KeyOnline for Schools
KeyOnline for Schools is Key Education Resources’ secure extranet for its school partners. Financial aid officers use KeyOnline for Schools to:
- Find pending loans and certify them by confirming information on the loan, including cost of attendance, loan amount, and loan disbursement dates
- Edit existing loans
- View loan status and credit decisions
- Configure “templates” to speed up common certification scenarios
As lead user experience designer, I performed all the interface design for KeyOnline for Schools.
Users
The users of KeyOnline for Schools are financial aid officers and bursar’s office employees at primary and secondary schools who partner with KER. Users are a wide range of ages and use a variety of platforms, browsers, screen sizes and resolutions. Users have varying levels of computer experience, but most are familiar with financial aid management software. They have substantial domain expertise, are familiar with industry terminology, and typically have experience in performing similar functions on paper and/or in competing software.
Users may access KeyOnline for Schools daily during busy season (spring and summer), and less often during the rest of the year. New users receive limited training and documentation, so the software needed to be easy to learn.
Responsibilities
- Researched target users
- Performed competitive analysis
- Worked with product owner, subject matter experts, and business stakeholders to identify requirements
- Created Photoshop mockups and wireframes
- Created design description document to communicate complete interface flow and screen states to developers and stakeholders
- Created complete clickable wireframe for use in demonstrations and usability testing
- Planned and moderated usability tests to evaluate initial design direction
- Worked with visual designer to create final XHTML/CSS prototypes with final graphic design
- Ensured cross-browser compatibility
- Evaluated and recommended third-party calendar picker script
- Wrote custom JavaScript for “lightbox-style” modal popups
- Assisted developers in implementing final design.
Tools
- Photoshop
- XHTML
- CSS
- JavaScript (including DOM scripting/DHTML)
- Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries
- Firebug
- Firefox Web Developer Toolbar
- Internet Explorer DOM Explorer
Questions?
