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A Unified Data Platform for Complex Projects

ProjectFlow

Large-scale engineering projects rely on multiple tools, teams, and workflows. Data is scattered across systems, making it difficult to access, reuse, and trust.

The Problem

Engineers spend more time searching, validating, and recreating data than actually designing.

Key issues

  1. Fragmented data across tools (BIM, Excel, documents)
  2. No consistent structure across projects
  3. Repetitive manual workflows
  4. Limited reuse of past project data
  5. Difficulty finding past project data
  6. Recreating work from scratch
  7. No single reliable source of truth

Responsibilities

  1. Translated system architecture into usable UI Designed workflows for project navigation and data access
  2. Simplified complex data structures into intuitive interfaces
  3. Worked closely with engineers to align UI with real workflows
  4. Research, interviews, and data strategy were conducted by the broader team

My Role

As a Product Designer, I focused on designing the interface and experience layer for a complex data system.

Understanding The System

Before designing, I aligned with research and stakeholder insights to understand how data flows across the system.

Before (Existing workflow)

  1. Data created in multiple tools
  2. Manually transferred between teams
  3. Reinterpreted at every stage

After (ProjectFlow approach)

  1. Central system connects all data
  2. Structured workflows across tools
  3. Continuous data loop instead of linear flow

Key Insight

The problem wasn’t the tools,
it was the lack of a connected data structure across them.

Principles

  1. Reduce cognitive load
  2. Make data easy to navigate
  3. Bring multiple tools into one experience
  4. Support both overview and deep-dive usage

Design Approach

My goal was to make a complex data system usable, navigable, and actionable.

Solution

Unified Project Dashboard

Designed a centralized dashboard to give users a clear overview of all projects, status, and key data.

Start with a Unified Overview

Users get a centralized view of all projects, including task status, issues, and deliverables.

This reduces the need to navigate across multiple tools to understand project health.

Access Project Details Instantly

Users can quickly preview key project information without leaving the dashboard, enabling faster decision-making and reducing navigation effort.

Understand Projects in Context

A structured layout organizes project data into clear sections (overview, financials, graphs, deliverables), allowing users to access both high-level and detailed information in one place.

Explore Data at Multiple Levels

Users can interact with detailed project components through a 3D interface and property panel, making complex data more accessible and easier to interpret.

This experience connects fragmented data into a continuous and navigable workflow, reducing cognitive load and improving efficiency.

Impact

The solution improved how users interact with project data.

  1. Reducing time spent searching for information
  2. Improving visibility across projects
  3. Enabling structured reuse of data
  4. Supporting more consistent workflows

Key learnings

  1. Translating abstract systems into usable interfaces
  2. Designing for multiple roles and workflows
  3. Balancing simplicity with system complexity

Reflection

This project strengthened my ability to design for complex systems and enterprise workflows.

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