rather than dropping users into an undefined data view, the new tab offers clear context and sets expectations upfront.Leading with the business name (e.g., “Acme Inc”)
Ali suggested pulling the company name up to the top of the experience—reinforcing to users that they're working within their business account and making the dashboard feel purposeful and personalized.Critical labels and category names rewritten (to better align with user expectations and mental models):
“Transaction summary” replaced the internally focused “Reconciliation opportunity” A more descriptive, accurate label that helps users instantly understand the data being shown.“Multiple charges per order” replaced “Split charges”
Ali used the language customers actually use—transforming a technical term into something human and specific.“Return incomplete” replaced “Return in-progress”
This subtle shift reframed the item as actionable, not just status-based—helping users know they can resolve it.“Payment automatically applied” replaced “Payment applied – unspecified”
Clearer, more transparent language that builds trust and explains the system behavior in plain English.
Streamlining the Side Panel
The original side panel overwhelmed users with redundant headings and wordy instructions. Ali restructured and rewrote the content for speed and clarity
Shortened and simplified every line item
For example, “5 orders have multiple charges. Please reconcile using the charge identifier” became: “5 orders with multiple charges – Review”Front-loaded verbs and dropped filler
Ali trimmed copy to spotlight the task and link—so users could take action with
Ali reimagined the Reconciliation dashboard to make it faster to scan, easier to act on, and labeled with clearer, more human language
Clarifying Side Sheet Content
The original side panel overwhelmed users with redundant headings and wordy instructions.
Alison restructured and rewrote the content for speed and clarity as well as identified content and Information architecture gaps and that could cause friction and confusion—especially in a high-attention task like reconciliation.
Before the update
After the update
What needed fixing:
The original side sheet was labeled “Information,” with minimal context, vague identifiers, and no link back to the associated order—leaving users uncertain about what they were looking at or how to resolve the issue.
Key improvements:
Renamed the side sheet for clarity and context
From a generic “Information” label to a clear, category-aligned title like “Matched: Multiple charges per order”
→ Helps users immediately understand the issue type and connect it to dashboard terminology
Rewrote the success and error messages
→ Improved clarity and actionability, making it obvious when a match is complete or when follow-up is needed
Added clearer identifiers and links for cross-referencing
→ Introduced a labeled, clickable Associated order # so users can trace issues across systems without losing context
Mirrored dashboard discrepancy categories
→ Ensured naming conventions (e.g., “Multiple charges per order”) were reused in the panel for consistency and recognition
Renamed the results sheet
→ Provided clearer navigation and reinforced the purpose of the screen in the user’s workflow
These changes made the reconciliation process faster and more intuitive—especially for users reviewing multiple issues in sequence.
Background work: cross-functional team alignment
Before changing labels and IA, Ali promoted understanding and alignment for the UX team by leading a mini FigJam workshop to model reconciliation issue types and resolution paths
