EdTech — Transforming Communication with a Data Delivery Modal

The Challenge

School administrators had no clear way to track the delivery or visibility of the announcements they sent. Once an announcement was created and sent, there was no feedback loop—no way to know who actually received it, if it was delivered via preferred method of communication, or whether it was seen at all. This lack of insight caused frustration and hindered their ability to communicate effectively. Administrators needed a reliable, user-friendly way to verify delivery, understand drop-off, and follow up when needed.

It had been expressed to the team that one day there was an emergency and a school administrator put out a school-wide announcement to all parents and guardians explaining the situation. The administrator could not see which families had received the announcement which in turn resulted in many angry phone calls as to why the parents and guardians weren’t notified about the emergency.

Solution

To increase transparency around school communications, we introduced a new Announcement Delivery Data modal—accessible directly from the announcement feed.

After sending an announcement, staff can click a “Delivery Data” button to access a real-time overview of delivery performance. The modal surfaces:

  • High-level delivery stats, such as how many people received the message, how many viewed it, and any failed deliveries

  • A detailed list of recipients, showing who got signals and who didn’t—plus their current status in the system

  • Filters to quickly narrow down by status

  • A clean, intuitive interface that avoids overwhelming users, even when viewing hundreds of recipients

The feature gives administrators quick, actionable insights to follow up on missed communications and build trust with their communities.

My Role

  • Conducted in-depth user research. I joined calls with different school staff members (from teachers to admins) to understand what exactly they were looking for and what data they wanted to know without being too complicated.

  • Advocated on behalf of the user. As I put myself in the users shoes, I advocated for simplicity. The backend data of delivery statues can be complex and overwhelming and I just knew that the user did not want to see all the different types of statuses. This created a lot of debate and push back with certain members of the team who wanted to “overshare”.

Constraints, Assumptions, Risks & Dependencies

Performance Risks
Displaying delivery data for large audiences introduced performance concerns. Rendering hundreds or thousands of recipients in the UI could cause slow load times. To mitigate this, I emphasized efficient search and filtering tools and worked closely with engineering to ensure that data aggregation remained performant, even under heavy load.

Usability Risks
While administrators needed access to a lot of detailed information, too much data at once risked overwhelming users. I addressed this by introducing progressive disclosure—surfacing key metrics up front with the option to drill into individual records. Supporting a mobile-friendly version of this data-dense experience was deprioritized due to complexity and time constraints.

Transparency Risks
With visibility into real-time delivery data, there was a risk that users might notice discrepancies—such as delivery delays or signals not sent due to user settings. We planned proactive in-app messaging and documentation to help reset expectations and clarify what the data truly represented.

Delivery Risk
The customer requested a very tight delivery, which introduced scope and time constraints. To meet the deadline, we prioritized the core functionality: viewing delivery and view status by user, with basic filtering. More advanced features (e.g., exporting data, mobile responsiveness) were scheduled for post-launch improvements.

My Approach

Designing this modal meant balancing clarity, technical constraints, and data complexity. I started by mapping out the various edge cases—such as late joiners or users with "No Contact" preferences—to ensure the data would be meaningful and accurate.

To keep things lightweight and discoverable, I integrated the “Delivery Data” entry point directly below each announcement. This avoided cluttering the UI while still giving admins quick access to important analytics.

I prioritized a layout that supported progressive disclosure: surfacing high-level stats up front, with the option to dive into individual recipient records. I also collaborated closely with engineers to ensure performance across large datasets—leaning on filtering, pagination, and thoughtful defaults to keep things fast and usable.

The design focused on clarity, trust, and control—giving admins the ability to answer the key question: “Did this announcement reach the right people?”

The Design

The modal is accessible directly from the announcement view and designed for clarity and speed. We added two tabs so users could see both delivery statuses and engagement statuses. I prioritized:

  • A high-level summary up top (X% delivered, Y% opened, Z% failed and X% clicked, Y% opened, Z% viewed).

  • A scrollable table of recipients, with filter and search functionality.

  • Visual cues to quickly surface delivery issues.

I also designed the modal to load quickly and be responsive, ensuring admins could get the data they needed without delays.

The Impact

The feature gave administrators a new level of confidence and control. For the first time, they could answer questions like:

  • Did this go out to everyone?

  • How many people actually opened it?

  • Why didn’t someone receive it?

This transparency enabled better follow-up and more informed communication decisions, ultimately improving trust between schools and families. The design was well received for its clarity and the actionable insights it provided.