Client search

User Needs

To find the client (who may be on the end of the phone) as quickly as possible

Technical requirements

Most banks have a two tiered data structure to store client data. e.g. Firms and people at a firm. Some banks are not as concerned with finding the people as the deal is technically done with the Firm. (This is something that will be tolerated less with rising regulatory requirements)

Design

After researching traditional search UI patterns and some modern examples I drew an interaction model for using a keyboard and/or a mouse to navigate through two levels of search in one UI space.

The trader types in a term and can select a result if it appears with keyboard or mouse. If not then they can add more characters or focus a Firm (tier 1) and press 'Tab' to apply a filter to further search terms down to that Firm.

After the trader has the client the are looking for they use the sales ticket to enter the trade details.