Incremental Search in Financial Self-Service Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Financial management systems face challenges in providing efficient search and navigation capabilities, leading to user frustration and potential abandonment due to complex user experiences and the need for human professionals for tasks like invoicing, payroll, and tax submissions.
Innovation Solution
A customer self-service system that offers incremental search results and navigation within the financial management system, using natural language processing and social graphs to provide domain-specific suggestions in real-time, allowing users to find and access relevant information quickly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional search and navigation methods are used in financial management systems, then users can access information through standard interfaces, but users experience frustration and abandonment due to complex user experiences and difficulty finding information
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively presenting relevant financial management actions (invoice creation, payroll setup, tax filing) to users before they need to search for them. The natural language processing engine analyzes user intent and pre-retrieves appropriate actions and information, eliminating the need for users to navigate complex menus or formulate precise search queries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a natural language processing engine as an intermediary between the user and the financial management system. This intermediary translates casual user input into structured search queries, automatically retrieves relevant information from multiple data sources, and presents results in an easily digestible format, thereby simplifying the interaction without requiring users to learn complex navigation patterns.
2Adaptability or versatility
If comprehensive financial management features are provided, then users gain access to full-featured business management capabilities, but the system presents numerous user experience pages and options that are difficult to recall and navigate
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service mechanisms where the natural language processing engine automatically understands user intent and retrieves the appropriate information without requiring users to navigate through complex interfaces. Users simply state what they need in natural language, and the system autonomously processes the request, presenting relevant financial management actions and information directly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal search interface that handles multiple types of financial management queries (invoice-related, payroll-related, tax-related, general business information) through a single natural language processing engine. This multi-functional approach allows users to access diverse features without needing to learn different navigation patterns for each feature category.
3Reliability
If users struggle to find information in the system, then comprehensive features remain available, but users experience fear, uncertainty, and doubt that leads to frustration and abandonment
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the natural language processing engine continuously refines its understanding of user intent based on interaction patterns. The system provides immediate feedback by presenting relevant actions and information in response to natural language queries, and learns from user corrections or preferences to improve future interactions, thereby building user confidence and reducing frustration.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed methods and systems provide domain-specific incremental search results for search query terms with a customer self-service system for a financial management system, according to one embodiment. Incremental search results are search results that are generated for search query terms, as a user enters the search query terms as part of a search query to a customer self-service system, according to one embodiment. The customer self-service system receives search query terms (e.g., a partial search query) in a search text box, searches user content (e.g., business transactions, personal transactions, etc.) and customer self-service system content for content that is relevant to the search query terms, and provides incremental search results navigation links within a results text box to enable users to easily see search results (e.g., transaction records) and to enable users to navigate to transactions records or other user content, from the results text box, according to one embodiment.