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Lizzie Teo

BRDT MVP at Amazon Innovation EBA

Overview

Over a three day hackathon hosted by Amazon, a team from Australian Payments Plus set out to deliver a working MVP of the Business Requirements Data Table (BRDT) Portal for NPP admins.

Engineers, product managers, business analysts and engineering leaders worked with AWS specialists, building with Kiro.

Event
Innovation EBA, hosted by Amazon, October 2025
Focus
  • Translated design intent into actionable specs for implementation.
  • Built rapid prototypes in Figma aligned with the component library.
  • Used Kiro to refine UI components, fix styling issues, and improve accessibility.
  • Facilitated alignment across teams through quick visual prototypes.

AP+ Testing Portal logo
The BRDT portal dashboard

Overview

Exploring how human and AI workflows can work in tandem

In October 2025 I joined the Australian Payments Plus team at the Innovation EBA. We had three days to define and deliver a minimum viable product (MVP), and to explore how building with Kiro could speed up software delivery.

I worked directly with engineers, product managers, business analysts, engineering leaders and AWS specialists, and saw how human and AI workflows could run side by side on enterprise software.

The problem

The problem we were trying to solve

A patchwork of legacy systems

AP+ had grown over time through several legacy systems. Users found the patchwork confusing, our teams found it inefficient, and it added security risks we didn’t need.

The aim

We aimed to bring the applications our customers use into a single, secure platform.

Examples of the legacy designs

The legacy BRDT dashboard
The legacy designs
The legacy participants screen
The system was created by an external party

The challenge

The invite came a day before the hackathon, so there was no formal UX brief and no time set aside for research.

There was plenty of documentation, but it was scattered across slide decks, meeting videos, transcripts and technical user guides.

With so little time, I knew we had to understand how people actually used BRDT, or our design and build would lack grounding.

The targets

We went in with these two targets. Neither is a reported result. We wanted to deliver a working MVP of the BRDT portal for NPP admins and retire the old one.

Participants and XML
Implement participant CRUD operations and XML generation
Sprint cycles
Demonstrate how Kiro could compress sprint cycles into hours

The approach

Research and synthesis

I had one weekend before the event, so I set up a custom OpenAI ChatGPT agent as a research assistant.

I asked it targeted research questions, which let me draft the key artefacts quickly.

What I went through

  • PowerPoint decks and system walkthroughs
  • Previous meeting recordings and transcripts
  • BRDT user guides and admin documentation

Custom OpenAI ChatGPT agent

A research assistant, asked targeted research questions

Rules

  • No assumptions
  • Nothing beyond the configured knowledge base

I checked each response against where the information came from.

  • Detailed definitions of external and internal user types and their use cases
  • A user journey map for NPP admins and participants
  • An operational life cycle overview
  • An information architecture (IA) for the MVP scope
  • An analysis of stakeholder input to uncover unaddressed user pain points, with the gaps mapped against existing data to refine research objectives and guide design decisions
  • Rapid prototypes built on the Figma design system I had created for the Testing Portal
The custom OpenAI ChatGPT agent set up as a research assistant
Utilising a customised agent

Examples of the synthesis

These artefacts helped inform the design and support discussions at the event.

Internal users

  • NPPA / AP+ Operations Team

    Primary Organisation
    AP+ (formerly NPPA)
    Main Responsibilities
    • Own and govern the BRDT system.
    • Approve participant submissions.
    • Generate and distribute monthly BRDT XML to SWIFT.
    • Maintain version control and industry communications.
    Tools / Applications Used
    BRDT Admin Portal, XML Generator, Data Management
    Access Scope
    Full administrative access across all environments (Prod + Test).

  • AP+ User Administration Team

    Primary Organisation
    AP+
    Main Responsibilities
    • Manage user provisioning and permissions for both internal staff and external participants.
    • Oversee user onboarding/offboarding and access control policies.
    • Audit user activity and permissions.
    Tools / Applications Used
    User Management Application (Azure Entra ID integrated)
    Access Scope
    Create/edit/delete users and groups across TST01, F1, F2, SW, MMS00, and Prod.

  • Bridge Digital (Development Partner)

    Primary Organisation
    The Bridge Digital Solutions
    Main Responsibilities
    • Technical development, maintenance, and deployment of BRDT applications.
    • Manage releases across Azure environments.
    • Troubleshoot, support, and implement enhancements.
    Tools / Applications Used
    Azure App Services, Function Apps, SQL Databases, Deployment Pipelines
    Access Scope
    Apps, SQL Databases, Deployment Pipelines; Development & UAT environments; elevated permissions for application-level fixes.

