Actionaly AI
An Updated Approach to Communicate for School Secretaries
UX consultant
(UX research, wireframing, Prototyping, UI)
Actionaly AI is an AI-powered dashboard to help school secretaries to manage, schedule and send communication throughout school year.
January 2025
Team project (team of 4 designers)
Start
Role
Project type
Background
Actionaly is a family relationship engagement platform that helps schools communicate with parents and allows parents to easily reach out to schools and teachers.
My team and I were approached by Actionaly to join as UX consultants. The project focused on evolving the platform for better performance, for school secretaries, through integration of AI.
We began by identifying user pain points through interviews with school secretaries and other key stakeholders. From there, we created sketches and designed wireframes. After conducting usability testing, we refined our designs based on the feedback. Finally, we delivered high-fidelity wireframes and an interactive prototype.
See the journey below or
Exploring the project brief and interviewing the client we resized that School secretaries face a challenging, disorganized process for managing school communications. They need a smarter way to plan around calendars, track family engagement, handle last-minute updates, and coordinate with districts, social media, and the school website.
With that in mind with moved forward to research.
Problem
Design timeline and process
Task Flow
Low to Mid fidelity Wireframing
Usability Testing & synthesis
Final presentation
Research
Discovery
Week 1
Week 3
Week 5
Week 7
Week 9
Week 11
UI and design system
High-fidelity
Mid-Wireframing
Objectives
Investigate the current tools, processes, and workarounds
Gain insights into how school secretaries communicate objective
Explore challenges and inefficiencies secretaries face
Discover how AI solutions can streamline workflows
Creating research objectives helped us identify the key areas where we needed more information. It allowed us to focus our research and structure our interviews more effectively. Here are the research objectives:
Creating research objectives helped us identify the key areas where we needed more information. It allowed us to focus our research and structure our interviews more effectively. Here are the research objectives:
User Research & Interview
Since our target users—school secretaries—were a very specific group and we had limited existing information, we knew we needed a deep understanding of their goals, needs, and pain points. To achieve this, we conducted moderated interviews. Our team spoke with school secretaries and key stakeholders to gather insights into their daily workflows, communication challenges, and areas of frustration.
“From Actionaly… we wish we could go back to last year’s [communications] and copy that.”
“I just have to be on top of … keeping up to date with those newsletters that come out every week."
Sample of participant feedbacks
Home page
AI notification
Dashboard showing AI notification
Communication page
AI Suggestion
Communication Page showing AI suggestion
Design Phase
After speaking with the client, they emphasized that focusing on the planner/communication feature would benefit school secretaries the most, as planning and scheduling are tasks they handle most frequently.
Building on our initial sketches and user research, we developed our ideas into mid-fidelity wireframes. Below is the user flow and corresponding wireframes that illustrate the steps a school secretary takes to schedule an announcement.
Secretaries as planner task flow and mid-fidelity wireframe
AI suggests content, timing, and recipients—but the secretary has the final say, with easy edit, approve, or override options.
Announcement Page
Filling the information
AI popups
Confirm
Confirmation page
Confirmation
Announcement page with AI popup
Discovery: Usability Testing
Conducted usability testing with 6 school administartions to evaluate initial concepts and screen flows.
This assisted to evaluate early concepts and screen flows. Observed task completion and gathered feedback to identify usability issues and improvement areas.
During user testing, participants were confused about where the flow started and where the notifications came from, making it hard to know how to begin the task.
The flow wasn’t intuitive and users struggled to understand how to move from the calendar to creating an announcement. AI features felt too far removed
Users complained that there are too many AI popup disrupting the flow and frustrating some users.
An option to adjust the AI's tone and formality was suggested by a participant. The suggestion was well-received and incorporated into the final design by the team.
Client Feedback and suggestions for improvement:
Automate Communication Scheduling to Enable secretaries to per-schedule messages for district events planned up to 18 months ahead, reducing daily workload.
Improve and streamline work load by integration of bulk actions.
