A proposal workflow brokers could not get lost in

I built the Request for Proposal engine at Edge On Demand, working with the business analysts on requirements and with our CTO on the supplier portal. Most of the technical work and the web application design were mine.

The system walks energy brokers and energy suppliers through a streamlined workflow with a finite set of states. Two groups with different incentives have to hand work back and forth, and the usual failure is that a deal stalls because nobody is sure whose turn it is.

So the design put weight on two things: the interface highlights the next step at all times, and email reminders chase users who have gone quiet. Neither is technically difficult. Both are the difference between a workflow that completes and one that dies halfway.