Case Study — Overcoming data management challenges
Improving workflows and service quality through data management solutions for an education consultancy firm
About the client
Rex Education is an education consultancy firm collaborating with numerous schools and colleges globally, offering a diverse range of educational programs and courses. As their partner schools operate programs year-round, Rex covers over a hundred courses at any given time, from language courses to junior summer camps, university pathway programmes, and professional courses.
The Problem
The Rex consultants faced significant challenges in managing data from multiple sources. They used spreadsheets to collect course prices while storing detailed information about schools and courses in separate files. This fragmented approach obstructed their workflow and negatively impacted the quality of their services.
In the discovery stage, we identified three primary problems:
- Inefficient Course Comparison: Comparing course prices and features across different partner schools demanded excessive effort due to the disparate nature of data sources, leading to delays in making informed decisions.
- Laborious Course Filtering Process: Identifying all available courses that align with specific student requirements required a substantial amount of manual work and time due to the lack of a centralised and easily filterable database.
- Delayed Response to Student Requests: Their data management system made it difficult for consultants to respond promptly to student requests for information on available courses, resulting in prolonged response times and potentially affecting customer experience.
The Solution
We aimed to enhance data management efficiency, simplify course filtering and comparison processes, and reduce response times to student inquiries to improve overall service quality. To achieve our goals, we needed a system that centralised course data and enabled consultants to filter courses by subject, age group, and location for easy comparison.
We used Notion as our host platform.
Course Catalogue
We have created a course database to list, filter, and compare courses. As the master database of the system, the Courses database contains essential information about programmes and links to schools’ websites for further details.
To ensure efficient categorisation, we have added three supporting databases, Schools, Campuses, and Locations, and used relation properties to create an integrated system. The supporting databases assist in organising and classifying the items within the master database, facilitating quick access to relevant course information.
Homepage for quick access
The course catalogue homepage provides quick links to schools, locations and various filtered views for the Courses database for frequently requested courses based on age groups and course content. Some of these views are:
- Summer courses for young learners
- Speciality courses for teens
- Professional language courses
- Exam preparation courses
We have also included data filters for each view so that consultants can refine the results.
Course Finder
A dedicated Course Finder page lists all courses with ready-to-use filters to quickly find the most suitable programmes based on requests. Using these filters, consultants can quickly find the courses with the features they are looking for and compare the available options, seeing all essential data at a glance, such as course dates, course duration, weekly lessons and pricing.
Additional Features
Rex’s Notion ecosystem also contains other elements to simplify the workflow in the company.
- A promotions database to create and manage promotions and discounts by schools (linked to courses and campuses)
- A student management system to keep a student directory with previously enrolled courses, making it easier for consultants to provide tailored support for returning students
- A task management system to keep up with daily tasks
These features work together to create a seamless and efficient system for managing the company’s day-to-day operations.
The Result
Our solution has significantly enhanced data management by simplifying the process of categorising, filtering, and sorting information. Course Finder quickly became a practical solution for Rex consultants, allowing them to save time and respond to student requests promptly.
I help consultants and service-based businesses save time by designing custom business management systems focused on workflows, objectives, and priorities.
If you want to improve your system, I can help. To learn more, connect with me on LinkedIn.
