01 / The problem
The data was all there. The next step wasn't.
iCEV's reporting was built like a library: a deep shelf of reports, each with its own filters, each answering a question you already had to know to ask. An administrator preparing for a certification window had to guess which report to open, set the filters, read the table, and only then decide what it meant.
Teachers had even less time. They didn't want a report. They wanted to know who needed help and what to reteach on Monday.
What people were really asking
“Who needs help before certification?”
“Are we getting value from our licenses?”
“What should I reteach this week?”
Three people, three roles, one shared frustration: the answer sat behind the question.
03 / Meet Sam
A co-pilot, not an oracle.
Sam is a new character introduced with this product as the face of the experience. An approachable guide helps a dense analytics tool feel like a conversation with a sharp colleague rather than a control panel.
The character is friendly, but the writing is the real design work. Every line Sam says follows four rules.
05 / One co-pilot, three jobs
Same pattern. Different priorities.
The layout never changes, so people learn it once. What changes is what Sam reads for, who it speaks to, and which navigation appears.
Oli, the district administrator
Looks across every campus. Sam watches certification readiness, license return on investment and overall pass rates, and frames them for the board.
“133 students need attention before the May cert window.”
07 / What happens next
A good concept is a hypothesis. Here is how I'll test it.
The prototype runs on illustrative data, so none of the figures on this page are results. The work now is to find out whether the idea holds up with real people and real numbers.
Measure
Does it shorten the path to action?
Time from opening the page to a first action. How often people open the supporting data. How often an insight leads to an opened report or an export.
Test
Does Sam earn trust?
Pilot with teachers and administrators. Compare Sam's top priorities to what experienced educators would have chosen, and study what happens when Sam is wrong.
Grow
Where does the pattern travel?
Connect live data, add roles beyond the first three, and let Sam notify people when something changes instead of waiting to be opened.