Re-engineering educational compliance and financial aid packaging
How we designed a clock-hour Student Information System (SIS) that empowers compliance officers, account managers, and executives to navigate federal regulations with care.
This project was executed under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The interactive panels and dashboard mockups shown below represent sanitized, functional wireframes designed to simulate the core system logic and information architecture without disclosing proprietary client data. High-fidelity UI designs and case files are available upon request.
The Clock-Hour Compliance Challenge
Vocational beauty colleges operate under a unique regulatory framework. Unlike traditional universities that measure academic progress in credits, institutions like **Evergreen Beauty College** track progress in **clock hours**—every physical minute a student spends in the classroom or clinic counts toward federal funding and licensing.
This requirement means that student records must be kept in perfect alignment with state clock-hour mandates. Financial aid disbursement (Title IV), billing balances, and graduation audits depend on accurate clock-hour ledgers.
During collaborative workspace mappings, the Proto UX team identified the need to re-architect EBC's Student Information System (SIS) to center directly around four primary administrative user profiles. By modeling the system around these stakeholders, we translated regulatory compliance into proactive student care.
The Four Key User Profiles
Select a profile card below to review their background, key responsibilities, and technical requirements.
Kara, 42
Bellingham, WA • Compliance & Financial Aid Director
"I want to transform compliance into care by navigating the intricacies of financial aid to foster student success."
Key Responsibilities
- Oversee student clock-hour compliance records across all campuses.
- Generate and review weekly reports to identify at-risk students.
- Manage document repositories for state clock-hour audits.
- Supervise Bellingham and Everett student accounts specialists.
UX Alignment (How to Delight)
- Role Impersonation: Ability to act on behalf of specialists to troubleshoot ledgers.
- Real-time warnings: Automated flagging of Title IV funding delays.
- Early Warnings: Risk metrics indicating attendance slips.
SIS Workspace Playroom
Simulate the workspace solutions designed for Evergreen Beauty College. Select a persona tab inside the panel to run their primary features.
Compliance & Title IV Audit Workspace
Early-Warning Flags & Attendance Interventions
Product Value Proposition: Compliance as Care
Within student administration, the Student Information System is not just a secondary ledger; it is the cornerstone of the entire operation. Our design approach was rooted in high-fidelity workflows that optimize the complex roles of Evergreen's executive officers and accounts team.
By integrating financial aid database triggers, automating the conversion of clock-hour slips, and building compliance alert structures directly into the system architecture, EBC reduced operational lag. The ability to impersonate specialists means compliance directors can debug student issues instantly, while academic operations teams can dynamically shift schedules to prevent student dropouts.
Project Roadmap & Technical Next Steps
Establishing the core features—the automated slip ingestion, compliance flags, role permissions, and database sync validation—formed the MVP boundary. Technical next steps include completing integrations with admissions CRMs, geocoding maps for student locations, and configuring live links to QuickBooks.
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