Restricted Party Screening
Designing Compliance Software for Global Trade
Project Name: Restricted Party Screening (RPS)
My Role: Senior Product Designer (Design Lead)
Company: QAD
Duration: 18 months
Team: Product Manager, 2 Engineers, Compliance SME, Stakeholders
Basics
RPS
A lightweight product that enables users to continuously screen their contacts against government organizational denied party lists
Users need to review contacts that may have been flagged on these official government lists, called DPL or Denied party lists, and confirm whether their contacts is one of these parties who should be avoided as a business contact.
What Changed, and Why It Mattered
The Problem
Compliance teams using QAD’s legacy denied party screening app struggled with slow, manual processes and error-prone workflows.
What I delivered
Designed RPS, a configurable, real-time tool that automates screening, improves controls, and makes audit trails transparent.
My Responsibilities
Research
Legacy tool audit, comparative UX analysis, stakeholder interviews
Liaison
Engineering, compliance SMEs, customer success, and sales
Redesign
Flows, wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, SME validation, usability testing
Define
Metrics, screening guidelines, design system improvements
Context: The Legacy Application & Its Pain Points
Batch files manually uploaded by users (via email or slow internal tools)
Screening was “overnight or batched”—users waited up to 10–15 minutes or longer each day for initial results
Match results were not intuitive and it was difficult to understand the correct course of action
No straightforward way to attach due diligence letters or view audit reasons
SME Interviews · Red Routes Diagrams · Flows
Research & Discovery
I had a conversation with Michael, our subject matter expert on the Denied Party Screening product, to gain insights into the customers' requirements.
Michael Tew - SME
Research & Discovery
"This contact was fine yesterday, but today they failed because the OFAC list updated overnight."
Gerard O’Sullivan · Director Global Trade
“And some companies... will actually lean on their legal department to tell them what that percentage threshold is because it's always a delicate balance between trade compliance and trade facilitation.”
Jerry Peck · Product Manager
“So they're like, 'Yeah, he's on the list, but he's not a bad guy for me. So sure, I'll sell him stuff.”
Michael Tew · QAD Sales Team
Red Routes Analysis
Using a frequency vs. impact matrix, I identified the critical user workflows. The analysis directly informed:
Main screen layout and display of matches
Import flow prioritization
Admin settings organization
Performance optimization focus
Primary Workflow (Daily)
Login → Contacts screen highlights new matches
Click flagged contact → Review match details with confidence scores
Access Google Street View and attachment options
Change status (Allow/Deny) with required reason → Auto-audit entry
Import Flow
CSV drag-and-drop with real-time validation
Delta screening triggers immediately
Background progress with toast notifications
Primary user goal: Review DPL hits
Match Separately
The first option explored was a separate match for each part of the information. Although this was the most accurate, it was potentially the most mental load for the user.
Match Smartly
The second option researched was combining certain parts of the data to get an educated match.
Match Average
Finally the last potential option to try to make a fully educated guess on the QAD side as to how likely a contact was the person on the DPL.
Reviewing match results & making a determination whether a contact should be denied was the main goal for users. Therefore a key strategic decisions were how to display the hit results for a match, since different parts of the contact info data can potentially be a match to a certain government Denied Party List.
It was determined that only 4 pieces of info are critical to match against the DPLs. Averages were a problem from a legal and regulatory standpoint since they would be potentially putting the onus on QAD to determine the match, rather than the customer.
Strategic Decision
Match Separately
Challenge · Solution
Strategic Design Decisions
Strategic Decisions
1. Real-time Continuous Screening
Challenge: Batch processing creates delays and missed alerts
Solution: Delta-based screening that monitors changes in real-time
Validation: Flash Global confirmed this as "mandatory" functionality
3. Flexible Contact Management
Challenge: Fraud prevention requires tracking multiple names per address
Solution: Multi-contact fields with comma-separated alternative names
Validation: Directly addresses Thermofisher workflow where bad actors cycle through different names
2. Context-Rich Match Details
Challenge: Users manually copy Google Street View links and struggle with documentation
Solution: Integrated Google Maps locations
Validation: Thermofisher specialist: "that would make it so much easier"
4. Configurable Matching Thresholds
Challenge: Different companies need different sensitivity levels
Solution: Admin-controlled threshold sliders for match confidence
Validation: Flash Global emphasized super-user only access for such controls
Customer Interviews
Validation
“I like how you can go into that setting and adjust it if you need to. I like that feature.”
Noemi Valezquez · Thermofisher
“...if they're on a restricted list, we would prefer to have link us to the list that they're on so that we can do the necessary research to make the determination whether we should be passing or failing it.”
Tameika Chalmers · Flash Global
Key Requirements:
Google Street View Link:
Customizable Thresholds:
“I think the street view would be awesome because what we do is ours we don't have that capability at least not yet. But what I do is when I'm reviewing those cases, I just copy and paste the Google maps or the street view hyperlink to and I just add it to the notes section..."
Noemi Valezquez · Thermofisher
I sat down with two customers using our existing legacy screening software. These were informal sessions of 30-60 minutes to walk through the prototypes step by step and make sure our solution would be adding value.
Validation
Customer Interviews
Wireframes · Mockups · Final Product
Design Solutions
Daily Use
Contacts Screen
This is the primary screen that is used on a daily basis. Matches that were flagged for review are shown at the top. A filter on the top right allows the user to filter the contacts to only see Flagged contacts, Denylisted contacts, etc.
Maintaining Contacts
Clicking to enter a contact allows for editing and review. Here they can learn more about a contact, review the contact’s details, and make any necessary edits. They can also review the flagging details.
Continuous Screening
Matching - Continuous
A huge enhancement to the previous legacy solution was the continuous screening capabilities. When users enter the program, it will already show them the updated list with any new matches. If they are currently using the program, I designed in a button notification that allows them to click and refresh the list with the latest matches at the top.
Matching - Review
Because of the regulatory issues, we had to be careful to provide information for the users to make their own determination on the matches. For this reason I designed a two step flow. Users are given basic matching info in the first grid, and in the second grid they can dive deeper to understand what matched and make a determination whether or not the contact should be barred.
Secondary Use Cases
Import
Occasionally users may need to add a list of contacts or upload a new or revised list.
Admin
Incorporated into the software were many admin related functions. As the customers had indicated in the interviews, it was important to be able to adjust their own thresholds for matching and flagging. We also have functionality to be able to select which lists to match against.
Early Adopter Feedback · Establishing Metrics
Measuring Value
Customer Feedback - Early Adopters
User Management and Roles:
The new tool needs user management
functionality for inclusion in their quarterly User Access Reviews (UARs), including
commissioning and decommissioning users
Multi-Select Delete:
The customer asked for expanded Delete functionality, including multi-select and the ability to view previously deleted Contacts to reinstate them.
Google Maps:
Customer requested expanded Google Maps functionality, so that clicking on the map opened up Google Maps itself.
Fourth thing
Keep ‘em short and sweet, so they’re easy to scan and remember.
Feedback from our Early Adopter customer has been extremely positive. They only had limited comments and suggestions which is a huge result.
Metrics
I requested the implementation of metric user tracking for future improvements.
As a B2B, historically we didn’t track metrics but we have been making a concerted effort to change that.
Lessons Learned · Next Steps
Reflections
Reflections
Learned: Direct observation and rich legacy comparisons uncover latent workflow risks and force design clarity
Next: Launch analytics, pilot test, continuously refine on real measured user journeys
2026
Siobhan Duran
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