Case Study
Architecting a Multi-Client CMS for Regulated Financial Institutions
Designing a modular content system serving 30–50 institutions, reducing publishing errors and accelerating time-to-ship across branded digital platforms.
ROLE: Product & Systems Design Lead (CMS Evolution)
Overview
Level 9 provided custom designed website solutions for financial institutions. Beyond front end design we offered our own proprietary CMS called “the L9 platform” or “L9” for short. The platform provided an extensive toolset to manage content editing, publishing, distributed content, rates management, content personalization, security, permissions, auditing, and more.
Platform Evolution & Systems Foundation
I was involved with the CMS from its early days and helped shape it as it evolved into a scalable, cohesive platform serving 30–50 regulated financial institutions. As the system matured, I brought a custom responsive framework—one I had already implemented successfully on public-facing sites—into the administrative side, creating structural consistency between backend tools and frontend output. Institutions were struggling with duplicated content, manual updates, inconsistent UI patterns, and avoidable publishing errors, all of which increased training time and operational friction. I introduced a unified design system across the CMS to standardize interaction patterns and reduce cognitive load. With that foundation in place, the platform began operating less like a collection of disconnected tools and more like a deliberate, extensible system.
From Page-Based Editing to Modular Architecture
As usability improved, deeper structural inefficiencies became more visible—particularly around duplicated content and governance risk. I proposed and helped design a modular content system we called “Bits” (short for “bits of content”), introducing an object-based architecture that allowed content to be created once and deployed across any number of pages. Rather than tying content directly to page templates, Bits centralized content management and separated structure from presentation. This reduced duplication, minimized publishing errors, and dramatically simplified ongoing updates across institutions.
Content as Configuration: Bridging Backend Structure and Frontend Design
“Bits” evolved beyond content distribution into a configurable design engine. Administrators could define custom “bit types” composed of structured fields mapped directly to front-end templates. These templates were integrated with the platform’s HTML and CSS framework, allowing users to configure and deploy branded components dynamically. A user could create a Bit, adjust its design variables, and publish it across multiple pages—rendered with institution-specific branding—within minutes. This shift transformed the CMS from a static publishing tool into a scalable content and design configuration system.
Platform Tradeoffs & Multi-Tenant Strategy
Operating in a multi-tenant environment meant constantly balancing flexibility with scalability. Institutions frequently requested custom solutions, and we evaluated whether those edge cases were proprietary to that client, or signals of broader platform opportunity. When patterns emerged—especially within the shared operational models of credit unions—we generalized those needs into reusable features. When requests were truly one-off, we contained them without compromising system integrity. This approach allowed the platform to evolve strategically while maintaining architectural discipline.
Systems Thinking Across Domains
While this platform was built for regulated financial institutions, the underlying challenges—structured content modeling, reusable objects, role-based governance, multi-tenant scalability, and frontend/backend integration—are common to any complex commerce or catalog-driven system. Designing Bits required thinking beyond screens and toward durable architecture: defining object hierarchies, balancing flexibility with standardization, and ensuring operational efficiency at scale. That systems-first approach continues to inform how I evaluate and design product platforms today.
“While this platform was built for regulated financial institutions, the underlying challenges—structured content modeling, reusable objects, role-based governance, multi-tenant scalability, and frontend/backend integration—are common to any complex commerce or content-driven system. ”