Helm

Connecting loan review, accounting, and payroll in one mortgage operations platform.

Context

A mortgage file passes through several teams before the work is complete. Helm brings those handoffs into one platform, alongside employee onboarding, licensing, commissions, and payroll.

The starting point was a set of disconnected systems and spreadsheets. Records had to be entered more than once, and each team held a different part of the picture. The design needed to connect that information while keeping daily work focused.

Problem

Recruiters, compliance reviewers, and finance staff work with shared records, but need different details. A single crowded view would make those records harder to use. The challenge was to give each team a clear workspace and make unresolved issues visible before a file moved on.

Approach

I organized the platform around shared records and role-specific workspaces, refining the flows through prototypes and client reviews. In accounting, bank transactions sit beside candidate loans, so expected amounts, received funds, and differences can be compared in the same view.

Post-close review starts with a queue of exceptions. Missing documents, missing payments, and discrepancies appear in the rows and filters, giving reviewers a reason to open a file before they inspect its details.

A split drawer keeps the review queue in view while a loan is open. The summary, notes, and document checklist sit together, with payments, activity, and discussion available in the same panel. Reviewers can follow an issue without losing their place in the queue.

Payroll follows the same logic: make the state of the work visible. Pending, contested, and ready items have separate views, while employee records bring compensation plans and deductions into the review process.

Result

The final design connected onboarding, loan review, accounting, commissions, and payroll through shared records and focused workspaces. The client approved the designs, and implementation was underway at handoff. The outcome documented here is the delivered design; post-launch performance was not measured within the project.