NEXUS

Building a better way to manage web development projects

Building a web application is only one part of delivering a successful project. Keeping clients informed, managing tasks, tracking progress and coordinating delivery all require time and organisation.

What if the entire client experience could be brought together in one place?

That was the idea behind NEXUS, a client portal developed to bring project management and client collaboration into a single, dedicated platform.

Rather than relying on disconnected emails, conversations and documents, I wanted to create a centralised workspace where clients could follow their project's progress while the development team could manage the work behind it.

The problem: keeping projects connected

Web development projects involve several moving parts, from initial planning and design through to development, testing and deployment.

Clients need a clear understanding of where their project stands, what happens next and whether any action is required from them. Meanwhile, the development team needs the tools to organise work, manage tasks and maintain oversight across multiple projects.

NEXUS was designed to bring these workflows together, providing a shared point of reference for both clients and the team.

The solution: a dedicated client portal

NEXUS provides a centralised project workspace with functionality for tracking progress, managing tasks, handling invoices and coordinating the client relationship.

Projects move through defined stages, from onboarding and planning through design, development, testing and review to completion. Each stage has an associated progress value, making it easier to communicate project status consistently.

The platform also distinguishes between different user roles, allowing the experience and available functionality to reflect whether someone is managing the organisation, working on projects or accessing the portal as a client.

The goal was to make the system useful for the people managing delivery without making it unnecessarily complicated for the people commissioning the work.

Engineering the platform

NEXUS was built using Next.js, TypeScript and Tailwind CSS, with Supabase providing authentication, PostgreSQL database functionality and the foundation for access control.

The application uses role-based permissions and project membership to structure access to project information. This is particularly important in a multi-client environment, where users must only be able to access the projects and information they are authorised to see.

Supabase Row Level Security (RLS) helps enforce these permissions at the database level, complementing the application's own access controls.

I also integrated Resend for transactional email workflows, supporting communication such as client invitations, and use Vercel for deployment.

Designing around real workflows

One of the key considerations was making the platform work for both sides of the client relationship.

Clients need clarity without being overwhelmed by internal project-management details. Staff need a more comprehensive view that supports the day-to-day running of projects.

NEXUS brings these requirements together through role-aware dashboards, structured project stages and task management, with the aim of making project status and next steps easier to understand.

Building the platform also required thinking beyond individual screens: database relationships, authentication, permission boundaries and the way information moves through the system all needed to work together as a coherent product.

What's next?

NEXUS represents an ongoing effort to build a more structured and transparent client experience for web developers.

More broadly, the project reflects how I approach software development: start with a practical problem, design around the people who will use the solution, and build the underlying systems needed to make it work reliably.

I'm particularly interested in how full-stack development can turn repetitive business processes into more organised, maintainable workflows.