A marketplace for creating meaningful agreements between shippers and carriers.
Context
Company
Deliverables
• Prototype
• UI Component Library/ Design System
• Product Strategy
• Wireframes
• Research
• Prototype
• UI Component Library/ Design System
• Product Strategy
• Wireframes
• Research
Project Details
My Role:
Senior Product Designer
Senior Product Designer
Duration:
10 months
10 months
Team:
Alex Siclari, Kelsey Leftwich, Tim Greemore, Nick Wastle, Matt McGee, and Kelly Williams
Alex Siclari, Kelsey Leftwich, Tim Greemore, Nick Wastle, Matt McGee, and Kelly Williams
The Problem
In the logistics industry, shippers and carriers face a similar problem when it comes to the procurement process. The procurement process is when shippers request bids (RFP) from carriers to provide the cost to move products from a pickup to a drop-off location. In addition, shippers ask for how many shipments the carrier would take and what type of equipment and insurance they carry. All of this is managed on excel spreadsheets and is sent back and forth between multiple individuals within each organization, both the shippers and carriers. Sometimes, not all of the information needed to submit or accept a bid is done by one individual. With that, it can cause a high manual entry level and increase the chances of errors. Because of this lengthy process, shippers typically only do this once a year, leaving a lot of room for error or inability to account for unknowns like increased product demand or shipping requests. On top of that, if carriers do not win bids, they are left out searching for ways to have a business for the upcoming year. This procurement process is such a crucial workflow because if shippers can not get a carrier to move their shipment by the time needed, the shipping company would need to send the shipment out through logistic brokers, increasing the cost of shipping the product 2x or 3x.
PrizmWay was started by Kelly Williams, the product owner, after an investment by P&G (Procter and Gamble) innovation labs. With 25 plus years in the logistics industry, focusing on the procurement process, she came to Headway to create a two-way marketplace MVP to help improve three areas of the procurement process
• Lack of transparency between shippers and carriers
• Inability for carriers to grow their book of business
• Difficult and cumbersome process to manage agreements and negotiations
• Lack of transparency between shippers and carriers
• Inability for carriers to grow their book of business
• Difficult and cumbersome process to manage agreements and negotiations
• Lack of transparency between shippers and carriers
• Inability for carriers to grow their book of business
• Difficult and cumbersome process to manage agreements and negotiations
• Lack of transparency between shippers and carriers
• Inability for carriers to grow their book of business
• Difficult and cumbersome process to manage agreements and negotiations
Once the MVP is built, the initial goal of P&G was to partner with another logistics company to help finance the startup or to have PrizmWay acquired by another logistics company.
Initial Assumptions
Our initial assumption going into the project was that we wanted to create a solution for medium to large manufacturers. So we targeted organizations with $100M in annual transportation spend, medium-sized carriers with 50-499 trucks, and looked to cover dry van and reefer type of transportation modes with over the road type of transportations. In addition, we initially wanted to target power users, people who manage the day-to-day procurement process for both carriers and shippers.
Our initial assumption going into the project was that we wanted to create a solution for medium to large manufacturers. So we targeted organizations with $100M in annual transportation spend, medium-sized carriers with 50-499 trucks, and looked to cover dry van and reefer type of transportation modes with over the road type of transportations. In addition, we initially wanted to target power users, people who manage the day-to-day procurement process for both carriers and shippers.
Our initial assumption going into the project was that we wanted to create a solution for medium to large manufacturers. So we targeted organizations with $100M in annual transportation spend, medium-sized carriers with 50-499 trucks, and looked to cover dry van and reefer type of transportation modes with over the road type of transportations. In addition, we initially wanted to target power users, people who manage the day-to-day procurement process for both carriers and shippers.
Our initial assumption going into the project was that we wanted to create a solution for medium to large manufacturers. So we targeted organizations with $100M in annual transportation spend, medium-sized carriers with 50-499 trucks, and looked to cover dry van and reefer type of transportation modes with over the road type of transportations. In addition, we initially wanted to target power users, people who manage the day-to-day procurement process for both carriers and shippers.
Our initial assumption going into the project was that we wanted to create a solution for medium to large manufacturers. So we targeted organizations with $100M in annual transportation spend, medium-sized carriers with 50-499 trucks, and looked to cover dry van and reefer type of transportation modes with over the road type of transportations. In addition, we initially wanted to target power users, people who manage the day-to-day procurement process for both carriers and shippers.
Research
We started the project by interviewing people inside the shipper and carrier organizations. We did this to understand roles and how they play into the procurement process. We asked questions such as help me understand your day-to-day responsibilities, what are some of your biggest struggles with your current strategy, and in an ideal world, what would this process look like for you? Doing this helped us understand some of the pain points that people had with the process, and it also helped us identify the three core problems that we are looking to solve. From there, I created user personas to determine who the key people are in the procurement process and who we wanted to target the MVP.
