Praesidium’s mission is to prevent the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults and to preserve trust in respected organizations who serve children. Statistics show that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18. Praesidium’s research-based services and resources aims at reducing the risk of abuse and ensuring a safer environment for all involved. But to ensure full adoption and effectiveness, the assessment platform needed to be greatly improved.
A single incident of sexual abuse can have far-reaching consequences, causing lifelong pain for victims and significant harm to organizations. To combat this issue, the Praesidium Assessment Tool was developed to objectively assess and measure the implementation of sexual abuse prevention best practices. However, the existing platform posed challenges in terms of timely action, user-friendliness, navigation, and clarity regarding next steps. This led to uncertainty and hindered the adoption of best practices. The time needed to setup a new client in the system was a very timely and manual process, taking upwards of 30-45 days. On the administration side, the platform was very manual and code-dependent, had no automation, and required that much of the data analysis and next steps be completed off-platform through a series of dozens of spreadsheets, making it difficult to track progress or history.
The Praesidium Assessment Tool is used to assess and objectively measure how and to what extent sexual abuse prevention best practice standards are correctly infused and adopted throughout an organization. The tool provides clients with resources and prioritized action items to help them improve their processes and procedures.
Understanding: We gained access to the existing system to review and analyze the pros, cons, and areas for improvement. Once we understood their current system and processes, we began wireframing new ideas for a more effective solution.
UI/UX: The platform’s user interface was redesigned to be simplified, intuitive, and easy to navigate, featuring clearly labeled fields and dropdowns. Information/help icons were strategically placed throughout the platform to enhance user experience and provide assistance when needed. More customization options were introduced, enabling clients and Praesidium to tailor action plans, assessments/standards, and naming tiers according to each organization’s specific requirements. The platform was optimized for different devices, ensuring a highly responsive experience across desktops, laptops, and tablets, with mobile compatibility in progress.
Automation: Self-service capabilities were introduced, eliminating the need to contact IT for data retrieval and reducing dependence on consultants for task continuation. Task automation was implemented, enabling the system to recognize and progress tasks automatically, such as password resets, action plan updates, and document reviews. This eliminated manual checking and improved efficiency. Automated email notifications were also implemented, eliminating errors associated with copy-pasting and ensuring timely communication.
Consistent Data and Reporting: Clients struggled with comparing data across different assessments and lacked visually appealing reporting. Apples-to-apples comparisons between old and new assessment questions were made possible, ensuring consistent and accurate data analysis. A highly visual dashboard was developed for both Praesidium consultants and client CEOs, providing a comprehensive analysis of the data and enabling informed decision-making.
Clear Next Steps: Through automated back-end logic, clients gained a clearer understanding of next steps and priorities, which provided actionable insights and recommendations. Clients were empowered to edit and assign tasks themselves or follow guided suggestions from Praesidium, ensuring a streamlined workflow and increased client involvement.
Staying On-Platform: In the new platform, all data was consolidated into a single platform, eliminating the need for multiple Excel sheets and reducing the risk of system crashes due to typos or errors. Comprehensive tracking and storage capabilities were introduced, recording history, modifications, and user actions, promoting transparency and accountability. Flexibility in updating standards, roles, and notifications was enabled within the platform, reducing reliance on external tools and streamlining the update process. Better communication channels were established through notifications, keeping clients engaged and consultants updated on client progress.
By revamping the UX with added automation and keeping everything in-platform, we significantly reduced client setup time by over 95%, enabling clients to start using the platform quickly. We also improved data management, ensured consistent reporting, clarified actions to take for next steps, and enhanced the user interface and experience. By leveraging automation, we eliminated manual tasks, saving Praesidium consultants hours, if not weeks of time, as well as ensured timely client communication. Any and all previous workarounds were eliminated, streamlining processes and enhancing user efficiency.
We’ve engaged Falkon on a complex build project for our organization. We’ve been so impressed with their team! They are easy to work with, responsive to our needs and flexible to the changing scope (!). We made the right decision by choosing Falkon as our partner!
Ann Bartnik, Praesidium
Chief Operating Officer
