A Closer Look

The W.E.B. Du Bois Society is committed to supporting environments that keep African-American students motivated and engaged in learning, and inspired toward higher academic ambition.

Project Background

On the heels of completing the Society's website redesign, Red Tusk was engaged to design and develop an application system for the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program to streamline the process for the applicant, the selection committee, and the entities in between.

The current application system was bogged down by paper applications filled in by hand and mailed to the ACT administation offices who would then manually log the applications before forwarding to the W.E.B. Du Bois Society for review and selection. The system was cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive to maintain.

Solution

Multi-Channel Online Application Process

Red Tusk drafted a process flowchart designating the key steps all four entities would take in the application process. Each step was reviewed with ACT and RISE personnel, revised as needed, and then put into the development process. Each step of the application process was expressed in wireframe format prior to web development.

Result

The process was developed, tested and launched in time for the annual invitations to apply to be sent to selected students. The entire process, from invitation to application to acceptance went much more smoothly with fewer application errors, much quicker turnaround time and significantly fewer man hours involved in processing and review.

The Society plans to expand the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program nationally in the near future.