Task
Turn spreadsheet-heavy workflows into a centralized SaaS platform for finance, sales, and product teams
Team
1 UX/UI Designer, 1 Business Analyst
Duration
4 months
Scope
Competitor analysis, stakeholder interviews, usability testing, UX/UI design, design system creation, dev handoff
About the client
Cogs’z is a US-based SaaS platform built to help modern B2B companies track and improve profitability through smarter pricing, bundling, and margin analysis. Their product supports finance, sales, operations, and product teams with real-time unit margin insights and AI-backed recommendations, all in one shared space.
The vision was ambitious: replace fragmented spreadsheets and disconnected workflows with a role-based experience that gives teams more clarity and alignment when making financial decisions.
What the client needed
Cogs’z came to us with a product concept: a centralized platform for managing profitability across teams. The core logic was already working — finance and sales were using detailed Excel spreadsheets to simulate pricing and track margins.
But as Cogs’z looked to grow their customer base, they needed a product experience that could support a broader user base without adding friction.
They were looking for:
-
role-specific modules and dashboards tailored to CROs, CFOs, COOs, and CPOs;
-
tools that made margin drivers easier to see and act on;
-
smarter ways to simulate pricing and cost scenarios with fewer manual steps;
-
a scalable design system that could grow with the product.
Challenges
- users were managing complex financial workflows manually across dozens of spreadsheets;
- no two teams used profitability data the same way, so every role needed different filters and KPIs;
- some terms (“Product Family,” “Unit Margin”) weren’t intuitive and needed restructuring based on user feedback;
- users expected Salesforce-style approvals, but with more flexibility and control;
- the platform had to feel powerful for analysts, but not overwhelming for execs.
Results
- financial workflows like margin simulation and vendor allocation became faster and more intuitive than their Excel equivalents;
- users could now run scenarios and share deal logic without relying on one spreadsheet gatekeeper;
- role alignment improved — CFOs, CROs, and CPOs all working off the same structure;
- the new design system supports future modules without requiring a redesign;
- usability tests led to measurable improvements in flow clarity and terminology understanding.
We worked side by side with the Cogs’z team to shape the product from early architecture to fully clickable prototypes, starting with a discovery phase:
-
interviewed stakeholders from finance, sales, and product;
-
analyzed competing platforms (CPQ tools, pricing engines, cost intelligence tools);
-
tested early wireframes to validate assumptions around workflows.
Early testing showed that users understood the logic, but some of the terminology wasn’t immediately intuitive, and approval flows felt disconnected from real decision-making.
From there, we built role-specific flows for CFOs, CROs, and product teams. Each module was structured around a real-world task, like simulating a deal or planning a price uplift.
We designed directly in Figma and moved quickly from wireframes to hi-fi mockups, testing in between. The UI system focused on: 1) modular cards and tables built for dense data; 2) configurable inputs and approvals; 3) layout patterns that scaled across users and workflows.
Deal Calculator (designed for future release)
The new Deal Calculator brings everything into one structured view, helping finance and sales teams simulate pricing and understand margin impact before sending a quote.
The design includes:
-
editable rows for adjusting quantity, pricing, and discounts in real time;
-
margin indicators (natural and gross) that highlight performance at a glance;
-
a summary panel that updates ARR, MRR, and discount totals automatically;
-
product picker with support for bundles, add-ons, and per-user models;
-
version labels to help users keep track of changes as deals evolve.
Though not yet released, the feature was fully prototyped and validated through usability testing and is ready for implementation in a future phase.
Dashboard
The Cogs’z dashboard brings margin insights and deal performance front and center — what’s working and where to focus next:
-
alerts highlight unread messages, pending approvals, and assigned deals;
-
leaderboards surface top-performing reps and highest-margin SKUs;
-
uplift radar spots pricing opportunities across margin tiers;
-
underperforming products and churn risks are flagged automatically.
Customer Management
We redesigned customer views to make it easier to go from raw account data to margin insights. Instead of jumping between spreadsheets, users get a full financial profile for each customer in just a few clicks and can:
-
add, edit, and group parent/child companies;
-
view profitability trends over time with COGS and gross margin breakdowns;
-
see deal stages, MRR/ARR, churn risk, and renewal status;
-
filter by cohort, lifecycle stage, or margin tier to prioritize retention.
Product Management
Pricing wasn’t the problem, but teams needed a simpler way to understand how margin changes when product details shift:
-
set product families and bundles with built-in pricing logic;
-
define monthly, annual, or custom terms with target margins;
-
compare gross vs. natural margin by SKU;
-
apply overrides and instantly see the impact on margin.
Vendor Management
The impact of vendors on profitability was hard to track. Details were stored across contracts, files, and finance tools. We created a dedicated space to manage everything that connects cost to product:
-
store contract terms, cost structures, and points of contact;
-
assign vendors to product lines and COGS categories;
-
track allocations and how vendor costs affect margins;
-
connect vendor data to financial logic with mapped fields.
start your project with us.
is easy .
