Unqork Government Live Build Challenge ‘24: Auxo’s FSA Loan Application Solution

The Farmer’s Plight

John’s crops lay withering in the relentless sun, devastated by the unforgiving drought. His family farm, passed down through generations, teetered on the brink of ruin. Without an influx of funds to keep operations afloat, John feared he would lose everything his ancestors had worked so hard to build.

Yet the path to salvation—the loan application process—seemed almost as daunting as the drought itself. John dreaded the endless forms drafted in indecipherable legalese, each demanding the same information over and over. He knew the road ahead would be paved with constant back-and-forth with loan officers, chasing down missing documents, and constantly seeking clarifications from the FSA.

And even if he managed to navigate the bureaucratic labyrinth, the agonizing wait for approval could drag on for months, leaving his farm to wither further with each passing day. John felt trapped, his future hanging in the limbo of an antiquated, opaque system that seemed designed to frustrate rather than assist.

The Loan Officer’s Burden

Barbara’s day began like any other—a deluge of incomplete loan applications, each one a tangled web of missing information and disorganized documentation. She knew that behind every application was a farmer in dire need, but the process seemed engineered to hinder rather than help.

As she sifted through the piles, Barbara found herself spending more time chasing down applicants for clarifications and additional paperwork than she did actually reviewing their cases. The constant back-and-forth was a drain on her time and resources, leaving little capacity for personalized service or expediency.

Worse still, the lack of transparency in the process meant that applicants were left in the dark, growing increasingly anxious and frustrated as their loan requests languished in limbo. Barbara knew the bottlenecks were driving away the very people the agency was meant to serve, but she felt powerless to enact meaningful change.

The Underwriter’s Quandary

Jacob’s role as an underwriter should have been straightforward—assess the merits of each loan application and make informed decisions. However, the reality was far more complicated, as he found himself constantly hindered by incomplete information and disorganized documentation.

Application materials would arrive in scattered fragments, forcing Jacob to piece together disparate pieces to understand an applicant’s situation. Key details were often missing or buried beneath irrelevant information, leaving him to make decisions based on incomplete or potentially outdated data.

The lack of transparency in the process only exacerbated the problem, as Jacob found himself unable to easily trace the history or status of each application. Without a clear, organized picture, he was left to make educated guesses—a precarious proposition when the livelihoods of farmers hung in the balance.

As the backlog of applications grew, Jacob felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on him, with his decision-making ability constrained by the limitations of an antiquated system ill-equipped to meet the demands of the modern agricultural landscape.

The Solution

As part of the Unqork Government Live Build Challenge ‘24, Auxo chose to build (in-real time!) a solution to accelerate and streamline the FSA loan application process. During the challenge, they created a solution that demonstrates the power of both Auxo’s case management accelerator and Unqork to drive impactful mission modernization, all without writing a single line of code. 

The Auxo team was able to quickly create a customized solution that connects and automates key parts of the process across all stakeholders, thanks to Unqork’s ability to support robust RBAC and complex workflows. Just as important, the solution is easy to adapt to meet changing requirements.