WakeNetwork

A one-stop shop for alumni.

An end-to-end rebuild of a core institutional platform.

Intro

WakeNetwork, a platform to connect and engage alumni and donors, was originally built in 2014 on Blackbaud Internet Solutions (BBIS). While this platform allowed deep integration into our Blackbaud Database (BBCRM), it did not allow for the kind of design flexibility needed to make the site accessible, scalable, or to increase functionality.

After extensive deliberation, the product team decided to remove BBIS from the picture, and rebuild WakeNetwork from the ground up.

Role & Responsibilities

Design Manager and Product Owner

Led a cross-functional team from conception to launch.
Defined vision and roadmap.
Defined KPIs
Stakeholder communication and Steering Committee Management
Contractor Management
Own and lead the end-to-end design process of major features and iterations of the WakeNetwork platform.

Project Goals

Simple

Design a site that is delightful, intuitive, and easy to use.

Secure

Ensure a secure connection between the CRM Database and the front end.

Accessible

Design a site that meets AA accessibility.

The Process

Define the Vision

Meet Wake Foresters where they are.

Getting buy-in from stakeholders and key business partners across campus was essential to the success of this project. Spending time researching and crafting the vision was imperative.

Buy-In

Gaining collaborators

The success of re-building the platform and related products was reliant on buy-in from our technology departments and the University at large. My team and I succeeded in socializing the core vision and gained consensus across key stakeholders and business partners —demonstrating that an investment in digital products and platforms benefited both business goals and user goals.

Finalize E2E Architecture

A Modern Infrastructure

We realized early on there was no moving forward until we decided what we were building on. In order to accomplish our long-term goals for the project, we knew we needed to modernize the foundation of the site. We went with AWS, Amazon Cognito, and React to allow us the flexibility and scalability we needed.

Establish Full-Stack Workflow

Iterate early and often.

We designed an end-to-end workflow that allowed us to iterate quickly, maximizing our capacity to ensure high-quality output while promptly addressing user needs.

Constituent Research | Survey Highlights

“Networking with other alumni. However, this seems to be very sporadic and not well organized in the areas I have lived. I am not sure where to start in reaching out to other alums in my area when group info is outdated or inactive.“

“Career growth and trajectory and ways that WFU alum or connection to The Forest can assist/be assisted by this area.”

“Recent grad (‘11) who is still working on establishing their career. Wake doesn’t do a great job facilitiating alumni connections after graduation, networks need to be improved.”

“I love my school so much I sent my son there. However, I am really disappointed with alumni support. The majority of our contact is to get money. Other schools have far better alumni outreach and networking opportunities. We are small but very strong community but we are not utilizing to assist the alumni.”

“A am under 30 and interested in staying connected with Wake Forest inthe community.

“I am a fairly recent grad so right now building my career is the most important to me. I would like more help with career services and connections would be awesome.”

"I am an in houes attorney at a major U.S. company. As a person who is fairly young in my professional career. I am interested (with respect to WFU) in opportunities to network with alumni and parents. This might look like happy hours, alumni lectures, programs in cities and alumni trips abroad. Looking back, there are so many Wake graduates who are doing interesting things that I’d like to connect with.”

These results show us that Wake Forest alumni want a better way to connect with Wake Forest and Wake Foresters that does not involve donations to the school.

Redesign User Experience

When you design for everyone, you design for no one.

While the software engineers got to work building and configuring our infrastructure, my design team and I got to designing!