IBM - SiBM Project Dashboard Wireframe Challenge

Welcome to the IBM - SiBM Project Dashboard Wireframe Challenge. We are excited to get this project started!
IBM is a great Topcoder community customer, driving man different types of challenges and asking the community to help solve great IA and UX design problems. Right now, IBM runs a large number of Projects and Challenges through Topcoder, mostly through the AppXpress system (https://appxpress.com/). The IBM process involves many stakeholders known as “Innovators” who submit their requests, provide requirements for their projects and act as client managers throughout the challenge process, review and success of their Projects.

We want to make this process easier!
The Topcoder system is large and complex, which can be overwhelming for Innovators who don’t have extensive experience with it. This challenge is focused on providing an all NEW Dashboard which will convey project information, Topcoder functionality and grant access the Innovators need in a clear, concise and usable manner. We are starting with wireframes to properly plan the correct information architecture as well as a strong interaction model.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Round 1

Submit your designs for Checkpoint feedback:
1. Navigation
2. Login
3. Submission Form
4. Dashboard
5. Project Page
6. Challenge Page

Round 2

Final designs plus any Checkpoint revamp:
1. Navigation
2. Login
3. Submission Form
4. Dashboard
5. Project Page
6. Challenge Page
7. Assets Page
8. Accounting Page
9. Help

 

Challenge Description:
The IBM - SiBM Project Dashboard Wireframe Challenge is as a dashboard that conveys project information, Topcoder functionality and grants access to the Innovators. They will need a clear, concise and usable experience that allows them to manage their projects, provide project and challenge requirements and act as client managers throughout the lifespan of their projects.

Wireframe Considerations and Expectations:
-- Produce HTML click through wireframes that can be used to demonstrate all mentioned functionalities and requirements.
-- The application should be intuitive, easy to use, and have a great user experience.
-- Provide separated document or clearly outlined user flow to explain your concepts and ideas.
-- Suggest how the user navigates between pages and section. Should be clear and intuative.
-- We want clarity of action. Ideally all actions will be one click away from the Dashboard. If not, clearly explain your idea and thought process for this.
-- You MUST cover all screens mentioned in Required Screens section below. If any requirement is missing in final submission the client will not look at it. Make a checklist for the required screens to make sure you are designing all of them.
-- Please add Notes to every page you are designing to explain your ideas and how you are meeting the requirements. What items you've added, changed and/or removed. This helps us understand your wireframes and ideas a lot more and allows us to better judge your submission and supply feedback.

Supporting Documents:
-- TC Direct Screenshots with client comments (TC-current screens.pptx): TC Direct is the platform where the Topcoder employees, copilots and clients manage the projects and challenges.
-- Sample-Submission Form.docx

Screen Size:
-- Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 800px

Persona / Key User:
Ida is an IBM employee and a product stakeholder with:
-- Limited Topcoder experience and knowledge.
-- A deep understanding of the requirements of her prospective app/project (or access to the people with the knowledge).
-- Limited design or development experience beyond what is communicated to them by her own teams.

Ida will need to see specific data or access specific limited functionality found in Topcoder Direct based on her role, but with “power user” type access to the wider functionality available in Topcoder DIrect if and when she wants it.

Use Case Scenario:
Ida initially accesses the system via a button that is on a seperate IBM site. This button allows Ida to "Start a New Project". Clicking the button will trigger a project questionaire that Ida will be asked to fill out. After that, she will be presented with her dashboard.

You do not need to design the experience that opens the form or the dashboard. Assume that there is a solution that gets her directly to the dashboard and/or allows her to "Start a New Project".

Filling Out The Form:
1. Ida begins a new project and fills out the form. See the attached file (Sample-Submission Form.docx) for information on the form contents.
 -- Ida will need to provide a few pieces of information before she can submit the form. Gathering that information might take some time, so the form needs to be able to be saved as a draft and re-opened.
 -- When filling out the form, Ida CANNOT submit without filling out the information about funding or without a TopCoder handle. If she does not have a Topcoder handle, she should be prompted to create one.
 -- The form should also ask for the size of the project: Design Only (expected around $15K), Design and Development (up to around $30K) or Custom (exactly how we'll know if she needs to just be contacted by a salesperson is unclear at this time)
 -- When filling out the form, Ida can click an "I Need Help" button. Clicked, the button will present her with several help options: post to an IBM administered "help" forum, links to Topcoder documentation (FAQs, videos), or the ability to access a paid tier of help via "Topcoder Expert Services."