  • AP+ Technical Operations / Infrastructure Team

    Primary Organisation
    AP+
    Main Responsibilities
    • Oversee hosting environments and Azure tenant management.
    • Ensure application uptime, backups, and disaster recovery.
    • Manage environment configurations and infrastructure security.
    Tools / Applications Used
    Azure Portal, Function Apps, Logging and Monitoring tools
    Access Scope
    Infrastructure-level admin access (read/write for all instances).

  • AP+ Governance & Compliance (Regulatory Oversight)

    Primary Organisation
    AP+
    Main Responsibilities
    • Ensure BRDT processes adhere to NPP Regulations and NPP Procedures.
    • Review data integrity and participant compliance with update timelines.
    • Validate change control process for new participants or service capabilities.
    Tools / Applications Used
    BRDT Admin Reporting, Audit Logs, XML Archive
    Access Scope
    Read/reporting access to production environment.

  • Testing & QA (AP+ + Bridge)

    Primary Organisation
    Shared
    Main Responsibilities
    • Conduct regression testing of BRDT enhancements in TST01, F1, F2, SW, MMS environments.
    • Validate XML schema compliance and BRDT data propagation.
    Tools / Applications Used
    Test Environments (tst01-bradmin.nppaustralia.com.au, etc.)
    Access Scope
    Test-level admin rights for validation and QA workflows.

  • Service Desk / Support Analysts

    Primary Organisation
    AP+ / Bridge Digital
    Main Responsibilities
    • Respond to participant issues or incidents logged via NPPA Operations.
    • Manage support tickets and troubleshoot login or submission problems.
    • Provide onboarding assistance for external users.
    Tools / Applications Used
    BRDT Admin Dashboard, User Management, ServiceNow or support email channels
    Access Scope
    Limited admin access for participant support and triage.

  • AP+ Management / Business Owners

    Primary Organisation
    AP+
    Main Responsibilities
    • Oversee the overall performance and usage of BRDT.
    • Approve significant updates or schema changes.
    • Coordinate industry communications regarding new releases.
    Tools / Applications Used
    Reports, Dashboards, XML Distribution Logs
    Access Scope
    Read-only and approval rights for production releases.

Information architecture

New features that address user pain points are shown in purple.

User Administrator

Manage NPPA and participant users, groups, and access permissions. Current state; the core is documented.

  • New feature
  • Screen
  • Branch point
  • Result
  • Document

Start

  • Summaries/ quick links

    • Count:Submissions rejected by NPPA
    • Count:Submissions pending NPPA Review
    • Count:Awaiting submission by participant
    • Count:Submissions Approved by NPPA
    • Count:View BICs Requiring setup by participant
    • Count:Active participant BICs

    Filtered list to relevant summaryParticipants listin Data management

  • Data management

    • Participants
      • Participants list
        • Create new
          Add participant:BICNameMnemonicParticipant type
          • Save,Save and edit,Reset,Delete
        • Select
          Single participant details. E.g. ANZ
          • Show changes
            Account Servicers list:Scheme, issuer added.e.g. BBAN, 585021
          • Show changes
            BO Service Codes table (Clearing and settlement arrangements)
            • Delete
              Deleted
            • Add new arrangement
              Added to list
          • BO Services table
            • Subscribed or unsubscribed
              Message services get generated in “Services” list
        • Bulk import BSBNew
        • Bulk subscribe members to a serviceNew
    • Arrangements
    • Account Servicers
      • BBAN ranges a member has:Bpay, Pay ID etc
    • BI Services
      • BI services list
        • list of BIC dependencies
          • Deleted

            All dependencies need to be removed before the BI Service can be deleted.

        • Select and Edit
          Single BI Service
        • Create new
          Modal
    • BO Services
      • BO Services and Overlay Models
        • list of BIC dependencies
          • Deleted

            All dependencies need to be removed before the BI Service can be deleted.

        • Select and Edit
          Single BO Service
        • Create new
          Modal
    • BO Service Codes
    • BO Service Members
    • Services
    • Message Types
      • Message types list
        • delete
          Deleted
        • Edit
          Message type Description
          • Saved or reset
        • Create new
          Message type Description
    • Overlay Models
      • Overlay models list

        Osko is an overlay of NPP. Type 1 and type 3 etc are variants.

