Project overview
During COVID-19, the CARES Act made funding available to small businesses. My product team was asked to build the application portal in a 72-hour window, ahead of the public release of the first version. Since launch it has been used by 70,000+ small businesses and went through several later releases.
Impact
72 hrs
to build the first version
70,000+
small businesses used the portal
My role
I was involved from the start, reviewing the government’s requirements with legal, technology, and product teams. I co-led user testing with friends and family clients and onboarded a designer who joined later.
The users
S
Small business owners
Applying for and reporting on their loan.
A
Accountants
Reporting how funds were spent on behalf of owners.
I
Internal PNC employees
Reviewing and processing applications.
Select screens
Eligible nonpayroll costs. Business owners or accountants report how funds were spent (utilities, mortgage, rent and similar), and the portal calculates the forgivable amount.
Assumptions
An early version assumed users would want to link business credit cards to import transactions. User research showed they didn’t, so we dropped that version.