Web Platform for UNC Chapel Hill

The Challenge

UNC’s research team had no existing tool to present partner-friendly university rankings in a structured, accessible format. The platform needed to:

• Display rankings in a clear, engaging format that non-technical users could navigate easily
• Give visitors the ability to filter and compare universities based on their specific criteria
• Allow internal staff to update content independently, without requiring developer involvement
• Launch on schedule and within a fixed budget, with room to accommodate evolving requirements

Our Approach

We built the platform around a dual-audience need: it had to work for visiting researchers and the UNC team maintaining it. Usability, flexibility, cost efficiency, and schedule adherence guided every decision.

• Designed UX and filtering logic around how researchers search and compare schools
• Added Excel import for fast ranking data updates, no manual entry
• Built a non-technical admin panel for independent content management
• Set up cost-effective hosting and post-launch support

The Solution

The delivered platform brought together four core capabilities:

• A custom scorecard interface designed to make university rankings easy to browse
• Filtering tools that let users sort and compare institutions based on the criteria most relevant to their situation
• An intuitive admin panel enabling staff to update rankings and content in minutes, without technical support
• Cost-effective hosting selected to match the project’s budget while meeting the platform’s uptime requirements

Results

The platform launched on time and within budget. UNC researchers and their partners can now browse and compare universities directly, without waiting on reports or intermediaries. The UNC team manages updates independently, with no developer dependency for routine data changes.

As new feature requests came in during the engagement, the team absorbed them without disruption, a result of deliberate architectural flexibility from the outset. While formal ROI metrics were not shared, the internal time saved on content management is significant, and the platform is built to scale as the program grows.