Global Creation Foundation Gets a New Dashboard

Problem

The music programs scaled globally but the system couldn’t keep up.

Global Creation Foundation runs multiple programs around the world teaching students how to play instruments. They found that keeping track of all their resources, contacts, and program statistics grew in difficulty. With plans to continue expanding their reach, they knew their current practices weren’t sustainable.

Research

Thinking through the systems.

I created a user persona for the Admin type user to understand how to best streamline the different actions he has to take to manage this non-profit. Conducting a competitive analysis gave my guidance on how to structure information. The user flow helped me to consider all actions the user must be access and where they must make decisions.

Solution

One centralized, role aware system to keep up with it’s expansion.

GCF needed a centralized, role-aware system to manage its growing complexity. On my team, I designed the Admin Dashboard and collaborated on the Regional Dashboard because there were many page similarities.

Features

Enhancing their current system of overseeing all programs.

Instead of relying on their google sheets spreadsheet, the client needed a way to easily scan through programs and prevent making accidental edits. My initial thought was to keep all the columns the same as their spreadsheet, but the client wanted more columns that required in awkward horizontal scrolled.

Since the new columns weren’t too high in the information hierarchy, I chose an expanding/collapsing drawer design that opens when the user hovers over it. Considering the device the client wanted to use it on was only a computer, this worked out perfectly as it allows easier access to program data than a combination of horizontal and vertical scrolling.

This side drawer was used to prevent inline editing access that was frustrating on Google Sheets and allow for more detailed instructions to complete each field.

Categorizing Updates for smoother management

The current system for updates was spread across different communication platforms like whats app and email and the user needed a centralized way to track student head count, instrument issues, and program development updates.

This initial system made it difficult for the user to sort through different types of updates quickly so I introduced tabs to offload the initial, primary use of filters.

This initial system also categorized all updates to be summarized into one note section. I then created a new form that was unique to the different types of updates.

Admins can now track all user Accounts

Since the system of communication was standardized, the admin wanted to be able to add peoples accounts to access the program they would be assigned to easily.

Introducing a Region Dashboard for Admin Use

This page was not in any initial vision for the product, but I proposed it to make program region management better for admins. This page was difficult to develop because the use type of Regional Director was still in the process of being added to the organizational hierarchy of GCF and so it took a lot of time for me to think through practical user flows and roadbumps that could potentially come up. The original system made it so that every program that existed in a region would have to be individually assigned to that person. I proposed that instead, programs should be added to a region and then that region could be assigned to a person. This extra layer of abstraction simplifies the process and also organizes the information in a way that’s easier to scan. That way the programs the regional director is in charge is automatically assigned in its region group.

Reflection