Western Governors University (WGU)

Twelve years building systems for WGU, from course provisioning to a complete overhaul of the online student portal.

The engagement
at a glance

Services: Business analysis, project management, UX research and design, Java architecture and development, cloud, mobile, embedded teams
Scope: Learning resource provisioning, course authoring, student video, programs and assessments, student profile, the New Student Experience portal
Timeline: 2010–2022

The original business problem

WGU is a fully online, competency-based university whose students (55,000+ in all 50 states at the time) learn remotely. WGU needed an innovative student experience with revamped, fully integrated backend systems.

Our approach

SolutionStream served as business analysts and project managers from requirements to delivery. UX started with student profiles and work habits, then focus groups and usability testing on early wireframes and prototypes. Architects analyzed WGU's infrastructure, and from 2014 to 2016 the team moved WGU toward service-oriented architecture and microservices. In 2021 an embedded team joined WGU's technical team and used Jira to bring order to an unclear day-to-day process.

What we built

LRPS (Learning Resource Provisioning Service), with Equella and LTI integrations
Course of Study (COS) and COS Authoring
Student Video System on AWS with encoding.com
PAMS (Programs and Assessments Management System), built to replace Banner (2011–2015)
Student Profile, and a degree and course planning system
New Student Experience (NSE): a UX and UI redesign tested with students, a Java and Wicket portal on Liferay, with a degree planner, KPIs, to-dos, calendar, alerts and a portal tour
Java architecture on Spring, Hibernate and Oracle; responsive HTML5 layout

What it changed

120+ projects delivered and 200+ people placed at WGU over a twelve-year partnership.