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Enabled a Scalable, Award-Winning Platform for 50+ Student Unions

The digital platform, awarded The Times’ Higher Education Awards ICT Initiative of the Year, provides all the functions a student union requires to operate, such as online shopping, event management, ticketing, voting, advice, job shops, content management system, analytics and clubs/societies management.

Customer

Our customer has a strategic digital partnership with a leading federation of student unions, promoting student causes across universities in the United Kingdom. The federation and its member unions have been advocating for student-centric engagement activities, elections to student unions, clubs and societies of interest, enabling students to voice their views, events, volunteering, discounted essential supplies, and more.

A confederation of over 600 student unions

A not-for-profit organisation

Promotes, defends and extends the rights of students

A collective voice for the student movement

Situation

Student engagement and activities have been ongoing for several decades. Around 2015, it was recognised that a large-scale digital transformation was needed to align with the aspirations of young people. Before engaging with Arrk, the federation attempted a few small-scale digital initiatives with limited success. The delayed digital initiatives resulted in a decrease in student associations and activism, affecting the core objectives of the federation and its member student unions.

Problem Statement

The customer wanted to introduce digital platforms capable of enhancing their activities but, given past setbacks, were hesitant to invest significantly. They engaged Arrk due to its track record as a long-term partner providing sustainable digital solutions. It was understood that digital solutions require long-term partnerships and commitment, and they were running short of time to control sliding goals.

Losing the ability to serve its member unions due to ageing and dispersed IT systems

External commercial providers increasing competition

The student movement was losing money

A fully integrated digital membership platform was required

Solution

Solution Identification

Arrk realised that digital adaptation required more than just digital solutions; it needed both top-down and bottom-up approaches in several areas. Arrk employed its proprietary ThinkDigital™ practices iteratively with a wide range of users. This resulted in the rollout of multiple smaller MVPs (Minimum Viable Products). This iterative process was repeated over several years to develop long-term roadmaps. This transformative journey ultimately resulted in a high-tech, cost-effective digital platform.

Solution Implementation

For each MVP, Arrk employed its proprietary EmbArrk™ practice to meticulously define the scope, laying the foundation for a successful digital journey over the years. The development methodologies of Scrum-fall, along with Agile@Arrk™ and rapid software development practices, helped win customer confidence. Arrk also helped customer representatives understand and practice Agile, Scrum ceremonies, measures, and metrics.

Tech Stacks and Evolutions

Arrk always believed in cost-effective, fit-for-purpose tech stacks from open source and, where necessary, integrated third-party SaaS services. Initially, Arrk considered a loosely coupled architecture to provide room for future expansions, both horizontally and vertically.

Flexible, cloud-based 'union website in a box' solution

Combines open source and bespoke development

Developed using a hybrid Agile scrum-based methodology

Used technologies such as Ruby on Rails, Postgres, Redis and Resque

Outcomes

Volumes

  • 50+ unions with their sub-sites
  • 200,000+ membership activations every academic year
  • Over a million registered members
  • Millions of trade transactions for merchandise, event ticket bookings, surveys, and more

Functionalities

  • Multiple elections and digital voting
  • Clubs and societies
  • Website builder
  • Student voice representation
  • Events
  • Email marketing
  • Volunteering and skills
  • Reports and analytics
  • E-shop and payment gateways
  • APIs & SSOs
  • And more

ICT Initiative of the Year at The Times' Higher Education Awards 2013

Successful and rapid deployment based on academic year

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