The Risk Assessment Engine is a feature I designed for DAT One as a part of efforts to combat fraud. The Figma prototype below is a recreation and not a direct 1:1 to the final handoff.
Background / Industry
DAT (Dial-A-Truck) is the Craigslist of the freight industry focusing on long-haul trucking and independent contractors.
I go into significantly more detail here:
User Problem
Fraud
Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a dramatic increase in fraud on DAT’s platforms. The company took a multi-prong approach in combating this problem. This project focuses on one of those prongs: vetting potential partners.
Our Answer
How might we reduce fraud and save our customers’ time?
The Risk Assessment Engine. It generates an easily consumable rating based on known indicators of fraudulent behavior both proprietary and public.
Research
I go into significantly more detail about the research we conducted for this project in the detailed breakdown of this project. Click below to read more:
Ideation
Pulling on previous studies and incorporating new information from the feature-specific studies mentioned above, I dove into defining user flows and sketching out interfaces.
Persona
Flow
Sketches
Data Model / Scoring System
We spent significant time discussing and constructing the data model.
We intended the Risk Assessment Engine to be a living set of criteria that could eventually morph into a large language model.
It would rate the carriers (truck drivers) in our system against established standard and provide warnings and information as to why they may or may not be a good partner.
Design, Prototyping, Testing
The Company Search Page - new with this feature
The assessment shown in-line with the new company search results.
The Company Profile - with expanded Assessment
The expanded assessment card is intended to be the hover state on interacting with the icon assessment throughout the product. If you click a subscore, the page scrolls to the relevant information and highlights the card.
Prototype
Recreation, not 1:1 to final design handoff.
Testing
We announced the Risk Assessment Engine at DAT’s annual convention and held a rigorous round of usability testing / concept review with our customers. I moderated the sessions and wrote the final report.
The primary takeaways:
Very positive response
Widespread interest in how we would calculate the assessment
Concerns over transparency and customization in-line with pre-announcement studies
Next Steps
Moving forward these were the next steps in continuing to develop this feature:
Add more data to the fledgling model
Test the score against known good and bad actors
Improve information architecture and availability
Explore customization of the assessment
Continue to adapt and iterate based on feedback from users