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A B2B SaaS platform to ace college accreditations
Studium's product is my first real life project which I worked on after I started at Studium as an intern in March 2023 & then as a full-time UI/UX Designer in July 2023. Details of this project are not disclosed here or in any other part of my portfolio since this project constitutes of company IP.
Problem Statement:
Colleges and faculty face significant challenges in obtaining accreditation due to the complex and time-consuming nature of the process. Managing extensive documentation, ensuring compliance with stringent standards, and co-ordinating across multiple departments creates a daunting task. This often leads to inefficiencies, stress, and delays, making it difficult for institutions to achieve and maintain a decent accreditation status.
User:
Age: 30-60
Occupation: Professor at a college
Location: Pune, India
Persona: Sandeep is an Associate Professor at a tier-II Management college in Pune. His college is going to apply for the NAAC accreditation in the next academic year. Neither Sandeep nor college management have much idea as to how to navigate the maze of accreditations. Getting a bad NAAC grade will hamper college admissions & grants received by the college. Sandeep is fed up of doing documentation for NAAC as his passion is teaching and he sees accreditation work as an additional burden on his head. The college needs a platform to guide them & manage all of their accreditation work in a centralized manner.
Challenges:
1. College management has little to no knowledge of how to perform well at accreditations.
2. Accreditation compliance is highly technical making it time consuming & hard to understand.
3. Faculty members are reluctant in doing tasks related to accreditation documentation because they see it as a burden & it is hard to understand.
4. Accreditations function at multiple levels like programs, institutes, universities making it much harder to manage all work in a centralized manner.
5. The average user being the age of 45, we needed to consider that users were not particularly tech savvy & needed to simplify the product as much as possible.
Objectives:
1. Using this product, the faculty need not study tedious accreditation documentation.
2. Faculty should be able to fill up required data quickly in relevant accreditation criteria.
3. College management should be able to see at any point, the status of work completed by faculty members & all other concerned stakeholders.
4. Insights should guide management in areas of improvement where they should be focusing more in order to get more marks.
5. Management should be able to access accreditation criteria at multiple levels in the hierarchy like university, institute, program depending on the accreditation.
6. Finals reports should be generated automatically using all the data input.
7. College should be able to show improvements in various areas over multiple accreditation cycles.
8. Providing surrounding modules that aid & expedite the process is a big plus.
Solution:
An accreditation management software which centralizes management of all data. Provides insights to the college management on work being done, provides a birds eye view. Insights make visible potential areas of improvement. It also eases the burden by guiding faculties on which data is required at what stage. All the data is compiled in a standard format & your final report is printed.
Design Process:
1. Initial Research: Designing for accreditation & related modules is a highly domain heavy task. Thus, the research phase of this process includes not only the end users, but other surrounding stakeholders as well. When designing a new module, research is conducted in collaboration with potential users (faculty & college management) as well as domain experts.
2. Wireframes: Based on the initial research the entire flow of the module is created in wireframes, which go through internal approvals for design. First paper wireframes & then mid fidelity wireframes in Figma are created.
3. Design & Prototype: Wireframes are then made into full-fledged flows of finished designs along with prototyping. Prototyping also helps the internal developers team understand the flow better, resulting in their job getting easier.
5. Testing & Iterating: Designed modules are then made into functional previews by developers, which can be tested for design & functionality without releasing the module. At this stage designers collaborate with developers as well as customer success team to test the modules. For user testing, the module is released to a small sample of users and feedback is gathered.
7. Push to prod: Feedback from user testing & internal testing is incorporated and the final version is then pushed to prod & released for all users.
Learning:
Working on Studium's accreditation product gave me exposure to the design processes followed in real life projects. I especially enjoyed the enterprise nature of the product making it more interesting for me. Being a startup, one wears multiple hats at Studium. Similarly I got the opportunity to learn-
1. Design: At Studium, I designed user-centric interfaces for products now used by over 2,000 users. I was involved in end-to-end module design, from research to delivery, and contributed significantly to revamping our internal design system. Led user research for my vertical by co-ordinating with domain experts to align product features. Collaborated with Tech & Customer Success teams to test newly developed modules. I also led upskilling initiatives, conducting advanced Figma workshops for my team to improve design efficiency.
2. Business Strategy: I worked directly with the CEO on crafting sales strategies, go-to-market plans, and product positioning for newly launched offerings. I presented these strategies to the company's investors to gather feedback and refine them based on their insights. This helped us sharpen our value proposition and align better with the needs of our clients.
3. Data Analytics: I initiated and led the development of a new data analytics product. This included gathering, cleaning, and processing data from multiple public domain sources. I used insights generated to create comparative analytical reports that informed key strategic decisions for our clients. I aslo managed a 2-member team to deliver critical data analytics features under tight deadlines.
4. Sales & Marketing: I coordinated targeted email campaigns that successfully converted new leads, generating over ₹10L in annual revenue. This also included gathering, storing contacts & designing the graphics & contents of the campaigns. I also contributed to pitch decks & sales outreach for potential clients.
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5. Admin: I temporarily managed administrative tasks including leave tracking through Zoho People, support ticketing via Zoho Desk, and user account management using Google Workspace. I led a hiring drive for a Data Analytics role—from drafting the JD to onboarding—and assisted in organizing internal events and processes.
6. Social Media: I handled the execution of a structured social media calendar, designed posts and videos, and increased our LinkedIn follower count by 80%. I managed CMS-based blog publishing and collaborated with a social media agency to roll out weekly email campaigns. These efforts contributed directly to better brand visibility and customer engagement.
7. Other: I interviewed directors and senior decision-makers of reputed educational institutions to understand their perspective. Assisted in the creation of media like podcasts. I also had the opportunity to represent Studium at TiECon 2025, interacting with founders & investors—an experience that gave me deeper exposure to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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