B2B Platform
Designing a multi-sided platform for supply and partners
Leading the end-to-end redesign of the B2B ecosystem at Civitatis, defining a scalable system to support supply, distribution and growth.
A growing ecosystem hitting its limits
At Civitatis, the marketplace operates through a complex ecosystem of suppliers, agencies and affiliates.
As the company scaled, the internal tools and partner platforms became a bottleneck: fragmented experiences, inconsistent logic and increasing operational friction.
I led the end-to-end redesign of the B2B ecosystem, defining a scalable system to support supply, distribution and growth.
This case study is password-protected.
This was not a UI problem
It was a business scalability problem.
Suppliers struggled to manage operations efficiently
Agencies faced friction in booking and invoicing workflows
Affiliates lacked visibility into performance
These inefficiencies directly impacted: supply quality, conversion, and operational cost.
Designing the system, not just the screens
Led product design across all B2B platforms
Defined system architecture and interaction models
Worked with product, engineering and business stakeholders
Balanced short-term delivery with long-term scalability
From isolated platforms to a connected system
The initial approach was to improve each platform independently.
That would have failed.
Instead, I reframed it as:
The reframe
Designing a system that connects supply, distribution and demand through shared logic and differentiated interfaces.
System model
How the ecosystem connects
At the core of the ecosystem, three concepts drive everything: Availability creates supply. Bookings connect supply and demand. Revenue validates the system.
| Actor | Primary goal | Interaction |
|---|---|---|
| Suppliers | Operate activities | Manage availability & bookings |
| Agencies | Sell | Create & manage bookings |
| Affiliates | Acquire traffic | Track conversion |
Each actor interacts differently with the system, but all converge on bookings as the shared entity that drives revenue.
Bookings as the core entity
Bookings became the single source of truth across all platforms.
This required aligning three fundamentally different interactions around a shared object:
Creation — Agencies create bookings through a streamlined flow optimized for speed and accuracy
Management — Suppliers manage bookings alongside availability, with operational tools designed for daily workflows
Tracking — Affiliates track how their traffic converts into bookings, with clear visibility into performance metrics
One system, multiple entry points. The same booking data is surfaced differently depending on the actor’s role and needs — but the underlying logic is shared.
Supplier view
Operations & fulfillment
- Booking status & details
- Traveler information
- Availability management
- Operational actions
Agency view
Sales & invoicing
- Booking creation flow
- Pricing & commission
- Invoice management
- Client communication
Affiliate view
Performance & conversion
- Traffic attribution
- Conversion metrics
- Revenue tracking
- Campaign performance
From system model to interface
The system model translated into concrete interfaces for each actor. Below are representative screens that demonstrate how the shared logic manifests differently across platforms.
Booking detail
Supplier view vs. agency view — same data, different priorities and actions depending on the role.
Booking creation
Streamlined flow for agencies to create bookings with real-time availability checks and pricing.
Booking status states
A unified state machine that all platforms share, ensuring consistent behavior across the ecosystem.
The most complex domain
Suppliers needed to manage dates and time slots, capacity (quotas), cancellations and changes, and upcoming activities.
Dates & time slots — Complex scheduling across multiple activities with different frequencies and durations
Capacity (quotas) — Managing available spots per session while preventing overbooking
Cancellations & changes — Handling modifications without disrupting downstream bookings
Upcoming activities — A real-time operational view of what’s happening today and this week
The key challenge: balancing flexibility with operational safety. Suppliers need enough control to manage their business, but too much flexibility increases error risk.
Calendar / availability
Visual calendar for managing availability across activities, with bulk editing and recurring patterns.
Quota editor
Granular capacity management per time slot, with real-time occupancy visibility.
Upcoming activities
Operations-first homepage showing today’s and upcoming activities with actionable status indicators.
Two types of partners, two interaction models
The distribution side of the ecosystem serves two fundamentally different user types with distinct needs and workflows.
Agencies (power users)
Booking management
Invoicing
Operational workflows
Affiliates (lightweight users)
Conversion tracking
Performance insights
Marketing resources
Agencies
Booking management table
Full-featured table with filters, search, and bulk actions for high-volume booking operations.
Invoice view
Clear billing overview with downloadable invoices, payment status, and commission breakdowns.
Checkout / booking creation
Streamlined multi-step flow optimized for speed and accuracy in daily booking operations.
Affiliates
Conversion dashboard
Real-time performance metrics showing traffic, clicks, conversions, and revenue attribution.
Reports view
Detailed analytics with date filtering, breakdowns by campaign, and exportable data.
Embed / marketing tools
Self-service tools for generating widgets, deep links, and promotional assets.
Every design decision has a cost
Building a multi-sided platform means making hard choices. Here are four key trade-offs I navigated — and the reasoning behind each.
1. Operational focus vs. dashboard exploration
Suppliers didn’t need insights. They needed to get work done fast. We replaced a distributive dashboard with an operations-first homepage.
Trade-off
Lost: visibility and navigation
Gained: speed and clarity
Result: reduced time-to-action and fewer missed operations.
2. Flexibility vs. reliability
A fully flexible availability system increased error risk. We constrained configurations to protect operational integrity.
Trade-off
Lost: edge-case flexibility
Gained: predictability and trust
Result: fewer operational mistakes and support issues.
3. Desktop-first vs. coverage
We prioritised real usage over theoretical completeness. Agencies work on desktop — so we shipped desktop first.
Trade-off
Lost: mobile access
Gained: faster delivery of critical workflows
Result: faster adoption among core users, at the cost of UX debt.
4. Impact-first vs. consistency
We prioritised key mobile use cases for affiliates over full system coverage.
Trade-off
Lost: consistency
Gained: faster impact
Result: improved access to performance data in high-value contexts.
This system was not perfect
Honest reflection is part of the process. These are the areas where conscious trade-offs created long-term costs.
The lack of full responsiveness created long-term UX debt
Some constraints in availability limited advanced use cases
Fragmentation in affiliate tools impacted consistency
These were conscious decisions, not oversights. Each trade-off was made with full awareness of the cost — prioritising speed-to-value over completeness.
Long-term thinking
With hindsight and distance, these are the strategic changes I would make if starting this project again.
Invest earlier in a fully responsive system — avoiding fragmentation across devices from the start
Define clearer product boundaries between agencies and affiliates — reducing overlap and confusion in the system model
Introduce progressive complexity — allowing advanced users more flexibility without compromising usability for the majority
From interfaces to systems
This work established a scalable foundation for the marketplace, connecting supply, distribution and demand through a coherent system.
More importantly, it shifted the design approach from:
The shift
From building interfaces
To designing systems that enable business growth
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Open to new opportunities. Based in Madrid, working globally.