We started the project by interviewing people inside the shipper and carrier organizations. We did this to understand roles and how they play into the procurement process. We asked questions such as help me understand your day-to-day responsibilities, what are some of your biggest struggles with your current strategy, and in an ideal world, what would this process look like for you? Doing this helped us understand some of the pain points that people had with the process, and it also helped us identify the three core problems that we are looking to solve. From there, I created user personas to determine who the key people are in the procurement process and who we wanted to target the MVP.
We started the project by interviewing people inside the shipper and carrier organizations. We did this to understand roles and how they play into the procurement process. We asked questions such as help me understand your day-to-day responsibilities, what are some of your biggest struggles with your current strategy, and in an ideal world, what would this process look like for you? Doing this helped us understand some of the pain points that people had with the process, and it also helped us identify the three core problems that we are looking to solve. From there, I created user personas to determine who the key people are in the procurement process and who we wanted to target the MVP.
We started the project by interviewing people inside the shipper and carrier organizations. We did this to understand roles and how they play into the procurement process. We asked questions such as help me understand your day-to-day responsibilities, what are some of your biggest struggles with your current strategy, and in an ideal world, what would this process look like for you? Doing this helped us understand some of the pain points that people had with the process, and it also helped us identify the three core problems that we are looking to solve. From there, I created user personas to determine who the key people are in the procurement process and who we wanted to target the MVP.
Opportunities We Discovered
01. Creating Transparency to Gain Trust
01. Creating Transparency to Gain Trust
There is a lack of transparency between shippers and carriers in today's logistics industry. Shippers do not know if the carriers bidding on their shipment can meet all of the requirements such as equipment type, insurance, and delivery statistics. For Carriers, it is essential to know the number of loads the shipper has, how many carriers they work with, and what type of requirements they have. In doing this, the carriers will ensure that they can meet all of the needs. If we can create a place where a shipper and carriers can look at each other's organizations and see what type of safety ratings, insurance, equipment type, service expectations, accessorial, and collaterals, this would help create transparency into each others organization.
There is a lack of transparency between shippers and carriers in today's logistics industry. Shippers do not know if the carriers bidding on their shipment can meet all of the requirements such as equipment type, insurance, and delivery statistics. For Carriers, it is essential to know the number of loads the shipper has, how many carriers they work with, and what type of requirements they have. In doing this, the carriers will ensure that they can meet all of the needs. If we can create a place where a shipper and carriers can look at each other's organizations and see what type of safety ratings, insurance, equipment type, service expectations, accessorial, and collaterals, this would help create transparency into each others organization.
There is a lack of transparency between shippers and carriers in today's logistics industry. Shippers do not know if the carriers bidding on their shipment can meet all of the requirements such as equipment type, insurance, and delivery statistics. For Carriers, it is essential to know the number of loads the shipper has, how many carriers they work with, and what type of requirements they have. In doing this, the carriers will ensure that they can meet all of the needs. If we can create a place where a shipper and carriers can look at each other's organizations and see what type of safety ratings, insurance, equipment type, service expectations, accessorial, and collaterals, this would help create transparency into each others organization.
There is a lack of transparency between shippers and carriers in today's logistics industry. Shippers do not know if the carriers bidding on their shipment can meet all of the requirements such as equipment type, insurance, and delivery statistics. For Carriers, it is essential to know the number of loads the shipper has, how many carriers they work with, and what type of requirements they have. In doing this, the carriers will ensure that they can meet all of the needs. If we can create a place where a shipper and carriers can look at each other's organizations and see what type of safety ratings, insurance, equipment type, service expectations, accessorial, and collaterals, this would help create transparency into each others organization.
02. Opening up Opportunities to Grow Business
02. Opening up Opportunities to Grow Business
Carriers have a unique challenge finding business once the procurement process ends. Most of the time, carriers drive around from lot to lot to find shippers to work with if they do not win bids. Typically most shippers only use carriers they have worked with in the past. This stems from having no transparency into the carrier to understand if they can handle the shipments. If information about the carrier's insurance, equipment, and availability were available, they would be willing to work with new carriers. So providing more transparency to both the shipper and carrier would increase the growth of business for the carrier and increase the number of carriers a shipper could work with.
Carriers have a unique challenge finding business once the procurement process ends. Most of the time, carriers drive around from lot to lot to find shippers to work with if they do not win bids. Typically most shippers only use carriers they have worked with in the past. This stems from having no transparency into the carrier to understand if they can handle the shipments. If information about the carrier's insurance, equipment, and availability were available, they would be willing to work with new carriers. So providing more transparency to both the shipper and carrier would increase the growth of business for the carrier and increase the number of carriers a shipper could work with.
