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Project Nexus

A VP-mandated brief. Real interviews with the Business Development

team. And a product that gives ABC's entire RFP process, for

the first time, a single place to live.

A VP-mandated brief. Real interviews with the Business Development

team. And a product that gives ABC’s entire RFP process, for the first time, a single place to live.

A VP-mandated brief. Real interviews with the Business Development team. And a product that gives ABC’s entire RFP process, for the first time, a single place to live.

[My Role]

UX Designer

[Team]

Manager and two UX Designer

[Stakeholders]

VP, Sales, BD, Design

[Status]

Dev in progress

Duration : Oct 2025 – Present

↗ View prototype

[02 — Problem Space]

What was actually broken

Before designing anything, we spoke directly with the Business Development team — the people who live inside the RFP process every day. What we found wasn't a technology problem. It was a coordination and knowledge problem.

Before designing anything, we spoke directly with the Business Development team — the people who live inside the RFP process every day. What we found wasn’t a technology problem. It was a coordination and knowledge problem.

No single source of truth.

RFP briefs arrived by email, tasks were tracked in chat, documents lived across multiple drives. Nobody had a complete picture of where any proposal stood at any moment.

No single source of truth.

RFP briefs arrived by email, tasks were tracked in chat, documents lived across multiple drives. Nobody had a complete picture of where any proposal stood at any moment.

Knowledge that walked out the door.

Every time a team member left or rotated off, their knowledge of past proposals went with them. Teams regularly rebuilt content that already existed.

Knowledge that walked out the door.

Every time a team member left or rotated off, their knowledge of past proposals went with them. Teams regularly rebuilt content that already existed.

Approvals through informal channels.

Sign-offs happened over chat and email. There was no audit trail, no accountability, and no way to flag when something was blocked or at risk of missing a deadline.

Approvals through informal channels.

Sign-offs happened over chat and email. There was no audit trail, no accountability, and no way to flag when something was blocked or at risk of missing a deadline.

Proposals built from memory, not data.

Teams relied on what they could remember or find quickly. There was no systematic way to pull relevant content from similar past RFPs.

Proposals built from memory, not data.

Teams relied on what they could remember or find quickly. There was no systematic way to pull relevant content from similar past RFPs.

No visibility for leadership.

Unit heads and sales managers had no real-time view of the pipeline — deal sizes, deadlines at risk, team workload, or submission status.

No visibility for leadership.

Unit heads and sales managers had no real-time view of the pipeline — deal sizes, deadlines at risk, team workload, or submission status.

“We spend more time finding where things are than actually writing the proposal.”

Business Development team — user interview

[03 — Research]

Talking to the people inside the process

Unlike many internal tool projects, we had direct access to the users. The Business Development team walked us through their actual process — not an idealised version of it. We mapped their real workflows, their workarounds, and their frustrations before a single wireframe was drawn.

[Research approach]

User interviews with the Business Development team — their day-to-day process, pain points, and what a better tool would look like

Process mapping — documenting the actual RFP lifecycle from brief receipt to submission, including all the informal steps that no tool currently captures

Stakeholder alignment with the VP — understanding the business goals, competitive context, and definition of success

Role analysis — understanding how each stakeholder touches the RFP process and what information they need.

↗ View research artefacts in Figma

[What the research revealed]

Three things became clear that shaped every design decision that followed:

The process exists — it's just invisible

The process exists — it’s just invisible

People were doing the right things. There was no chaos, just fragmentation. The solution wasn't to redesign the process — it was to make it visible.

People were doing the right things. There was no chaos, just fragmentation. The solution wasn’t to redesign the process — it was to make it visible.

Each role needs a different view

A designer needs task lists. A sales head needs pipeline status. A unit head needs risk flags. One dashboard for everyone would serve no one.

AI had to earn its place

The team was skeptical of AI. It had to be genuinely useful, surfacing the right past proposal, flagging the right risk, not just present for its own sake.

[04 — The Platform]

One place for the entire RFP lifecycle

Nexus is designed around a simple idea: every document, decision, approval, clarification, and deadline for every RFP lives in one place — visible to the right people, at the right time, in the right format for their role.

Role-based dashboards

Every stakeholder sees a view built for their specific job — not a generic feed they have to filter through.

AI co-pilot — Nexus

Surfaces relevant past proposals, flags deadline risks, and generates role-specific summaries of any RFP.

Full RFP lifecycle tracking

From brief receipt to submission — every task, approval, clarification, and document in one traceable thread.

Institutional memory

Every submitted proposal feeds the system. The more Cognizant uses it, the smarter and faster the next proposal becomes.

↗ Open in Figma

[05 — Information Architecture]

How the system is organised

The IA was the hardest design problem in Nexus. Every role needed a completely different experience —

but all four had to share the same underlying data model. The structure below shows how a single login

branches into four distinct information environments, with three shared components running across all of

them.

The IA was the hardest design problem in Nexus. Every role needed a completely different experience — but all four had to share the same underlying data model. The structure below shows how a single login branches into four distinct information environments, with three shared components running across all of them.

[06 — Personas & Task Flows]

Four roles. Four views.

One platform.

Four roles. Four views.

One platform.

