Scholarship System

Story

With thousands of students every semester being awarded scholarships it's a big task to make sure it all happens before their respective deadlines. For years this process was handled on a series of massive spread sheets. It was a manual cumbersome process.

We set out to create a system that would automate and simplify this whole process. They told the team that this project was attempted before and it failed. The team got together and made a map of the whole process. We explored different ways to solve the complex calculations needed for modeling and estimated who gets how much and it was a very long and complicated process. The team put together some basic wireframes which I took and began to refine. After much questioning and tests the UI began to take shape. As we laid things out we began to refine the look and functions and address any items that were overlooked in the beginning. I provided some styles for the dev team working in People Soft. This would allow them to easily implement styles that are consistent throughout the system.

Even before the system was completed we began testing the UI with some of the departments, employees, and students who would be using this system. We set up a demo with UXPIN and began some testing in a usability lab with Morae. The testing was positive yet showed that there was plenty of room for improvement. Based on the data we collected we implemented the changes worked out kinks in the flow of the process and squashed bugs as we found them. During the long development period I would review all of the screens to make sure the styles were being applied correctly. The end result was an automated system that the Financial Aid Office is thrilled to be using and a way for students to check up on and submit scholarship information.