Simple Instructions for Newcomers
Since not everyone is familiar with Foundant such as board members and staff evaluators (and maybe new staff members) I was thinking that a couple clarifying instructions would be helpful to them. Some examples would be:
When an evaluator first goes into the evaluation form and they see the organization name -- how do they know that they can click on that name to see the organization's history? So a simple instruction would be helpful. Something like "For this organizations application and granting history click on the organization name."
When an evaluator is looking a the list of grant applications and they would prefer to have the list show up in alphabetical order or in scoring order - an instruction like "To sort columns click on the column heading."
The third instruction would be on that same list of grant applications as well and that would be something to let them know what the red line under status means, what the evaluator ultimately wants to see in the status column and how they make that happen.
These instructions would also be helpful on the admin side for staff who are becoming familiar with Foundant.
The way some of the things are set up now assume that newcomers are familiar with Foundant or computer literate enough to figure these things out when that is not always the case.
Idea posted June 16, 2011 by Angie Boecker, Central Minnesota Arts Board
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shared this idea
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Ideas
commented
I love the instructions section on the mail merge template - it stays collapsed unless opened - and would love to have something similar, editable by admins, on the dashboard (different versions for reviewers and applicants).
posted September 13, 2013 by Mary Giraulo, United Arts of Central Florida
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commented
I am thrilled that you provide a ready-made evaluator tutorial. I have just uploaded it to the shared documents section of our site. But it would be helpful if we were able to add an instructions section at the top of the dashboard (for example, "For tutorial, see "Shared Documents" at left.").
posted August 1, 2013 by Mary Giraulo, United Arts of Central Florida
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Grant Elliott
commented
I know this doesn't fix any issues with hover instructions in the UI but I wanted to inform everyone that there are a couple of
Video tutorials out there for your evaluators if you want them. Below are the links so you can copy/paste them into an email or
add them to the top of your evaluation forms. Let me know if there is anything we can build to help with this issue.
posted March 20, 2012 by Grant Elliott, Foundant Technologies
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commented
I like this idea! I have to email instructions to my board every grant cycle.
posted December 21, 2011 by Amity Wicks, Rivendell Stewards Trust
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commented
Great thoughts everyone on balloons versus inline help. I like the idea of showing or emphasizing help/hints the first time a user is on a page and then having it hidden, but available thereafter. I think Rossana hit on a great point. It would be helpful to focus some of our initial usability/help improvements on those folks that use the system very occasionally. This is a great conversation and I hope you all continue to comment and offer your ideas on this important subject. Thank you!
-raymond
posted July 5, 2011 by Raymond Burket, Foundant Technologies
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commented
I agree with Angie. This would be so helpful for board members. It is hard for board members to remember these details because they don't use Foundant on a daily basis.
posted June 29, 2011 by Rossana Martinez, Lily Auchincloss Foundation
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commented
Help balloons are an alternative. I am the type of person who would rather not have to look for that type of information when learning something new. However on the line of help balloons (or question marks)...it would be good to have these within the application so that applicants can get further information on how a question should be answered.
posted June 27, 2011 by Angie Boecker, Central Minnesota Arts Board
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commented
Help Balloons that open automatically can be helpful for new users, but once we learn something new, we'd love to be able to turn them off on an individual basis. Perhaps an icon button that will bring up meaningful suggestions, specific to that location might be used.
posted June 27, 2011 by Kathryn Treanor, Dietel Partners, LLC
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Daren nordhagen
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Hi Angie,
Agree 100% that documentation is not a replacement for improvement to user interface. I hear you loud and clear!
-Daren
posted June 16, 2011 by Daren Nordhagen, Foundant Technologies
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commented
Daren,
The tutorials are a good tool; however, giving them a tutorial means that they have to read it and they have not misplaced it. A lot of people don't want to take the time to read separate instructions that is why simple instructions on the screen would be great. It would empower the evaluators/staff to jump in and do the work.
Not to mention the time it takes for staff members who consistently use the system to have to train or retrain others who are inconsistent users when some simple instructions on screen would alleviate some of the need to train and retrain.
posted June 16, 2011 by Angie Boecker, Central Minnesota Arts Board
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Daren nordhagen
commented
Hi Angie,
Thanks for taking the time to provide these great ideas. The ultimate goal of user interface design is to have the product be so intuitive that people know exactly what do do just by looking at the screen. However, we know we have a ways to go to reach that goal and feedback such as yours helps us move in that direction. We'd love to hear ideas on things such as icons, images, layout, etc. that would be more intuitive to your users.
As we work on improvements to the user interface, we have tried to fill the gap by developing tools that you can use to train your various users. For the reviewer community, we've developed a tutorial document. It's available in our Support system but I've also attached it to this comment. For the applicant community, we've gone one step further and developed a tutorial video in addition to the tutorial document. Here's a link to these items from our Support system:
http://foundant.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/120/kw/tutorial
We'd appreciate feedback from the Community regarding these training materials. Please let us know if you find such items to be useful or if you have suggestions for improvements.
posted June 16, 2011 by Daren Nordhagen, Foundant Technologies
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commented
Great ideas, Angie! I had to create a detailed written explanation for board members, which they will need as a refresher every time we have a grant cycle, so I would love to see simple instructions on the site.
posted June 16, 2011 by Leslie Wozniak, Five Bridges Foundation