QMG Cloud

Partnership with CPA Canada to digitize the Quality Management Guide, making it accessible to small and medium sized accounting firms across Canada.

My Role

Product Designer, Researcher

Collaboration

Product Managers, CPA Canada

Timeline

5 months

Project Type

Work, Auvenir

Defining Key Terms — What is the Quality Management Guide?

System of Quality Management

A system constructed by firms that consists of processes and documentation to prove compliance with Canadian Standards on Quality Management.

Also referred to as SOQM

Quality Management Guide

A tool meant to guide firms on how to correctly implement their own System of Quality Management in accordance with the Canadian Standards on Quality Management.

Also referred to as QMG

Problem — Context for Partnership

Accounting firms are required to work on their System of Quality Management using static templates.

Challenges Completing SOQM

Process of completing the SOQM is inefficient due to the format. Managing the SOQM is a very manual process (Copy+Paste referencing, Email sharing, Print and Export).

Firms have limited time to complete their SOQM having to complete engagements for their clients, especially during busy seasons (tax season).

Challenges with the Standard

Small to medium sized firms are inexperienced with the QMG and have difficulty understanding standards and applying them to their firm.

Firms undergo practice inspection regularly and fear failing due to an incomplete SOQM or not correctly adhering to the standards.

Project Scope — Risk Assessment

Digitize Risk assessment forms from the Quality Management Guide.

Risk assessment is the central workflow in a System of Quality Management consisting of three related forms: Form 4.30 Identify and assess quality risks, Form 5.10 Quality management policies and procedures and Form 6.20 Monitoring activities.

Requirements — Original Templates and User Flows

Conducted analysis of existing Risk assessment templates to create user flows.

I worked with Product managers to review CPA Canada’s existing Risk assessment templates. I built an understanding of how the Quality Management Guide relates to firm structures, the meaning of the columns provided in the templates and their relationships.

After our analysis I iterated through different user flow diagrams which were leveraged for further requirements gathering sessions.

User flow diagrams

Requirements Gathering — Connecting the Forms

Designing tables that allow easy referencing and navigation between forms.

We learned during requirements gathering that the Risk assessment forms require referencing between them and there is a larger workflow from one form to the next. A major issue with the Excel templates was that there was no convenient way to document relationships of navigate between forms.

Relationship diagram Form 4.30 to Form 5.10

Rapid Iteration — Weekly Feedback Sessions

Held weekly sessions presenting designs and getting feedback from CPA Canada.

I started by designing multiple iterations of the central Risk assessment tables aiming to make adding information and references more efficient. We presented the tables and subsequent designs to the CPA Canada weekly to ensure we captured the methodology correctly. I designed the information architecture and the rest of the user flows around the tables.

Form 4.30 Table final design iterations

Form 5.10 Table final design iterations

Usability Testing —

Usability testing with firms identified gaps in functionality; these were categorized into critical enhancements and future backlog items.

We conducted usability testing with five firms using high fidelity prototypes of the Risk assessment forms. From those sessions we were able to determine gaps in functionality. With the launch date coming up we prioritized enhancements that would helps firms better adhere to the standard.

Risk Severity Logic

Logic was added to Risk severity fields to notify users when the properties selected are not consistent.