Build-A-Grad
Part of Gaspard · 2010 to 2013Turning a stalled vendor project into Gaspard's online graduation ordering system.
Build-A-Grad was a graduation planning application for Gaspard's academic regalia business, designed to work with the company's legacy AS400 systems. Its development had started with an outside vendor and was not going well. I brought the project in-house, made Build-A-Grad a successful part of Gaspard's graduation regalia planning software, and replaced an outdated order intake system with one where customers log in to plan and place their regalia orders online.
- Role
- Product Leadership & In-House Development
- Industry
- Academic Regalia
Highlights
- 01Stalled vendor project brought in-house
- 02Build-A-Grad integrated with Gaspard's AS400 systems
- 03Outdated order intake replaced with online ordering
- 04Customer logins for planning and placing regalia orders
- 05Clearer communication and less customer service time
- 06Higher customer satisfaction and order value
The Challenge
A key project stalled with an outside vendor.
Graduation regalia is a seasonal, deadline-driven business, and Gaspard's order process had not kept up. Orders came in through an outdated intake system that created communication problems with customers and consumed customer service time.
Build-A-Grad, a planning application meant to modernize that experience, was being developed by an outside vendor, and the project was not going well.
The Approach
Bringing development in-house and connecting it to core systems.
I brought the project in-house and developed Build-A-Grad into a core part of Gaspard's graduation regalia planning software, integrated with the company's legacy AS400 systems.
Alongside it, we built an in-house ordering system to replace the old intake process. Customers could log in, plan their regalia, and place their orders online.
The Outcome
Clearer communication, better service, and higher order value.
Build-A-Grad became a successful part of Gaspard's graduation business. Moving orders online resolved long-standing communication problems, reduced customer service time, improved customer satisfaction, and increased order value.