Cash Flow Forecast Table

The Problem:

Finance leaders are often presented with detailed cash flow tables that are:

• Difficult to scan and interpret
• Lacking clear insights or summaries
• Not designed for quick decision-making

As a result, key questions are not easily answered:

• What is the current cash position?
• What has changed?
• What action should be taken next?

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The Challenge:

• Balancing detailed financial data with simplicity
• Supporting fast, high-stakes decision-making
• Maintaining trust and transparency
• Reducing cognitive load without removing critical information

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Approach:

• Reframed the experience from a data table to a decision-support tool
• Identified key user questions and priorities
• Used AI tools (Google Stitch + prompting) to rapidly explore layout and hierarchy options
• Generated multiple variations of summaries, groupings, and microcopy
• Structured the experience around clarity, scannability, and action
• Defined assumptions and a validation plan

Solution:

The MVP redesign shifts the experience from a static table to a decision-focused interface.

Key improvements:

• Top-level summary
  • Clear view of current cash position
  • Immediate understanding in seconds
• Change visibility
  • Highlights what has changed and why
• Risk indicators
  • Surfaces potential issues early
• Improved hierarchy
  • Prioritises key information above detailed data
• Progressive disclosure
  • Allows users to drill into detail when needed
• Action-oriented design
  • Suggests next steps based on financial context

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Outcome:

The redesigned experience enables CFOs to:

• Understand their financial position in under a minute
• Identify risks and changes quickly
• Take informed action with greater confidence

This project demonstrates how complex financial data can be transformed into a clear, actionable product experience by combining strong product thinking, structured design, and AI-assisted exploration.

My Design Process:

I approached this as a product problem, focusing on decision-making rather than UI.

1. Problem framing

• Reframed the experience from “data table” → “decision-support tool”
• Identified the key user questions:
  • What’s my current position?
  • What’s changed?
  • What should I do next?

2. Exploration using AI (Stitch + prompting)

To accelerate ideation and explore multiple directions quickly, I used AI tools including Stitch.

I used prompting to:

• Generate alternative layout structures for financial dashboards
• Explore different ways to summarise complex data
• Test variations of hierarchy and grouping
• Generate microcopy for clearer financial explanations

This allowed me to:

• Rapidly compare multiple approaches
• Identify stronger patterns early
• Reduce time spent on low-value iterations

3. Structuring the experience

• Defined a clear information hierarchy
• Introduced summary layers before detailed data
• Grouped related data for easier scanning
• Highlighted key changes and risks

4. Assumptions & validation thinking

• Identified gaps in available data and context
• Defined key assumptions around user behaviour and priorities
• Outlined a validation plan focused on:
  • CFO interviews
  • usability testing
  • measuring speed of understanding

Product:

An improved cash flow forecasting experience designed to support faster, more confident financial decision-making.

• Improves clarity of financial data
• Reduces time to insight
• Supports proactive decision-making
• Aligns with real-world CFO workflows