03 — Web Tool Design

PROTECT
eFiling Site

A web-based inter-county search tool enabling District Attorney staff to look up case and person details across all Wisconsin counties — with data refreshed nightly from every PROTECT database.

Client
SOW – DOA
Role
Sr. UI/UX Designer
Year
2024–2025
72
Wisconsin counties
connected to the system
Nightly
Automated data sync from
all PROTECT county databases
Web
Browser-based — no desktop
installation required
Project Overview

What is the
eFiling Site?

The PROTECT eFiling Site is a web-based tool that lets PROTECT users search case and person details across counties. It pulls fresh data each night from all PROTECT databases, making case lookups faster and easier for DA staff who need to cross-reference records outside their own county's jurisdiction.

🌙
Nightly Data Pull
All 72 county PROTECT databases sync overnight to a central web-accessible source
🔍
DA Searches
Staff enter case or person details to search across all county records simultaneously
📊
Results Surface
Matching records appear in a structured, scannable data table with key fields visible
📋
Case Accessed
Staff click through to full case or person detail without switching to the desktop app
Key Features Designed

What I Built
Into the Interface

01
Cross-county Search
Designed a single search interface that queries all 72 county databases simultaneously. Users can search by name, case number, date of birth, or other identifiers without selecting a county first — the system returns all matching results and indicates which county each record belongs to.
Search UXData ArchitectureMulti-source Query
02
eFiling Business Rules Data Table
Designed a dense, scannable data grid displaying attorney and compliance filing data across counties. Built with sortable columns, clear status indicators, and enough information density for legal professionals who work with large datasets daily.
Data GridSortable ColumnsStatus Indicators
03
Error State & Validation Handling
Designed clear error messaging for when a county connection fails or search returns unexpected results. Error states were designed to be actionable — telling users what to do next, not just that something went wrong. Inline validation prevents invalid searches from being submitted.
Error UXForm ValidationAccessibility
04
Person & Case Detail Views
Designed linked detail pages that expand individual search results into full person or case records — including AKA aliases, case associations, hearing dates, and county provenance — without leaving the web interface or needing to open the PROTECT desktop app.
Detail ViewsRecord LinkingCase Data
Interface in Action

The Search Results
Experience

The eFiling data table was designed to surface maximum information density within a legal professional's scanning pattern — name first, identifiers second, county and alias details on the right.

PROTECT eFiling Site — Search Results
DA Inter-County Query / Search / Search People
Search results for Last =
wood
Search
Results found: 5,003
Full Name ↕
DOB ↕
Gender ↕
Race ↕
Alias Details
Akbar, Aubreyona Renee07/25/1997FBAKA Aubreyona Woodley
Allen, Chad R07/30/1973MWAKA Chad Russell Allen
Arp, Troy J02/04/1968MWAKA Troy Jay Woods · AKA Troy Jay Arp
Ballesteros, Diana Renee10/05/1967FIAKA D. Wood · AKA Diana Renee Wood +3 More
Carlson, Michael W—MWAKA Mike Woodfield
Showing 5 of 5,003 results across all 72 Wisconsin counties · Data synced nightly
Design Decisions

Why These Choices
Were Made

📋
Dense table over cards
Legal professionals scan large datasets. Card layouts would require too much scrolling. A tight data table with good visual hierarchy lets users process 20+ rows at a glance.
🔤
Last name first, always
DA staff search by surname. The table columns and sort order were designed around this mental model — not alphabetical first name order, which slows legal lookups.
🔗
Alias column surfaced prominently
AKA records are critical for cross-county matching. Surfacing aliases inline in the results grid — not hidden in a detail view — was an intentional design decision backed by user research.
🌐
Web-first, no installation
Not all DA staff need full PROTECT desktop access. A browser-based tool means lighter deployment, broader access, and faster adoption across offices with varying IT setups.
⚠️
Actionable error states
Error messages were redesigned to tell users exactly what to do — not just what went wrong. "County connection failed — try again or contact IT" is more useful than a generic error banner.
🔄
Nightly sync transparency
The UI communicates clearly when data was last synced. Legal staff need to know data recency before acting on a record — a small detail with a significant trust impact.
Impact & Takeaway
A well-designed search interface for legal professionals isn't about simplicity — it's about putting the right data in the right order, fast.
Key Learnings
Data density is a feature, not a problem — legal professionals prefer information-rich interfaces over simplified consumer-style layouts
Designing for nightly batch data required thinking through edge cases: stale data, sync failures, and partial county outages
Inter-county legal workflows have unique mental models — designing for them requires understanding the actual process, not just the data structure
Transparency about data freshness builds institutional trust — a critical factor in government and legal tooling