A concrete project with a clear subject and real-world context.
EconoCollege’s previous intake process relied on paper forms and manual data entry. New students often waited weeks for confirmation, and administrative staff spent hours chasing missing documents. The goal was to cut that cycle to under three days while reducing errors.
A dedicated onboarding portal that lets applicants upload their ID, proof of address, and prior qualifications in one session. The system validates file types and sizes on the spot, flags incomplete submissions, and sends an automated acknowledgment. Behind the scenes, a simple dashboard groups applications by status — pending, under review, approved — so staff can act without sifting through email threads.
Average onboarding time dropped from 12 days to 2.5 days. Document rejection rates fell by 60% because the portal checks for common mistakes before submission. Staff reported spending roughly four fewer hours per week on data entry. The college now processes the same number of intakes without overtime.
The portal didn’t require custom software — it was built using existing form tools and a shared spreadsheet backend. The real change was designing the flow around what applicants actually had (phone, email, scanned documents) rather than what an ideal system would demand.
Project
A grounded project that adds a different angle without repeating the others.
We reviewed session logs and support tickets to identify which panels were used most and which were ignored. The data showed that 60% of clicks went to three modules, while five others had almost no interaction.
We interviewed five support agents and two team leads to understand their daily workflow. The key tasks were: checking open tickets, updating statuses, and viewing response times. Everything else was secondary.
We moved the three high-use modules to the top of the dashboard and grouped secondary tools into a collapsible sidebar. The layout shifted from a grid to a single-column flow to reduce visual noise.
A clickable prototype was created and tested with the same support team. We timed common tasks and asked for feedback on clarity. Average task completion time dropped by 35% compared to the old dashboard.
The refreshed dashboard went live in a phased rollout. We tracked error rates, login frequency, and support ticket volume for two weeks. No critical issues were reported, and agent satisfaction scores improved by 22%.
The project gave the support team a cleaner interface focused on what they actually use. The process confirmed that small, targeted changes can have a bigger impact than a full redesign.