Context
- the number of pupils a free school will have affects the amount of funding the school receives
- free school projects may be cancelled or deferred if pupil numbers are too low
- data about pupil numbers is currently recorded by project leads (PLs) in Free Schools Store (FSS)
User needs
As a project lead, I need to record accurate, up-to-date information regarding the pupil numbers and capacity of a proposed free school, so that an accurate record of the free school project can be maintained.
As a project lead, I need to record accurate, up-to-date information regarding the pupil numbers and capacity of a proposed free school, so that the appropriate level of funding can be issued to a local authority.
As a member of the School Places Analysis (SPA) team, I need access to accurate, up-to-date information regarding the pupil numbers and capacity of a proposed free school, so that I can publish appropriate reports to senior leaders.
Designing a solution
Similar to site information, we had a placeholder summary card in our 'about the project' page for pupil numbers, which we decided to keep.
We worked with the SPA team to understand what data currently recorded in FSS is needed. Whilst we were able to remove a few unnecessary fields, the vast majority of them are needed. We tweaked the wording so the fields would be easier for PLs to understand.
We broadly used the same data layout as in FSS, but made some improvements to the make it quicker for PLs to enter the data. For example, combining data tables that presented similar pupil numbers data.
Before
After
From there, PLs can see a number of data tables. The first table has pre-populated data, entered by the SPA team when they create a project. We felt we needed to make it clear to PLs where this data has come from.
We originally considered displaying the data tables as summary lists, with a change link for each one. However, we decided to use tables with a primary action button. This button takes users to an 'edit' version of the page, where they enter the pupil data and click 'Save and continue'.
This takes them back to the 'read only' page, with a success notification banner to confirm that their changes have been made.
Along with recording pupil numbers data, PLs need to check that this data matches what is on the:
- funding agreement.
- Get information about schools (GIAS) registration form
To help PLs manage the free school project, we created a pupil numbers checks task in our task list.
This includes some checkbox tasks to complete. This design is consistent with other tasks in our task list.
We link to this pupil numbers checks list at the bottom of the pupil numbers page, to help PLs navigate through our product.
User research
We received this feedback from the SPA team about the pupil numbers data tables:
"Yes, that looks good - a much better layout than currently"
We have assumed that PLs need a summary of pupil number data in the 'about the project' page. We need to validate this assumption in user research.
We also need to validate whether the layout and user experience changes we've made to entering and viewing pupil numbers data are helpful to PLs.