Context

Blink is an audiovisual production company that connects talent and creative teams in different parts of the world. The company had internal platforms to manage productions, vendors, and finance, but the initial vendor onboarding still depended on a manual process handled by Operations.

Problem

Vendor onboarding was an operational bottleneck that could put the start of a production at risk.

Operations had to collect personal information, company details, tax forms, photos of identification documents, follow-up corrections, and contract signatures. All of this happened close to the start of the production, when timing was most critical.

The main problems identified were:

• Manual and slow process.

• Constant dependency on the Operations team.

• Information prone to errors.

• Risk of delays to the start of production.
  
  

Research and process mapping

First, we mapped the As-Is process with the Operations team to understand how a vendor was onboarded, which steps depended on the internal team, and where the main friction points appeared.

The analysis showed that the problem was not only related to the interface: many rules, decisions, and validations existed only in the team’s knowledge, but were not documented or included in the system.

Main findings

• There were different onboarding scenarios depending on the type of vendor.

• The required documentation varied by case.

• Tax, banking, and legal information needed specific validations.

• There was no clear or standardized flow.

This complexity meant that onboarding could not be solved with a single linear form. It needed a flexible, guided flow with early validations.

The goal was to turn that process into a guided system capable of collecting personal, tax, and banking information, validating critical data, and preparing the required documentation for operational review and approval.

Spreadsheet used by the production team to request vendor onboarding

As-Is process mapping

Design decisions

Based on the process mapping, we defined a series of decisions to reduce complexity, anticipate errors, and decrease operational dependency.

Many complex steps → Multi-step form

Different types of vendors → Conditional flow

Critical data errors → Early validations

Sensitive information → Contextual help

Contract requests by email → Contract management integrated into the flow

Solution

We designed a guided onboarding flow that adapts the steps depending on the type of vendor and centralizes data entry, documentation, tax forms, review, and contract signing.

The flow was organized into stages to reduce cognitive load, show only the necessary information, and allow early validations before operational approval.

• Early identification of the vendor type

• Progressive step-by-step navigation

• Adaptive forms

• Real-time validations

• Immediate feedback on errors and missing information

• Final review before submission

To-Be flow of the complete onboarding process, including validations, operational review, and final approval.

End-to-end onboarding flow, from information and document upload to approval or requests for adjustments and contract submission.

Validation

We ran usability tests with company vendors to validate their understanding of the flow and identify improvement opportunities before handoff.

The validation showed a good general understanding of the process and helped identify friction in specific steps.

Main findings

• The overall flow was easy to understand.

• The steps were clear to users.

• Vendors were able to correctly identify their profile type.

• Users understood how to select the correct tax form.

• Some users started the onboarding without having key information ready.

• It was not always clear that the legal name had to match exactly across all documents.

• Downloading, signing, and re-uploading forms created friction.

Iteration and final proposal

Based on the validation findings, we adjusted the flow to better anticipate the required information, reduce errors in critical data, and make the relationship between documentation, taxes, contract, and operational review clearer.

We added visibility into the process status and required information at the beginning of the flow.

We identified the vendor type at the beginning of the process to show only the relevant steps and fields.

We added a validation step so users could confirm that the entered name matched their documentation exactly.

We guided users through selecting and downloading the correct form based on their tax residence, while reinforcing the use of the validated legal name.

We allowed users to skip payment details temporarily and complete them later.

We added actions in Content Studio to validate data, approve the onboarding, and send the freelancer contract.

Operations can request corrections from the platform, allowing the vendor to update the information and continue the process.

We integrated digital contract signing into the vendor onboarding flow.

Impact

• The need for intervention from the Operations team was significantly reduced.

• Errors in documentation and critical data decreased.

• Vendor onboarding times were reduced.

• The system was able to handle a higher onboarding volume without increasing the operational workload.

👉 The Operations team stopped managing repetitive tasks and was able to focus on critical production situations.