"The starting point is my yearly calendar—what do I want to have communicated upfront, so AI helps me structure it."
A a
My voice
I Message
Naly AI
?
AI suggestion
A a .
Inter
Pop-Up Window for Selecting AI formality and tone of Voice
AI chat box
AI alerts icons
Primary color
AI Color
Secondary Color
Grays
A design system was developed in collaboration with other teams to ensure a cohesive and consistent visual identity across all platforms.
The color palette was inspired by the Actionly logo and branding, with an AI-specific accent color (yellow) added for distinction.
Design System
Navigation menu panel
The navigation panel displays main actions for secretaries, including checking the master calendar, sending communications, and creating content such as newsletters and flyers.
Personalized Welcome message
Using an AI-powered dashboard may feel inhumane; adding a warm, welcoming message can make it feel more relatable and approachable.(empathy)
Profile Panel
Displays profile pictures, notifications, and a search function for navigating the platform.
Naly AI Creator
Instantly create content or announcements with Naly AI using a prompt directly from the home screen.
AI Gathered Alert
AI constantly monitors the master calendar to send reminders to school secretaries, aiding in task management.
Dashboard home page
parent-Engagement chart
Displaying parent engagement throughout the year based on different types of announcements.
Final design
Pushing data to AI
Pushing Data to AI
AI uses archived messages to identify and update key details like dates and times.
Supplying AI with carefully selected and structured information, rather than extracting data from broad sources like email.
Syncing AI with the master calendar, which is often planned years in advance. It then populates a central hub where scheduled and draft activities can be easily reviewed.
Smart Controls and AI toggles
AI generates suggestions based on the master calendar and past activities to support planning.
Secretaries have the option to view these suggestions and can easily enable or disable them using toggles for greater control and flexibility.
Activities page
AI filling the information
AI can assist secretaries by auto-filling fields, while still allowing them full control to edit anything as needed.
Creating an announcement with AI
AI-Assisted Description Editing
Naly AI's chatbox allows secretaries to create and customize descriptions when needed. By clicking "Enhance Description," the AI chatbox opens, enabling them to prompt the AI to modify the text in any way—or use the "My Voice" feature to select a preferred tone and style.
NALY AI Chatbox
BULK ACTION
Improved Workflow with Bulk Actions
Secretaries can use bulk actions to accept, dismiss, or take additional steps on multiple items at once.
Placing bulk actions at the top of the interface helps streamline workflow and boost overall efficiency.
Design System
A design system was developed in collaboration with other teams to ensure a cohesive and consistent visual identity across all platforms.
The color palette was inspired by the Actionly logo and branding, with an AI-specific accent color (yellow) added for distinction.
AI Color
Secondary Color
Discovery
Conducted usability testing with 6 school administartions to evaluate initial concepts and screen flows.
This assisted to evaluate early concepts and screen flows. Observed task completion and gathered feedback to identify usability issues and improvement areas.
Project Retrospective
Struggled to secure enough participants during user research
Hard to align schedules among four team members
Operated on an accelerated timeline
Team collaboration
Client and stakeholder interview
Secretaries will show resistant towards AI that does not sound human
Niche audience (secretaries) made research resources and interview recruitment limited.
Secretaries valued delivery over parents’ preferences—how to improve?
Assess redirection to social platforms in user flow and wireframes
Explore the content creation flow and wireframe and see how AI can support secretaries
What went well?
What do we want to try next?
What puzzled us?
What went less well?
"I really appreciate the AI suggestion toggle—it gives secretaries control over what they want to see. The AI-generated alerts save valuable time, and I’m excited to implement these ideas"
Gauthier Philippart
CEO, Co-founder | Actionaly
Conclusion
The Actionaly AI assistant successfully addressed the inefficiencies school secretaries face in daily task management, resulting in a more streamlined and stress-free workflow. The AI-powered alerts, reminders, and calendar updates reduced manual effort and saved hours each day. The added flexibility of an AI toggle gave users control, while the simplified communication tools enhanced parent engagement. This improvement demonstrated the value of thoughtful AI integration in creating practical, user-centric tools for school staff.
