Objectives
OUR CLIENTS AT MYRIAD ASSOCIATES PATENTED A SYSTEM FOR DIGITIsING THE APPROVAL, DOCUMENTATION, AND CLAIM PROCESS FOR R&D TAX CREDITS
NXT's project role was to strategise the project and help break down the technical and legislative requirements of HMRC's R&D tax credits into a usable web application system. The objective was to enable businesses to navigate through the claim process and empower Myriad Associates' R&D tax experts to administer, approve, and report claims more efficiently. As the project was also technically a startup with a new brand, NXT supported all creative and brand strategies to bolster internal marketing.
Solution
building A secure .net web application that processes business critical data.
The project was broken into three main sprints. Firstly, an initial brand and creative project aimed at developing the look and feel of Tax Cloud, the brand, and the marketing site. Secondly, the scoping and planning of the application system for business clients to use. Finally, the requirements for an administration system used by the Myriad team to verify, edit and approve draft claims.
The strategic UI planning for the application enabled NXT to create a sitemap visual using Adobe XD to guide through the online form completion process. At each step, we analysed the business requirements, the R&D logic, integration and UX layouts to create a portal and wizard lead application. The system included a number of verification steps to ensure administrators could veto potential unqualified claims.
From an administration perspective, a separate dashboard and alerts system were planned to help the Myriad team in dealing with claims and updates. We included a chat and comments concept to support their customers in sharing direct feedback on all areas of the claim.
Technical Features
- Branding, creative and custom illustrations
- .NET secure web application system
- Xero integration
- R&D cost calculation tools
- PDF report generation tool
- Tax Credit timesheet system
- Multi-lingual versions - Tax Cloud Ireland
- User and Client management dashboard
- Sendgrid email service
- Umbraco CMS micro-site per language
DEVELOPment of the ui/ux and application structure supported the clients aspirations of a scalable claim management application.
Having scoped the end to end solution from marketing front-end, application registration and portal, NXT built the Tax Cloud solution as a .NET application within Microsoft Azure.
This enabled the team to utilise the latest development stack and supported the aspirations of the client to build international claim portals to support business growth. Currently there are now three separate international versions of Tax Cloud available.
One of key features of Tax Cloud has been supporting Accountancy businesses and with that has been fast processing of financial claim data. We enabled the Xero API to automate the sharing of financial cost data to the portal and integrate within the claim process.
VISUAL and creative theme to support a fun and playful approach to a complicated subject matter.
As a brand we worked with the core components of the name being "Tax" and "Cloud" and wanted to steer away from any Tax or Financial institution imagery. The overall brand used the cloud theme as a setting to the guidelines but also framed main brand colours using a secondary colour from the main Myriad Associates theme, utilising the same orange colour for calls to action.
We created custom icons and illustrations to explain the process of starting and making claim and threaded these styles throughout the marketing site, landing pages, email collateral, exhibition stands and other printed materials. All concepts and illustrations were bespoke to Tax Cloud and utilised as part of the business explainer video on the Tax Cloud homepage.
Result
the portal has ENABLED 500+ self-serviCe CLAIMS SINCE LAUNCH, and it was nominated as "best new accountancy technology" in 2019.
The uptake and engagement of the Tax Cloud system have been incredible since launch. As the first-ever self-service platform, it has facilitated multiple successful claims, and user feedback on the system has been extremely positive, with over 500+ successful claims with HMRC. Remarkably, 85% of first-time claimants return to reuse the portal, and with the feature list expanding every year, the system was also nominated at the Accounting Excellence Awards as 'Product Innovation of the Year' in 2019.
Our relationship with NXT has developed over the past 9 years and now they manage and maintain our suite of technical products and marketing websites. They are flexible but knowledgeable approach to all our digital projects, enables our businesses to grow. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend their design or development services. Managing Director - Myriad Associates
