Implementation of Action Maps and Interaction Prototypes as a Strategy to Improve Information Architecture and Interface Design in an Academic Management Platform

Abstract

Organizations have found a great ally in information technologies to achieve success in their management processes. For universities, for example, information systems and platforms are essential to support the academic and administrative management of their institutional mission. These platforms, whether proprietary or licensed, serve institutions not only as a data repository but also as a scenario for managing and systematizing processes and procedures. The Pascual Bravo University Institution in Medellín, Colombia, has articulated its academic management processes through the University Academic Information and Control System or SICAU (in its Spanish acronym) platform, a proprietary development that perhaps has not achieved a coherent integration between information architecture and interface design. That is, the information experience specified in the backend (data architecture) is not integrated or reflected in the experience of the different users in the frontend (interface design). The objective of this case study is to propose the design of the interface level interaction (graphic elements and feedback) for the SICAU platform in the teaching module at the Pascual Bravo University Institution. It is concluded that the analysis on action maps allows to identify gaps on the information architecture. The interaction analysis model proposed in this research facilitated the design of interactions with the purpose of improving the user experience (UX) and attributes in the platform’s backend.