        • delete
          Deleted
        • Edit
          Details
    • Schemes
      • Account service information:AIN: cardsBBAN: Australian BSBCBSB: subscribed as a COP data holder in the BRDT

        E.g. Westpac Bank ready to receive COP request

        • Edit
          Details
    • Participant Types
      • Full participantClearing participantSettlement participantConnected institutionIdentified institution
        • Edit
          Details
    • Environments
      • Prod environment
    • MMS Capabilities
      • participants participating in MMS as initiator:create mandatesVSdebtor: their customers are payers of mandates…

  • Admin

    • Users and groups
    • Company
      • Participant mapping list
        • Edit company:shows a list of organisations a single company sponsorShows their users.

          related to Data collection from participant POV

    • Reports & Audit
      • Modal:Select categoriesSelect from dropdowns
        • Export
          Document
    • Calendar

  • XML

    • Generate XML
    • XML Archive
    • Download Current XML
    • Compare to current file with previous fileNew

How we built it

The three days

  1. Day 1

    Setup, alignment and an introduction to Kiro, then ways of working and collaborative coding

  2. Day 2

    Two teams worked on collaborative prompting and frontend fixes

  3. Day 3

    Integration, polish, and a demo showcase to our CTO

Three days. One goal. Build together and learn fast.

Kiro's spec-driven cycle

We structured our work around Kiro's cycle, from a written spec through to review.

  1. Spec

    Capture user needs in natural language.

  2. Requirements

    Convert them into user stories and acceptance criteria.

  3. Design

    Generate and refine technical design documentation.

  4. Tasks

    Create front end and back end components and test cases.

  5. Review

    Test, refine, and deploy working software.

We split into teams and used this cycle to build each feature end to end.

My role

I paired closely with a backend engineer, who focused on the backend logic while I refined the frontend UI and user flows.

I created new components through prompting and the Figma MCP Server, and applied tips from an AWS specialist to work more efficiently.

We reviewed progress as we went, checking what worked and what needed changing. I also worked with architect engineers to improve the Figma designs for the next phase, so the information architecture was ready for deeper refinement later.

We validated changes in real time and merged branches as we went, so every update stayed true to the design intent and kept the code production ready.

Key contributions

  • Translated design intent into actionable specs for implementation.
  • Built rapid prototypes in Figma aligned with the component library.
  • Used Kiro to refine UI components, fix styling issues, and improve accessibility.
  • Facilitated alignment across teams through quick visual prototypes.
Photo from the hackathon
Photo from the hackathon

Design system to code

I made sure we used the Figma design system I had built for the Testing Portal. Its variables matched the global.css in our repository, which helped speed up frontend development and keep the screens visually consistent.

Figma

Design system variables

From the design system I built for the AP+ Testing Portal

Code

global.css

In our repository

Read the AP+ Testing Portal case study

The outcome

What we delivered

Our working MVP rebuilt the functions of the old BRDT system as a modern web application. The old tool was tied to SharePoint, and the MVP ran on AWS Aurora PostgreSQL.

Participants
Completed full CRUD operations for Participants and Participant Types
Modules
Built and tested Arrangements, Account Services, and BO Services modules
XML generation
Implemented XML generation that matched outputs from the legacy system
Dashboard
Created a modern dashboard with live refresh and optimistic updates
APIs and tests
Integrated APIs and automation testsusing Kiro’s spec driven workflow
Pairing
Connected front end and back end by pairing with engineers in real time
Design system
Delivered a user experience aligned with the AP Plus design systemRead the AP+ Testing Portal case study
Deployment
Deployed the working prototype on AWS infrastructure, connected to Aurora PostgreSQL

The XML screens

The screen for creating XML
The history of generated XML

The showcase

We ended day three with a demo showcase to our CTO.

The AWS and Australian Payments Plus Innovation EBA showcase slide
A photo from the Innovation EBA

What it was meant to enable

These are what the working prototype was meant to make possible, and none of them was measured.

Automation
Turn manual steps into smooth, automated flows
Migration
Move core functionality from the old SharePoint system onto AWS
Foundation
Lay a modern foundation for continuous updates and faster releases
Collaboration
Get design and engineering working together instead of in sequence
Speed
Show how curiosity and collaboration, powered by AI, can turn ideas into results in days