Inflexion played a pivotal role in helping the Oregon Department of Education create a unified solution for connecting high school students to career opportunities across the state. Tasked with facilitating a multi-partner, complex initiative, Inflexion delivered both strategic consulting and a lightweight, custom content management system tailored to stakeholder needs. This online hub became a fully integrated platform where industry partners, educators, and students could access resources, events, and video content. By simplifying content management, integrating Google logins for seamless user access, and ensuring full visual scalability, Inflexion helped transform a vague concept into a functional, highly engaging resource that now serves over 1,000 new monthly visitors.
Client Background
The Oregon Department of Education partnered with the Journalistic Learning Initiative (JLI) to address a growing challenge: connecting high school students to viable career paths while addressing the need for skilled labor across Oregon’s industries. JLI created video content showcasing career opportunities, while community colleges throughout Oregon contributed information about trade skills and career programs. To tie everything together, they needed a cohesive online platform to host resources and videos in an accessible, intuitive, and user-friendly way. Inflexion was brought in to provide technical expertise and strategic consulting to bring the project to life.
The Challenge
Oregon faced a pressing question: how do you connect high school students with open career paths while supporting employers who need skilled workers? The challenge required collaboration between multiple stakeholders including state agencies, industry partners, community colleges, and content creators. The project was initially broad and undefined, with a lack of clarity about what tools or technology would deliver the intended impact. JLI’s video assets needed a dynamic, searchable platform to ensure their accessibility, and partners required a solution that was intuitive for end users and adaptable for administrators. The multi-partner nature of the initiative made project management complex, requiring a central hub to align goals and workflows across subcontractors and stakeholders.
The Solution
Inflexion provided critical leadership through consulting and project management, helping stakeholders navigate the complex landscape of possibilities and pinpointing what they truly needed. By serving as the hub of this multi-tiered initiative, Inflexion brought clarity and alignment to the project while delivering a lightweight, fully customized content management system (CMS). By combining technical expertise with user-centric design, Inflexion created an intuitive platform that brings together diverse stakeholders while ensuring accessibility and usability for all.
Key Features of the Solution:
- Custom-Built CMS: Tailored to project staff and end users, the CMS allows administrators to easily edit, manage, and add new content without technical expertise.
- Seamless Google Integration: To reduce friction for teachers, industry partners, and students, Inflexion integrated Google login functionality, eliminating the need for additional passwords or accounts.
- Dynamic, Responsive Design: Inflexion worked with graphic designers to transform static visuals into a fully responsive website. The platform delivers a seamless user experience across devices—from smartphones to large displays—maintaining aesthetics and functionality at every breakpoint.
- Searchable Resource Hub: A centralized, searchable library hosts over 170 contributed resources, including JLI’s video content, industry opportunities, and community college pathways.
Implementation
The project required extensive collaboration with multiple partners, including content creators, graphic designers, and state agencies. Inflexion provided project management leadership, guiding the team through the process of turning a broad concept into a clear, functional outcome. Inflexion’s technical team worked closely with graphic designers to ensure the website maintained its aesthetic quality while being fully responsive across all devices. By building a custom CMS from scratch, Inflexion ensured project staff could manage and update content independently. The seamless Google login integration addressed a major usability concern, creating a frictionless experience for end users like teachers and industry partners.
Results
Inflexion’s consulting expertise and tailored solution delivered measurable success.
- Engaged End Users: The seamless Google login integration was widely praised by teachers and industry partners, reducing user friction and improving adoption.
- Content Growth: Within the first year, over 172 resources were contributed and hosted on the platform.
- Consistent Engagement: The website consistently attracts 1,000+ unique visitors per month, demonstrating its value as an ongoing resource for students, educators, and industry partners.
- Visually Scalable Design: The responsive platform maintains exceptional visual quality and usability across all devices, ensuring an engaging user experience.
Long-Term Impact
The lightweight, custom CMS is adaptable and sustainable, allowing the Oregon Department of Education and its partners to continuously add resources and expand the platform. The solution is scalable and replicable for other projects requiring dynamic content management and collaboration between diverse stakeholders. By combining consulting leadership with technical execution, Inflexion delivered a solution that not only met immediate needs but also positioned the initiative for long-term success.