Four roles. Four views.

One platform.

The research made clear that a single interface couldn't serve everyone. We designed a distinct

experience for each of the four core roles — each one showing only what that person needs to do their

job, without the noise of everyone else's work.

The research made clear that a single interface couldn’t serve everyone. We designed a distinct

experience for each of the four core roles — each one showing only what that person needs to do their

job, without the noise of everyone else’s work.

Priya Sharma — Designer

Executes RFP deliverables

"I just need to know what's assigned to me and

when it's due. Everything else is noise."

"I just need to know what's assigned to me and when it's due. Everything else is noise."

Task list filtered to her assignments

AI summary of the design & UX section only

Countdown timer per RFP

One-click file upload and version tracking

Arjun Mehta — Design Manager

Reviews and approves design output

"I'm the bottleneck because no one has a clear way

to flag that something is ready for my review."

"I'm the bottleneck because no one has a clear way

to flag that something is ready for my review."

Queue of deliverables awaiting review

Side-by-side compare of versions

Approve or reject with tracked comments

Escalation view for at-risk items

Vikram Nair — Sales Head

Owns the commercial strategy per RFP

"I have 12 RFPs running at once. I can't be in every

thread — I need one view that tells me what needs

my attention right now."

"I have 12 RFPs running at once. I can't be in every thread — I need one view that tells me what needs my attention right now."

Pipeline view with deadline and deal size

Nexus -generated client intelligence brief

Risk flags and blocked items surfaced automatically

Submission readiness score per RFP

Samira Khan — Unit Head

Strategic oversight of all proposals

"I only find out something went wrong after the

deadline has passed. I need early warning, not

post-mortem."

Portfolio view: all RFPs, all teams

Deal size, sector, and win/loss trend data

Team performance and capacity overview

Executive summary generated by Nexus AI

[Role-based flows]

Each persona has a distinct journey through the platform — the same RFP, four completely different experiences.

↗ View in Figma

[07 — Nexus AI]

The co-pilot inside

every workflow

The co-pilot inside

every workflow

The co-pilot inside

every workflow

Nexus isn't a chatbot bolted onto the side of the platform. It's embedded in every role's workflow — surfacing the right information at the right moment, without anyone having to ask for it.

Nexus isn’t a chatbot bolted onto the side of the platform. It’s embedded in every role’s workflow — surfacing the right information at the right moment, without anyone having to ask for it.

[What makes Nexus different]

“AI that knows your role, your RFP, and your history — before you open the first document.”

Because every submitted proposal feeds back into the system, Nexus gets more accurate with every

RFP Cognizant submits. The institutional knowledge that used to walk out the door now stays.

Because every submitted proposal feeds back into the system, Nexus gets more accurate with every RFP Cognizant submits. The institutional knowledge that used to walk out the door now stays.

[Capability 01]

Role-aware summaries

When a new RFP lands, Nexus reads the brief and generates a summary tailored to each role. A designer sees the design and UX requirements. A sales head sees the commercial context and client history. A unit head sees the strategic fit and risk profile. Same document — four different lenses.

↗ View Nexus in prototype

[Capability 02]

Relevant past proposal retrieval

When a new RFP arrives, Nexus surfaces the three most similar past proposals — by sector, client type, deal size, or service line. Teams stop rebuilding content that already exists and start adapting what already worked.

[Capability 03]

Risk and deadline flagging

Nexus monitors every open RFP against its deadline and task completion status. When something is at risk — a blocked approval, a missing deliverable, a deadline three days away — it flags it proactively. No one has to notice. The system notices for them.

[Capability 04]

Internal system integration

Nexus is designed to connect with ABC's existing internal tools — including WinZone, where RFP data and historical proposals already live. Rather than creating another silo, Nexus becomes the intelligence layer on top of what already exists.

Nexus is designed to connect with ABC’s existing internal tools — including WinZone, where RFP data and historical proposals already live. Rather than creating another silo, Nexus becomes the intelligence layer on top of what already exists.

[08 — Current Status]

Where Nexus stands today

Design is complete. The Design Team has delivered end-to-end designs for all four role-based experiences, the AI co-pilot interface, the full RFP lifecycle view, and the pipeline dashboard. The development requirement brief has been written and submitted.

[What's been delivered]

[What’s been delivered]

Role-specific dashboards for all four personas — Designer, Design Manager, Sales Head, Unit Head

Nexus AI co-pilot interface — role-aware summaries, past proposal retrieval, risk flags

Interactive prototype reflecting real RFP data, edge cases, and live-state logic

Full RFP detail view — tasks, approvals, documents, timeline, decision log

Pipeline dashboard with period filters, deal size, team performance, and sector views

Development requirement brief submitted to the engineering team

Email is making a comeback.
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Behance

Email is making a comeback.
Go ahead, give it a try!

shivendu10verma@gmail.com

These are some of my other cosy corners on the internet.
I hope you'll say hey sometime!

Instagram

Twitter

Behance

Email is making a comeback. Go ahead, give it a try!

Email is making a comeback. Go ahead, give it a try!

Email is making a comeback.
Go ahead, give it a try!

Email is making a comeback.
Go ahead, give it a try!