Buff Portal

Overview

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Buff Portal is CU Boulder’s one-start shop for student administrative services. It has been designed with student input at every step to unify the many campus resources available to them, provide crucial personal data when and how they need it, and continuously act upon student feedback to improve their experience. Buff Portal is a mobile-responsive web application with a card-based design where students can complete tasks like paying tuition, reviewing and resolving Holds, or checking information like the location and time of their next class. Buff Portal pulls in personalized data from various sources across campus to provide each student with up-to-date information on what directly applies to them.

Buff Portal emerged as a result of a campus Strategic Initiative, the Unified Student Experience (USE) project. The goal of the USE project was to unify the online and in-person student experience at CU Boulder. Unification is a complex and ongoing process, but it remains an important goal across campus.

Buff Portal continues to be improved and expanded in response to student feedback and campus needs. Through ongoing user experience research, we strive to deeply understand where students need help and how CU can enhance their personalized experiences. Throughout our process, we partner with campus to create a future where our students always have the most accurate and personalized information to be successful.

Student-Centered Design

We are actively partnering with students and campus offices to build and improve Buff Portal. Students have been involved at every step of our design process - brainstorming designs, prototyping, and providing feedback to make sure the development of the portal is on the right track. Are you a CU Boulder student and want to work with us? Email us at buffportal@colorado.edu.

Step 1: Understand

Collect needs from students and campus offices.

Step 2: Brainstorm

Brainstorm and vote on card designs with students and campus staff.

Step 3: Prototype

Design and build testable prototype.

Step 4: Test

Students review prototype 
and provide feedback.

Step 5: Refine

Final design is built. Students test. 
Iterate as needed.