Own product · Definition and prototype
Rental application desk for letting agencies
My own product, at prototype stage. It is defined and prototyped. No application code is written and nothing has shipped.
A system designed to take a rental application from the listing link to a lease signed by both sides. Agents work in one workspace. Each applicant gets a page under the agency’s name with the status and the next step.
It is on this site for one reason: it shows how I define a product before I build one.
Prototype
Not shipped- Role
- Research, product definition and design
- For
- Belgian letting agencies, and the people who apply to them
- Designed to replace
- Applications sorted across email, PDFs and a spreadsheet
- Stage
- Definition and prototype
- Prototypes
- 3, in HTML
- On paper
- Product docs, 8 decision records, an information architecture, 9 journeys, wireframes for every page
The problem
What it is designed to replace.
An agent sorts the applications for one unit across email, PDFs and a spreadsheet.
One file per application, grouped by whose move it is: yours, theirs, or after signature.
Applicants send their documents and hear nothing back.
A page under the agency’s name that shows the status and the one next step.
The lease rules of each region live in the agent’s head.
A unit carries its region, and its document checklist follows from it.
One application, from the link to the move-in:
- Apply linkOne link per unit
- ApplicationLands in Work
- DocumentsChecklist, with waive
- ViewingPlanned, attended
- ChosenOne at most
- Lease signedBy both parties
- Move-inFour items, with proof
Try the prototype
One checklist, two sides.
The agent’s file and the applicant’s page read the same checklist. Upload on the phone and the file fills in. Waive a document in the file and the phone stops asking for it. The reminder is written from whatever is still open.
The agent’s file
Proof of identity
Uploaded 6 Aug · too dark to read
Payslip
Not uploaded yet
Proof of address
Received 9 Aug
Hello Sofie,
Two things are still missing from your file for Rue de l’Exemple 12:
- a readable proof of identity (the scan you sent is too dark to read)
- your most recent payslip
You can add them on your application page.
The applicant’s page
Your application
Rue de l’Exemple 12, 1000 Brussels
2 things are missing
Add what is missing and the agency can look at your file.Proof of identity
Too dark to read. Send it again.Payslip
Not uploaded yetProof of address
Received 9 Aug
Prototype. Nothing is uploaded.
Own product · Prototype
One checklist, two sides
Prototype. Nothing is uploaded, sent or stored. The people and the address are made up.
Why it is here
How I define a product before I build it.
The words come first.
Unit, application, stage, closed outcome. Each term is defined once, so the screens, the data and the conversations with agents all use the same one.
Decisions are written down.
Eight decision records, each a choice and its reason. One of them: the assistant drafts emails and flags unreadable files, and it never grades a person.
Journeys before screens.
Nine journeys from the apply link to the move-in checklist, then wireframes for every page, then three clickable prototypes to test them.
The rule the design hangs on
The software checks whether a file is complete. It does not score, rank or rate a person, and what an applicant declares is shown as they declared it. The agent decides.
What this does not prove
Delivery. Nothing here has shipped, so I claim nothing about how it performs or which rules it meets. For software that runs, look at the clinic platform and the CRM.
Prototype screens
Five screens from the prototypes.
Screen 1 of 5: Work
Work
11 files open across 5 units
Rue de l’Exemple 12
1000 Brussels · 9-year
€1,250
3 open
Voorbeeldlaan 8
9000 Ghent · 9-year
€980
3 open
Voorbeeldstraat 21
2000 Antwerp · 9-year
€1,120
3 open
Rue du Modèle 3
4000 Liège · Short term
€760
Signed
Rue de l’Essai 5
5000 Namur · Short term
€690
Signed
Screen 2 of 5: Pipeline
Units / Rue de l’Exemple 12
1000 Brussels · €1,250 a month · 9-year lease
Karim Benali
None missing · viewing planned
Applied 10 Aug
Sofie Maes
2 missing · viewing attended
Applied 6 Aug
Noah Dubois
None missing · viewing attended
Applied 7 Aug
Nobody chosen yet
One applicant at most. Choosing opens the lease.Screen 3 of 5: Application file
Proof of identity
Uploaded 6 Aug · too dark to read
Payslip
Not uploaded yet
Proof of address
Received 9 Aug
€3,400 a month
As declared by the applicant. Rent is €1,250.
- Household
- 2 adults
- Guarantor
- None
- Applied
- 6 Aug
Hello Sofie,
Thank you for applying for Rue de l’Exemple 12. Two things are still missing from your file:
- a readable proof of identity (the scan you sent is too dark to read)
- your most recent payslip
You can add them on your application page.
Kind regards,
Nora Jacobs
Screen 4 of 5: Compare
Karim Benali
None missing · viewing planned
Applied 10 Aug
Sofie Maes
2 missing · viewing attended
Applied 6 Aug
Noah Dubois
None missing · viewing attended
Applied 7 Aug
Nobody chosen yet
One applicant at most. Choosing opens the lease.Screen 5 of 5: After signature
Deposit
Proof uploaded 2 Sep
Lease registration
Upload the proof
Inventory
Signed by both, uploaded 4 Sep
Insurance
Waiting on the tenant
- Template
- Short-term lease
- Signed
- By both parties, 1 Sep
- Document
- lease-rue-du-modele-3.pdf
Rue du Modèle 3: lease signed, 2 of 4 move-in items done
The lease was signed by both parties on 1 September.
- Deposit: done
- Lease registration: open
- Inventory: done
- Insurance: open
You get the next mail when the checklist changes.
Own product · Prototype
Work
Prototype. Every open file, sorted by whose move it is.
The services this is proof for
More work without a public link
A product that is still an idea and a folder of notes is where I start.