Project Overview

Small businesses were waiting over two weeks for reimbursements, causing frustration and inefficiency. During my internship, I redesigned the end-to-end experience in QuickBooks Online, cutting that time by 70%.
Role:

Product Designer @ Intuit

Team:
Tools:
Task

Impact

Interaction Design, User Research, and Testing

Figma, Claude.ai, ProtoPie

4 Design leaders, Senior PMs, 2 Engineers

intent during user testing, showing strong product-market fit
reduction in reimbursement processing time for small businesses

14.5 → 4 days

95% adoption

70% faster 

turnaround for employees receiving reimbursements

Providing Context

What is Quickbooks Online?

QuickBooks Online (QBO) is Intuit’s cloud-based platform that helps millions of small businesses manage their finances, from payroll and invoicing to expense tracking.

What is Employee Expense management?

Within QBO, expense management lets businesses track and approve employee purchases. It ensures receipts are submitted, policies are followed, and employees are reimbursed.

Breakdowns in Communication Slow Reimbursements

So what’s the problem?

Without clear transaction context, admins spend extra time chasing employees for missing details, delaying reimbursement.

Manager

Employees

Unclear requests and slow responses mean employees wait weeks to get paid.

Current State

Expense reimbursement was fragmented and slow

Vision State

A streamlined, transparent reimbursement flow
A one-week competitive analysis of four products revealed how existing tools manage reimbursements and employee–admin communication. Key insights highlighted gaps that shaped the initial design concepts.

Finding the gaps

Competitive Analysis

Expensify

Chat-based collaboration, but can overwhelm with notifications

Zoho

In-context comments, but complex UI as it was hard to find the feature

Bill.com

Strong reminders, but fragmented across channels

Fyle.com

AI-driven receipts, but limited transparency for employees

Initial Concepts

From the competitive analysis and problem findings, I sketched three directions to streamline communication and reduce delays:
Commenting System → Add contextual, threaded comments directly on expenses to avoid long email chains.
Chat System → Enable quick, lightweight conversations tied to expense items rather than scattered across channels.
Real-time Notifications → Push instant alerts (SMS, email, in-app) for comments, rejections, or approvals to keep the process moving.
I explored two approaches to embedding communication directly within the expense form:

Chat Drawer (Concept A)

A side panel opens when the admin requests more info, keeping comments visible but separate from the main form.

Pop-up Chat

Concept Exploration

Communication via expense form

Inline Comments (Concept B)

Comments appear directly within the expense form under each field.

Communication by people

I also explored a people-based approach, where managers and employees could chat one-to-one in a pop-up panel, similar to Slack. This made communication feel lightweight and familiar, but risked losing context since conversations weren’t tied to a specific expense.

Real Time Notifications

Timely responses are critical for reducing delays. Notifications via push, SMS, or email alert employees and admins instantly, allowing them to respond directly without leaving their workflow.

Push

SMS/Text

Email

User Testing

Who I talked to

Participants:

  • 13 customers interviewed
  • 10 Admins, 3 Employees

✅ What worked well

  • Comment drawer improved context

  • Email and SMS notifications kept users responsive

  • Tracking conversations directly within the system was highly valued

⚠️ Pain points

  • Wanted ability to edit, delete, and reply to comments

  • Comments button was not always visible in the footer

  • Requested AI-assisted canned responses for repetitive comments

  • Some preferred Slack for communication over in-app tools

🔑 Takeaways

Lets make some Improvements…

Final Design

Comment Drawer

Comment Button

New Comment Alert

Final Design

Prototype Demo

Time to Reflect

As this was my first internship and my first time working at such a successful company, I initially felt a bit intimidated. I felt like a small speck in the vast world of Intuit and wondered how I could make an impact. However, as the weeks passed and I grew more comfortable with both my team and myself, I gained confidence. I began to feel like a seasoned employee who had been part of the company for years. With the support of my incredible manager, who believed in me every step of the way, I was able to deliver what I consider my best work and proudly present it to my team and now, to everyone. It was so cool to see how such a large company works behind the scenes and to be part of it was something I will never forget. Here are a few takeaways from my 3 months at Intuit:

Customer are valuable

Testing showed me that usability and functionality matter more than aesthetics. A design I thought looked better was rejected by 90% of users because it was harder to use. This reinforced that customer feedback must drive design decisions.

Communication is Key

Collaboration required me to clearly explain my design rationale, not just share screens or files. I learned that effective communication builds trust, keeps teammates engaged, and makes design outcomes stronger.

Thanks for Reading :)