Uni Fr

In 2015, the University of Fribourg wanted to thoroughly update its information system which brings together not only academic applications, but also the HR, Financial and Infrastructure portals. The objective: to simplify and modernise access for 10,000 students and 3,000 staff.

To put users and their needs centre stage

"With this project we wanted to define a new way of presenting our major applications, including the business portal and related back offices," explains Alain Cochard, Deputy Director of IT Services.

One of the goals in overhauling Campus Management is to make it possible for business users to work using processes. As Nadia Wenger, head of IT projects in the HR department, says: "This overhaul is a great opportunity to optimise our business processes and thus offer quality services to end users".

In the opinion of the IT departments' Assistant director, it is essential that the design of the applications is done in close partnership with business users. "Yes, from the start we were involved in looking for solutions suited to our needs and our users' needs," says Nadia Wenger.

The combination of technologies and expertise

The excellence of SQLI Switzerland and its digital agency WAX Interactive, both in terms of technology and UX, won us over," says Alain Cochard.

"SQLI's assistance in the form of workshops helped us to articulate our needs. The methods used, such as card sorting, quickly led us to achieving a vision shared by all those involved. As soon as it went live, we had interfaces which met our needs and featuring real advances compared to legacy solutions," says Nadia Wenger.

This UX overhaul is an opportunity for the University of Fribourg to present its work to different cantonal partners and other higher education institutions facing the same challenges.

As I mentioned, our applications UX is a crucial issue for all of our projects. However, you cannot just make an ergonomist or graphic designer appear out of thin air. That is why we chose to entrust UX-related work to SQLI Switzerland. We have collaborated for several years now, and the efficiency of their teams, their flexibility and the quality of their work never cease to impress us, says Alain Cochard.