Modernizing Information Sharing for Students and Institutions

The client is a global graduate-education nonprofit, the creator and owner of a standardized graduate admissions test that institutions use to decide admittance into their graduate programs. The organization had primarily no real web presence and was losing potential students to facilities offering more Internet-based services. i3solutions designed and built the portal that closed that gap, a custom web application combining content for students and school professionals, data collection, research resources, test preparation tools, e-commerce, and interactive communication, with database development and real time data transfer with partner companies behind it. Students got streamlined registration, a free download of an interactive test preparation tool, a school search database for finding graduate programs by location, program type, or school, online registration and participation in Distance Learning courses, and a virtual library of articles and publications. The organization came away with greater control over what it publishes to the site and improved administrative ability.

The client is a global graduate-education nonprofit, the creator and owner of a standardized graduate admissions test that institutions use to determine admittance into their respective graduate programs. The organization needed to update their technology to support new and existing students as well as establishing a portal to assist students, administrators and institutions in obtaining and exchanging information regarding graduate programs. With primarily no real web presence, the organization was losing potential students to facilities that were offering more Internet-based services.

What did i3solutions build for the organization?

A portal that lets students, administrators, and institutions obtain and exchange information about graduate programs. The site combines content aimed at both students and school professionals with data collection, research resources, test preparation tools, e-commerce, interactive communication, and real time data transfer with partner companies. The engagement covered web site design, application design, web business process consulting, and database development.

What can students do on the portal?

Register for the test through a streamlined registration process, download an interactive test preparation tool free of charge, search a school database for graduate programs by location, program type, or school, register for and take part in Distance Learning courses online, and research articles and publications in a virtual library.

We are starting with almost no web presence. Where does a project like this begin?

Where this client began. It came to i3solutions with primarily no real web presence and was new to interactive and enriched web technology, so the first work was deciding the best course of action together before anything was built. That is what the design and consulting portion of this engagement was for, and the portal that followed gave the organization a web presence that states its vision publicly and delivers services to graduate students, professionals, and institutions.

If the people who need your information are outside your walls and it currently lives with your staff, the question is not whether to build a portal but what belongs in the first release. A first conversation covers who your audiences are, what each one needs to obtain or submit, and which systems already hold that data. You leave with a scoped view of the build and the integration work behind it, in the written form your committee will ask for before it approves a budget. Start the conversation