Step Up For Students
Digital Transformation Through Data Mapping and User Journey Exercise
Background Context
Step Up For Students is a Florida nonprofit providing K-12 scholarships to students across the state, with a historical emphasis on lower-income students, students with unique abilities, bullied students in public schools, and public school students seeking support in math and/or reading. Scholarships can help pay tuition for private school, transportation to attend an out-of-district public school, tutoring, educational materials, and a variety of therapies.
In 2020, Step Up For Students (SUFS) enlisted NLP Logix to conduct a data mapping and user journey discovery. Through exercises, NLP Logix interviewed the SUFS Team and researched workflow processes, threading together a solution for transforming the end-user experience of scholarship management and student access to educational and therapy services.
Gnarly Problem
As parents applied and received scholarship funding for their child’s education, SUFS sought a way to empower parents to pursue the most appropriate learning options for their child. “Often, these families lacked the information and financial resources to access their options,” said Doug Tuthill, President of Step Up For Students. “SUFS and NLP Logix partnered to build an enterprise application for an education savings account (ESA) platform – a portal for guardians to access and use funds received for the educational needs of their students.”
Strategic Approach
NLP Logix, through the product, delivery, and software development processes, collaborated with SUFS business and technical teams to design and implement a technology solution. The goal was to empower parents to access educational options and make the best educational decisions for their child. In a world with unlimited options, SUFS and NLP Logix set out to build a seamless and integrated solution for parents; to eliminate barriers to information and services.
The result is a scalable, AI-powered application. Over time, SUFS and NLP Logix have evaluated options to integrate artificial intelligence/machine learning technology, such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of uploaded receipts for reimbursements. OCR provides the ability to identify key data and capture the data in context. When all functionality has been deployed, the platform will permit data-driven, user-specific recommendations through dynamic scoring and advanced analytics.
To develop and support the educational spending account platform, the following was considered:
· User portal & user experience
· Provider services
· Scholarship applications
· User profile management
· Scholarship approvals
· Provider registration
· Provider profile management
· Reimbursements
· Financial services
To build this solution, NLP Logix and SUFS worked through the following processes:
1. Gathered historical data and artifacts
2. Defined the current and future business processes
3. Defined the data model and solution architecture needs
4. Built out the solution infrastructure
5. Iterated through:
· Requirements signoff
· Development
· Testing
· Deployment
Operational Success
The initial development efforts have been successfully completed. SUFS and NLP Logix are actively working to deploy new functionality as part of the software development lifecycle process. Tuthill concludes, “This project has meant so much to so many families. With NLP Logix we have created a reliable solution with positive and impactful results.” Learn more about Step Up For Students: Scholarships In Florida. Learn more about Application Development • NLP Logix.
