PE5_Google Docs

So, after deciding to create this design to help streamline my team’s day-to-day work strategies, I decided I am in way over my head!  The current files and folders we use in our database of information has been added to and grown over the last two plus years to become what it currently is today.  The folders have never been cleaned or cleared out as the files get old and obsolete, so sifting through the dates that the docs were added to the folders and files were time consuming.  I started to analyze all of the documents, spreadsheets, and data that would be beneficial to include, and my head started to explode thinking that it would take forever to develop this database of information. 

 I compiled all of the Admissions and Financial documents that my team would ever go over with their students, and then grew my database from there. I added daily policy and procedures as well as basic spreadsheets that they use for efficiency and accuracy.  I found the import tool on the site, and began adding the documents as I found them developing a catalog of accessible information to help my team easily navigate through a common phone call given the ability to find the answers to frequently asked questions as well as locating the spreadsheets and tools that they use on a daily basis. 

I worked on importing the documents rather quickly and though for a minute that this project was shaping up to be an easier project than expected, until I realized that the documents that I was uploading were not importing into the folders that I was meaning for them to be filed.  I expected the documents to be automatically accessible once I imported it, and found that instead, it can take a few minutes, and up to almost 30 minutes to actually be found in the file or folder intended.  Of course, I found this out the hard way, as I grew impatient, and continued to add the same documents into the same files and folder over and over, until I gave up for an hour or so.  When I came back to my project and clicked on each file, I had multiple duplicate documents, to which I then had to delete. 

As I pummeled through the project, I continued to add the files and name the folders like a standard outline to help differentiate the files and folders requested, so that I made the tool as user-friendly as possible.  I wanted to make sure that my team had no problem navigating the site so that they could access any document or tool in a matter of seconds after searching for what they were looking for.  Here is the interface of the Google Docs tool itself.  Although it looks rather simple, which is what I was going for, it is easy to navigate and easy to share with my team.

I can't wait to roll this tool out for my team.  I showed a few of the leaders my progress, and they have continued to encourage me to develop and evolve the project so that we can present this to the team and get their feedback.  This week is going to be exciting!