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Below the foldArchitecting a mission-critical department website
J. Todd Bennett (@jtoddb) & Adam Forrand (@4and)decimal152
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Architecting a helpful (yes, helpful) Student Financial Services experience
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A case study about making a departmental website better through
user research, information architecture, content strategy, design
and teamwork
…at Ithaca College
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Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York
Founded in 1892
Just over 6,000 students (mostly undergraduate) with 5 schools and 2 divisions
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This is Bonny
She is not your presenter, but wanted to be.
Say hello to her on Twitter @bggriffith
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The right mix of people
Benjamin CostelloWeb Applications Architect
Eric MaguireVP for Enrollment Management
Various LeadersStudent Financial Services
Bonny Georgia GriffithDirector of Recruitment Marketing
and us…
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These people had a problem
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Like most private colleges, IC is tuition-drivenIthaca’s total cost of attendance is $48,707
AND…They award $145 million in aid each year and85% of students receive some financial aid
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They have very helpful people in their financial aid and billing office…
…but a not-so-helpful website
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The background…
• Financial Aid and Bursar merged • Each had separate sites, with different CMSs• Tons of redundancies in content• Content repurposed from print• Sites were a maintenance nightmare• Bad user experience for everyone
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But they wanted to…
•Make financial aid and billing easy to understand and the site easy to use
•Minimize maintenance headaches for the staff
•Develop a model for collaboration on future sites
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Why bother?
Financial aid is a challenge nationwide
• Increased reluctance by families to take on debt and borrow money for college• Financial aid is very complex and difficult to understand• Families are in search of better tools to understand the process
Study: “Cracking the Student Aid Code”, College Board
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Flickr JeremyBrooks
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This was ONE page
1/8 of that page
(Enlarged for your viewing enjoyment)
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Endowed scholarships
Federal Programs
NY State Programs
FAQs College Aid Programs
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Flickr: Brandon Doran
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Discovery
Architecture & Content Strategy
Content Design
Implementation
Testing
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Discovery
Flickr: David G Crawford
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• Front-line Financial Aid staff interviews
• Admissions staff interviews
• Conversations regarding content development and editorial workflows with key SFS staff
• A session regarding CMS capabilities, strategies and possible implementation tactics
Lots of meetings
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• A focus group with current students
• Usability tests of the current Student Financial Services sites performed by current undergraduates
• A focus group with prospective students and their family members regarding concerns about valuing and financing a college education
• Interviews with prospective students and parents discussing their needs and preferences for financial information from colleges and its impact on enrollment decisions
• Jargon flash cards
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Also looked at
•Entire .edu site•Directories•Index•Search•Letters•Publications•Telephone
24 references to “Bursar”
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Student Financial Services?
“I usually call the bursar’s office and have them transfer me to financial aid”
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WPM LCMS Ease of use Deeper site
HTML snippets More robust versioning
Control over who has access Approval workflows
One place for everything
2 content management systems…
… each with benefits and limitations
Required a hybrid solution
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Architecture & Content Strategy
Mark Bennett
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Content Design
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Then we added the REAL content
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decimal152 Office of SFS Communications
Working_Copy_ICContent_1.2.2.1_Ithaca_GrantsRevision1_ICContent_Revision2_ICContent_FINAL_ICContent_
Content Workflow
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Flickr: Comunidade 0937
Putting it together
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Post Launch Testing & Feedback
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J. Todd Bennett
[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/jtoddbennett @jtoddb on Twitter
Adam P. Forrand
[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/adamforrand @4and on Twitter