Carriers have a unique challenge finding business once the procurement process ends. Most of the time, carriers drive around from lot to lot to find shippers to work with if they do not win bids. Typically most shippers only use carriers they have worked with in the past. This stems from having no transparency into the carrier to understand if they can handle the shipments. If information about the carrier's insurance, equipment, and availability were available, they would be willing to work with new carriers. So providing more transparency to both the shipper and carrier would increase the growth of business for the carrier and increase the number of carriers a shipper could work with.
Carriers have a unique challenge finding business once the procurement process ends. Most of the time, carriers drive around from lot to lot to find shippers to work with if they do not win bids. Typically most shippers only use carriers they have worked with in the past. This stems from having no transparency into the carrier to understand if they can handle the shipments. If information about the carrier's insurance, equipment, and availability were available, they would be willing to work with new carriers. So providing more transparency to both the shipper and carrier would increase the growth of business for the carrier and increase the number of carriers a shipper could work with.
03. Managing Agreements and Performance
03. Managing Agreements and Performance
The third area we identified is the management of agreements. If we set out to change the way procurement of lanes is done from a yearly transaction to an on-demand solution, there needed to be a way for shippers and carriers to manage their agreements from one central location. Both shippers and carriers needed a place to identify low-performing agreements, a way to create a new lane or route, and a place to see all of their active agreements. We also wanted to keep transparency when it came to managing an agreement, so if a carrier or shipper is not happy with the rate or the lane is low-performing, we wanted a way for users to communicate with each other and challenge a lane.
The third area we identified is the management of agreements. If we set out to change the way procurement of lanes is done from a yearly transaction to an on-demand solution, there needed to be a way for shippers and carriers to manage their agreements from one central location. Both shippers and carriers needed a place to identify low-performing agreements, a way to create a new lane or route, and a place to see all of their active agreements. We also wanted to keep transparency when it came to managing an agreement, so if a carrier or shipper is not happy with the rate or the lane is low-performing, we wanted a way for users to communicate with each other and challenge a lane.
The third area we identified is the management of agreements. If we set out to change the way procurement of lanes is done from a yearly transaction to an on-demand solution, there needed to be a way for shippers and carriers to manage their agreements from one central location. Both shippers and carriers needed a place to identify low-performing agreements, a way to create a new lane or route, and a place to see all of their active agreements. We also wanted to keep transparency when it came to managing an agreement, so if a carrier or shipper is not happy with the rate or the lane is low-performing, we wanted a way for users to communicate with each other and challenge a lane.
The third area we identified is the management of agreements. If we set out to change the way procurement of lanes is done from a yearly transaction to an on-demand solution, there needed to be a way for shippers and carriers to manage their agreements from one central location. Both shippers and carriers needed a place to identify low-performing agreements, a way to create a new lane or route, and a place to see all of their active agreements. We also wanted to keep transparency when it came to managing an agreement, so if a carrier or shipper is not happy with the rate or the lane is low-performing, we wanted a way for users to communicate with each other and challenge a lane.
Wireframes
While working with PrizmWay and Kelly, we wanted to create a way to layout what potential solutions could look like based on our findings. In addition, we wanted to create a more medium-fidelity wireframe for this client than your typical low-fidelity box wireframe. This would allow Kelly to focus more on the information hierarchy instead of branding elements. We used these to collect feedback from customers which led to our final designs based on user feedback.
While working with PrizmWay and Kelly, we wanted to create a way to layout what potential solutions could look like based on our findings. In addition, we wanted to create a more medium-fidelity wireframe for this client than your typical low-fidelity box wireframe. This would allow Kelly to focus more on the information hierarchy instead of branding elements. We used these to collect feedback from customers which led to our final designs based on user feedback.
While working with PrizmWay and Kelly, we wanted to create a way to layout what potential solutions could look like based on our findings. In addition, we wanted to create a more medium-fidelity wireframe for this client than your typical low-fidelity box wireframe. This would allow Kelly to focus more on the information hierarchy instead of branding elements. We used these to collect feedback from customers which led to our final designs based on user feedback.
While working with PrizmWay and Kelly, we wanted to create a way to layout what potential solutions could look like based on our findings. In addition, we wanted to create a more medium-fidelity wireframe for this client than your typical low-fidelity box wireframe. This would allow Kelly to focus more on the information hierarchy instead of branding elements. We used these to collect feedback from customers which led to our final designs based on user feedback.
Profile
Company Overview
Team members
Procurement Process
Company Overview
Team members
Final Designs
After multiple rounds of feedback with Kelly, the product owner, and potential customers, we came up with the final look and feel for PrizmWay. The most significant feedback we received while running through wireframes is that users did not want to feel like they had to jump between multiple screens to complete their work. Instead, they wanted to have one screen and panels exposed to show additional information to make decisions in the procurement process. To account for this, we used a slide-out panel instead of modals to allow the users to have context still when needed. We also wanted to allow users to use different types of views depending on how they worked. For example, some users preferred to use a match board look that resembled a kanban style board, and some liked to see a map view that allowed them to see all their routes on a single screen.
