Research
Interviews
For our research we conducted interviews with several stakeholders of the project. We interviewed with 7 Carnegie Mellon students and 2 HUB staff.
Students
For the student interviews we wanted to get information on what the students used the HUB for, how they communicate with the HUB, and any issues they might have currently.
We found out in our interviews that students mainly use the HUB for their finance for tuition, to schedule classes, and to get transcripts. We also found out that students mainly communicated via email. They would first check the website for information, then email the HUB, and finally go into the HUB office directly to get help.
Some problems that students encountered with the HUB were that response from the HUB was slow or nonexistent, that the HUB website was difficult to find information on, and that going to the office was inconvenient.
The HUB
In our interview with the HUB, we talked to John Papinchak, the University Registrar, and Christine Gilchrist, an Assistant Director at the HUB. We wanted to find out how the HUB communicated with students, how they kept track of student messages and problems, and any issues they might have currently.
We found out that the HUB communicates with the students via their website, email, phone, and via their office and that the majority of students preferred to email the HUB. They receive 30 to 40 emails per day, and try to respond within 24-48 hours. All staff share the same inbox, and delete from the inbox once questions are answered. They keep messages in the box if they need further clarifications, and they CC the group inbox to show that a question has been taken care of.
Some problems we found were that the HUB shared a single inbox and it was difficult to keep track of all the messages they got and that they repeatedly received easy to solve, simple questions. The volume of emails is especially problematic when students reply to mass emails from the HUB.
The HUB had considered several options in the past, such as an automatic message response system, but due to the high cost they decided not to pursue it.
Personas
Ted Wilson
- Major:
- Engineering
- Age:
- 20 (Junior)
- Devices:
-
- iPhone
- Windows laptop
- Goals:
-
- Schedule classes without any hassle
- Register for courses quickly & efficiently
- Don't get frustrated
- Graduate on time
- Get a good job
Alice
- Position:
- Assistant Director, The HUB
- Age:
- 40
- Devices:
-
- Generic cell phone
- Windows desktop
- Goals:
-
- Be accurate and efficient
- Answer student inquiries
- Get a promotion
Scenarios
In order to get into the mindset of our personas, we created two scenarios that represented problems Ted and Alice would likely have. These scenarios were instrumental in helping us develop a full story of the interaction between our users by giving us a concrete problem to work through.
In our first scenario, Ted submitted a tuition payment three weeks ago, but unbeknownst to him, the HUB hasn't processed it yet, and he has a course registration hold on his account. It is a Friday, and course registration for next semester begins next week. Since Ted won't be able to register until the hold is removed, it is imperative to him that he get the problem resolved immediately.
Our second scenario involves Alice and her co-worker Bob. Alice is on duty answering emails, and Bob, who is responsible for processing payments, is working at his desk in Enrollment Services. Alice will receive a question (from Ted) that she can't answer, and will need to ask Bob to handle it for her.