Client Feedback and suggestions for improvement:
Automate Communication Scheduling to Enable secretaries to per-schedule messages for district events planned up to 18 months ahead, reducing daily workload.
Improve and streamline work load by integration of bulk actions.
"The starting point is my yearly calendar—what do I want to have communicated upfront, so AI helps me structure it."
"I really appreciate the AI suggestion toggle—it gives secretaries control over what they want to see. The AI-generated alerts save valuable time, and I’m excited to implement these ideas"
Gauthier Philippart
CEO, Co-founder | Actionaly
Conclusion
The Actionaly AI assistant successfully addressed the inefficiencies school secretaries face in daily task management, resulting in a more streamlined and stress-free workflow. The AI-powered alerts, reminders, and calendar updates reduced manual effort and saved hours each day. The added flexibility of an AI toggle gave users control, while the simplified communication tools enhanced parent engagement. This improvement demonstrated the value of thoughtful AI integration in creating practical, user-centric tools for school staff.
Actionaly AI is an AI-powered dashboard to help school secreteries to manage, schedule and send communicatuion throught school year.
11 weeks, January 2025
Role
Team project (team of 4 designers)
Project type
UX consultant
(UX research, wireframing, Prototyping, UI)
Timeline
Background
Actionaly is a family relationship engagement platform that helps schools communicate with parents and allows parents to easily reach out to schools and teachers.
My team and I were approached by Actionaly to join as UX consultants. The project focused on evolving the platform for better performance, for school secretaries, through integration of AI.
We began by identifying user pain points through interviews with school secretaries and other key stakeholders. From there, we created sketches and designed wireframes. After conducting usability testing, we refined our designs based on the feedback. Finally, we delivered high-fidelity wireframes and an interactive prototype.
See the journey below or
Problem
Exploring the project brief and interviewing the client we resized that School secretaries face a challenging, disorganized process for managing school communications. They need a smarter way to plan around calendars, track family engagement, handle last-minute updates, and coordinate with districts, social media, and the school website.
With that in mind with moved forward to research.
Objectives
Investigate the current tools, processes, and workarounds
Gain insights into how school secretaries communicate Objective
Explore challenges and inefficiencies secretaries face
Discover how AI solutions can streamline workflows
Creating research objectives helped us identify the key areas where we needed more information. It allowed us to focus our research and structure our interviews more effectively. Here are the research objectives:
“From Actionaly… we wish we could go back to last year’s [communications] and copy that.”
“I just have to be on top of … keeping up to date with those newsletters that come out every week."
Sample of participant feedbacks
During the interviews, participants were asked about their daily tasks, the tools they use, common frustrations, and a "magic wand" question—what they wish could be done if anything were possible.
Using affinity mapping, I organized all the insights into common themes. Three major themes clearly stood out.
User Research & interview
Since our target users—school secretaries—were a very specific group and we had limited existing information, we knew we needed a deep understanding of their goals, needs, and pain points. To achieve this, we conducted moderated interviews. Our team spoke with school secretaries and key stakeholders to gather insights into their daily workflows, communication challenges, and areas of frustration.
Home page
AI notification
Communication page
Announcement Page
Filling the information
AI popups
Confirm
Confirmation page
AI Suggestion
Confirmation
Secretaries as planner task flow and mid-fidelity wireframe
AI suggests content, timing, and recipients—but the secretary has the final say, with easy edit, approve, or override options.
Dashboard showing AI notification
Communication Page showing AI suggestion
Announcement page with AI popup
Confirmation
Design Phase
After speaking with the client, they emphasized that focusing on the planner/communication feature would benefit school secretaries the most, as planning and scheduling are tasks they handle most frequently.
Building on our initial sketches and user research, we developed our ideas into mid-fidelity wireframes. Below is the user flow and corresponding wireframes that illustrate the steps a school secretary takes to schedule an announcement.