After multiple rounds of feedback with Kelly, the product owner, and potential customers, we came up with the final look and feel for PrizmWay. The most significant feedback we received while running through wireframes is that users did not want to feel like they had to jump between multiple screens to complete their work. Instead, they wanted to have one screen and panels exposed to show additional information to make decisions in the procurement process. To account for this, we used a slide-out panel instead of modals to allow the users to have context still when needed. We also wanted to allow users to use different types of views depending on how they worked. For example, some users preferred to use a match board look that resembled a kanban style board, and some liked to see a map view that allowed them to see all their routes on a single screen.
After multiple rounds of feedback with Kelly, the product owner, and potential customers, we came up with the final look and feel for PrizmWay. The most significant feedback we received while running through wireframes is that users did not want to feel like they had to jump between multiple screens to complete their work. Instead, they wanted to have one screen and panels exposed to show additional information to make decisions in the procurement process. To account for this, we used a slide-out panel instead of modals to allow the users to have context still when needed. We also wanted to allow users to use different types of views depending on how they worked. For example, some users preferred to use a match board look that resembled a kanban style board, and some liked to see a map view that allowed them to see all their routes on a single screen.
After multiple rounds of feedback with Kelly, the product owner, and potential customers, we came up with the final look and feel for PrizmWay. The most significant feedback we received while running through wireframes is that users did not want to feel like they had to jump between multiple screens to complete their work. Instead, they wanted to have one screen and panels exposed to show additional information to make decisions in the procurement process. To account for this, we used a slide-out panel instead of modals to allow the users to have context still when needed. We also wanted to allow users to use different types of views depending on how they worked. For example, some users preferred to use a match board look that resembled a kanban style board, and some liked to see a map view that allowed them to see all their routes on a single screen.
After multiple rounds of feedback with Kelly, the product owner, and potential customers, we came up with the final look and feel for PrizmWay. The most significant feedback we received while running through wireframes is that users did not want to feel like they had to jump between multiple screens to complete their work. Instead, they wanted to have one screen and panels exposed to show additional information to make decisions in the procurement process. To account for this, we used a slide-out panel instead of modals to allow the users to have context still when needed. We also wanted to allow users to use different types of views depending on how they worked. For example, some users preferred to use a match board look that resembled a kanban style board, and some liked to see a map view that allowed them to see all their routes on a single screen.
Profile
Match Board
Match Solution Builder
Bid Responses
Building New route
New Route
Corridor
View Bids Network
Impact
PrizmWay was a great project to be involved with. It was amazing to see how we set out as a team to create a product based on an idea that would impact so many people, organizations, and day-to-day operations in the logistics industry. It consisted of many design elements such as mapping, data visualization, UX flows, design system creation and maintenance, business validation, product-market fit research, running sprint planning, and usability testing. Of course, you want to do all of those things so many times in projects, but realistically, you can only do a small portion of those. Nevertheless, we were able to get PrizmWay what they were looking for, bringing on a partnership to adopt the technology and continue building the solution and bringing it to market. As a team, we learned so much, grew close, and have lasting relationships still to this day. We where able to accomplish our main goal of getting this project from 0 to 1 and got it acquired by another organization after the initial investment from Procter and Gamble.
PrizmWay was a great project to be involved with. It was amazing to see how we set out as a team to create a product based on an idea that would impact so many people, organizations, and day-to-day operations in the logistics industry. It consisted of many design elements such as mapping, data visualization, UX flows, design system creation and maintenance, business validation, product-market fit research, running sprint planning, and usability testing. Of course, you want to do all of those things so many times in projects, but realistically, you can only do a small portion of those. Nevertheless, we were able to get PrizmWay what they were looking for, bringing on a partnership to adopt the technology and continue building the solution and bringing it to market. As a team, we learned so much, grew close, and have lasting relationships still to this day. We where able to accomplish our main goal of getting this project from 0 to 1 and got it acquired by another organization after the initial investment from Procter and Gamble.
PrizmWay was a great project to be involved with. It was amazing to see how we set out as a team to create a product based on an idea that would impact so many people, organizations, and day-to-day operations in the logistics industry. It consisted of many design elements such as mapping, data visualization, UX flows, design system creation and maintenance, business validation, product-market fit research, running sprint planning, and usability testing. Of course, you want to do all of those things so many times in projects, but realistically, you can only do a small portion of those. Nevertheless, we were able to get PrizmWay what they were looking for, bringing on a partnership to adopt the technology and continue building the solution and bringing it to market. As a team, we learned so much, grew close, and have lasting relationships still to this day. We where able to accomplish our main goal of getting this project from 0 to 1 and got it acquired by another organization after the initial investment from Procter and Gamble.
