The brief was a calculator
When Crown Commercial Service asked for a tool to help buyers report and benchmark procurement savings, the obvious shape was a linear wizard. Enter your baseline, enter your spend, get your percentage. One screen after another. Simple.
Research quickly showed that shape was wrong. Procurement professionals do not work in a fixed sequence. They have contract details before they have savings figures. Or they have strategic value documentation before the cashable numbers are finalised. Forcing a fixed path created friction without improving data quality.
Why the task list pattern fits
The GDS task list pattern treats each section as a discrete, completable unit. Users see their progress at a glance. They can prioritise or defer based on what information they actually have. When the entire flow is complete, a “Review and submit” action becomes available. Not before.
That mirrors how the work actually happens. Buyers return to sections as information becomes available. They might complete Strategic Value first because the sustainability report landed early, then fill in Procurement Savings when the finance team signs off. The design needed to accommodate that rhythm.
The structural payoff
Each section has independent status tracking. Contract Details: 10 questions. Procurement Savings: 3 questions. Strategic Value: non-cashable benefits. Users know exactly what remains. No mysterious progress bars. No hidden steps. The task list surface made pre-population from the Central Digital Platform transparent too: users could see which steps were pre-filled and which required input.
The alternative would have been a wizard that either blocked progress or silently skipped questions. Both undermine trust in the output. The task list made the data journey visible and honest.