Not for Profit /
New Zealand
Developing a global Alumni social network

The Challenge
Karen Milton, Justin Richards & Paul Kelly (The Pragmatics) have successfully delivered their Pragmatic Evaluation course internationally since 2015 to hundreds of participants and decided they would like to enhance their organisation with the latest digital technologies and streamline their course attendee process. During our discovery call, Pragmatic Evaluation explained in detail their vision for their new system and digital growth.
Key Features Required:
- Responsively designed front-end website
- Complimentary Alumni social network for course attendees to keep in touch and professionally network
- Custom-designed members profile page
- Course attendee dashboard that changed depending on their status. I.e. successful application, course attendee etc
- Custom-designed application system that allowed applicants to apply in 5 parts and save each part of the application locally on their pc/laptop until they were ready to submit for consideration
- An application assessment system that auto-calculated scores of each application by two assessors with automated follow-up actions
Our Solution
For Tecology this was the perfect challenge! We have spent many years perfecting our skills and ability to define unique user experiences and use advanced dynamic data to create complex forms and feedback systems. For this project, we used a combination of a membership management system, social networking builder and a custom post type software solution. A key consideration with this project was the overall user experience and consistent UI.
Here is an example of the user dashboard. The dashboard dynamically displays user-specific information, depending on which stage of the process they are currently at. The idea of this was to ensure there were no unnecessary options that may be confusing or would be applicable only to Alumni who have already completed the course. The social network was also restricted until the course completion for each user:
There is high demand for applicants attending the Pragmatic Evaluation courses and the course coordinators created a rigorous application process to ensure the course was delivered to the most suitable applicants. We looked at the application process in detail and devices a user-friendly way for applicants to complete it in multiple sessions if they chose to do so with indicators to let them know which stages they still have to complete and a final editable review option before application submission.
Finally, the social network forum. This is something highly unique to this website and easily the most complex part. As you would expect with any social forum, users can add their own posts of text and images. Like, comment and engage with the users. Rate their course coordinators, live chat with their fellow Alumni and connect with like-minded professionals. The social Forum delivers this with ease whilst keeping the same, familiar UI experience that course attendees have had right from their initial registration.
Finally, one of the key aspects we considered in this project was automation. All aspects, outside of the application assessment, are completely automated. Welcome emails, payment instructions and receipt, community engagement and course communications. All working away behind the scenes so Karen, Paul and Justin can focus on delivering their excellent courses.