During user testing, participants were confused about where the flow started and where the notifications came from, making it hard to know how to begin the task.
The flow wasn’t intuitive and users struggled to understand how to move from the calendar to creating an announcement. AI features felt too far removed
Users complained that there are too many AI popup disrupting the flow and frustrating some users.
An option to adjust the AI's tone and formality was suggested by a participant. The suggestion was well-received and incorporated into the final design by the team.
Client Feedback and suggestions for improvement:
Automate Communication Scheduling to Enable secretaries to per-schedule messages for district events planned up to 18 months ahead, reducing daily workload.
Improve and streamline work load by integration of bulk actions.
"The starting point is my yearly calendar—what do I want to have communicated upfront, so AI helps me structure it."
Pop-Up Window for Selecting AI formality and tone of Voice
My voice
I Message
Naly AI
?
AI chat box
AI alerts icons
A a .
AI suggestion
A a
Inter
Navigation menu panel
The navigation panel displays main actions for secretaries, including checking the master calendar, sending communications, and creating content such as newsletters and flyers.
Profile Panel
Displays profile pictures, notifications, and a search function for navigating the platform.
Naly AI Creator
Instantly create content or announcements with Naly AI using a prompt directly from the home screen.
AI Gathered Alert
AI constantly monitors the master calendar to send reminders to school secretaries, aiding in task management.
parent-Engagement chart
Displaying parent engagement throughout the year based on different types of announcements.
Personalized Welcome message
Using an AI-powered dashboard may feel inhumane; adding a warm, welcoming message can make it feel more relatable and approachable.(empathy)
Final Design
Pushing Data to AI
AI uses archived messages to identify and update key details like dates and times.
Supplying AI with carefully selected and structured information, rather than extracting data from broad sources like email.
Syncing AI with the master calendar, which is often planned years in advance. It then populates a central hub where scheduled and draft activities can be easily reviewed.
Smart Controls and AI toggles
AI generates suggestions based on the master calendar and past activities to support planning.
Secretaries have the option to view these suggestions and can easily enable or disable them using toggles for greater control and flexibility.
AI filling the information
AI can assist secretaries by auto-filling fields, while still allowing them full control to edit anything as needed.
AI-Assisted Description Editing
Naly AI's chatbox allows secretaries to create and customize descriptions when needed. By clicking "Enhance Description," the AI chatbox opens, enabling them to prompt the AI to modify the text in any way—or use the "My Voice" feature to select a preferred tone and style.
Improved Workflow with Bulk Actions
Secretaries can use bulk actions to accept, dismiss, or take additional steps on multiple items at once.
Placing bulk actions at the top of the interface helps streamline workflow and boost overall efficiency.
Project Retrospective
Team collaboration
Client and stakeholder interview
What went well?
What went less well?
Struggled to secure enough participants during user research
Hard to align schedules among four team members
Operated on an accelerated timeline
What do we want to try next?
Secretaries valued delivery over parents’ preferences—how to improve?
Assess redirection to social platforms in user flow and wireframes
Explore the content creation flow and wireframe and see how AI can support secretaries
What puzzled us?
Secretaries will show resistant towards AI that does not sound human
Niche audience (secretaries) made research resources and interview recruitment limited.
Conclusion
The Actionaly AI assistant successfully addressed the inefficiencies school secretaries face in daily task management, resulting in a more streamlined and stress-free workflow. The AI-powered alerts, reminders, and calendar updates reduced manual effort and saved hours each day. The added flexibility of an AI toggle gave users control, while the simplified communication tools enhanced parent engagement. This improvement demonstrated the value of thoughtful AI integration in creating practical, user-centric tools for school staff.
"I really appreciate the AI suggestion toggle—it gives secretaries control over what they want to see. The AI-generated alerts save valuable time, and I’m excited to implement these ideas"
Gauthier Philippart
CEO, Co-founder | Actionaly