2. When Ida submits the form, she sees a confirmation on the dashboard that it was submitted (see below).

Using The Dashboard
1. The dashboard shows her information about her project(s). Note: She may have more than one project. Your designs should accomodate this. Items to include on the Dashboard:
-- Project name, brief project description (from her form), copilot name, current status, important dates (when challenges begin/ end, and when submission review is needed), game plan, project budget, and duration.
-- Forum messages waiting for her. This can be a link to the project forum or to individual threads, so she can view/answer questions.
-- Ida has a button that lets her get more help if needed. Again, the button will present her with several help options: post to IBM help forum, contact Topcoder co-pilot, explore Topcoder documentation (FAQs, videos), or paid access to "Topcoder Expert Services."
-- Ida has a link that leads her to the full TopCoder direct page for her project, if she needs it.
-- Ida can start a new project from this dashboard (i.e., the same "Start a New Project" button is available to her from here).

2. Ida can review game plans and challenges, and post her feedback.
3. When a challenge starts, Ida sees a note on the dashboard, and the upcoming review dates show up on her dashboard.
-- When Checkpoint Review comes around, Ida can provide her feedback and pick Checkpoint winners.
-- When Final Review comes around, Ida can pick winners and specify Final Fixes.
-- She is also notified when Final Fixes are available to review.
-- When a project is complete, Ida sees a notification, and a link to the Final Submission files. She can always get back to her files; even after the project is finished (Assets Page). She can share them with others by downloading them.

4. Ida can get info of spend-to-date vs. what's upcoming expenses, plus pull accounting of expenses -- generate report; view report

Required Features:
Please refer to the supporting document "TC-current screens.pptx" for necessary knowledge and ideas.
Note: Always keep in mind that we are looking for a new dashboard specifically for the target users rather than re-designing the TC Direct in this contest. Think outside the box and take the screenshots only as a knowledge source on how TC Direct works. Pay more attention to client comments and the voice of our target users.

1. Navigation
-- How does the user navigate this application?
-- Include navigation that you think fits with this application
-- Focus on the priority items and how things should be sized

2. Login
-- User logs into the application using her IBM ID
-- How does the validation error look? 

3. Submission Form
-- Required content in the Sample-Submission Form.docx document

4. Dashboard
-- User can view all of his/her projects, including active projects and finished projects.
-- User can get project's quick data: project description, project status, project budget & duration, challenge summary, upcoming events, the copilot(s), project forum, etc.
-- See where a project is in the process, what dates are coming up (both for action items and also for deliverables), and how much has spent to date.
-- User can get the accounting info for every project, e.g, spent to date vs. what's coming.
-- User can view messages/notifications, e.g., new posts in project forums, that a challenge has started, checkpoint reviews come around for a challenge, a project is complete, etc.
-- User can view the upcoming events & dates.
-- User can drill into a Project Page to get more project details and manage this project
-- User can access TC Direct where necessary

5. Project Page
-- User can get a project’s details: project description, game plan, project status, project budget & duration, upcoming events, copilot(s), project forum, billing account, etc.
-- User can edit a project
-- User can drill into a challenges page (next page) to get more challenge details and manage this challenge.

6. Challenge Page
-- User can get a challenge’s details: challenge spec, challenge status, prize structure & duration, upcoming events, registrants, submissions, assets, etc.
-- User can review a challenge and post feedback.
-- When Checkpoint Review come around, user can provide review feedback and pick out Checkpoint winners.
-- When Final Review come around, user can pick winners and specify Final Fixes.
-- Notified when Final Fixes are complete and ready to approve or deny (Add additional Final Fix comments)

7. Assets Page
-- User can view and download assets
-- User can easily share the assets with any user of this tool.

8. Accounting Page
-- User can access to a full accounting of expenses for every project
-- User can generate a report without having to select any parameters. A simple “Show Report” button, which creates a standard report.
-- User can export report

9. Help
-- User can access diverse help options / content: post to IBM help forum, contact Topcoder co-pilot, explore Topcoder documentation (FAQs, videos), or paid access to "Topcoder Expert Services."
-- Keep in mind how to adopt the 'triage" idea to promote user experience in this page. While making all the different help channels available, make it easier to do them in an efficient order since it costs less money to read a FAQ or watch a video than to use a Copilot or Expert Services. Design the content so that the user can try to help themselves, BEFORE reaching out for help.

Learn Axure:
Wireframes should be built in Axure. New to Axure? Here are some quick tutorials to help you get started:
http://www.axure.com/learn

Target Audience:
IBM stakeholders and project managers needing clear, simple and easy to use control and information for their Projects

Judging Criteria:
-- User Experience of the application.
-- Completeness and accuracy of the wireframe as defined in the attached requirements.
-- How well your wireframes provide a consistent user flow

Submission & Source Files:
Preview Image
Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024px JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.

Submission File
Generated HTML files with all the requested contest requirements stated above.

Source Files
Wireframes should be built in Axure. The resulting files should have generated HTML files. Also, all the content must be listed and the pages are linked together to show page flow.

Final Fixes
As part of the Final Fix phase, you may be asked to remove, update, or change some features of the wireframe.