Gannon University IRB: Multi-Tenant UX/UI & Product Strategy
Jemirae Agency
2 collaborators
Gannon University IRB Portal : Triple-Platform Digital Transformation
Institutional Website, Researcher Portal, and Administrative Control Tower
Jemirae led the end-to-end UX/UI transformation for Gannon University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), engineering a three-tiered digital ecosystem. We replaced a fragmented, paper-dependent workflow with a high-velocity Enterprise Research Engine that serves as the institutional "Source of Truth" for human subject research.
The Ecosystem Scope:
Institutional Website: A high-authority public gateway designed for transparency and federal compliance.
Student/Researcher Portal: A logic-driven web app that guides users through complex regulatory Gateways.
Staff/Board Web App: A high-density Control Tower for reviewers to manage global application queues with clinical precision.
Login Page to the Portal
The Challenge: Macro-Efficiency Loss
The legacy IRB infrastructure acted as a critical bottleneck for institutional research, characterized by:
Systemic Friction: A 70% error rate caused by a constant re-work loop between faculty and reviewers.
Operational Lag: Manual hand-offs led to approval delays of up to 4 months, stalling research funding.
Complexity Barriers: Federal regulations (HHS/CFR) created a high cognitive load, overwhelming users.
Strategic Insight: Choice Architecture & CX Mapping
Jemirae performed a Stakeholder Audit and CX Mapping with the IRB Chief and IT Specialists. Our research revealed that information overload was the primary driver of the backlog.
We pivoted to a Choice Architecture strategy, implementing conditional logic that removed 60% of irrelevant tasks. This ensured 100% alignment with federal regulatory markers before a submission ever reached the staff queue.
Application Form Process UI View
The Solution: Engineering the Triple-Platform Bridge
1. The Public Institutional Website
We designed the public-facing site to establish Professional Authority. The UI prioritizes high-readability typography and accessible navigation, ensuring researchers can access legal definitions and screening gates with zero ambiguity.
2. The Student Portal: Predictive Intake Wizard
To solve the 70% error rate, we engineered a multi-step intake web app.
Active Validation: We implemented Hard-Stops in the UI logic that prevent incomplete submissions.
The AI Intake Node: Uses 12 regulatory markers to auto-sort projects into Exempt, Expedited, or Full Review categories.
The New Application Form View
3. The Staff Web App: The "Control Tower"
For the IRB Board, we designed a high-performance administrative engine optimized for high-volume processing.
Status-Driven Color System: Utilizing Audit Blue and Success Neon to provide instant behavioral cues.
Data Density: A strict grid layout that displays complex regulatory data points simultaneously, reducing Time-to-Review by 45%.
Design Governance: The Atomic Foundation
We engineered a modular Atomic Design System to ensure 1:1 parity across the website and both web apps.
Enterprise Scale: Standardizing 100+ reusable components minimized Development Drift.
Accessibility First: Full WCAG 2.1 compliance guarantees that the platform is scalable for a diverse academic population and meets federal mandates.
The Signature Signing Section
Business Outcome: Measured Institutional ROI
Jemirae’s design-led intervention successfully transitioned the university from a manual utility to a High-Performance Research Engine:
90% Acceleration: Research approval cycles dropped from 4 months to a 10-day automated window.
70% Accuracy Boost: UI guardrails effectively eliminated administrative re-work loops.
$450,000+ Annual Savings: Reclaimed thousands of annual staff hours through operational efficiency.
The View of the IRB Website Landing Page
Deliverables
UX Strategy & Multi-Tenant CX Mapping
High-Fidelity UI Design (200+ Screens)
Enterprise Design System & Governance
Interactive Prototyping & Behavioral Stress Testing
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Posted Apr 6, 2026
Jemirae engineered a 3-tier ecosystem for Gannon University, cutting IRB error rates from 70% to <5% and saving $450k+ annually via high-impact UX/UI design.
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Timeline
Feb 27, 2023 - May 22, 2024
Clients
Gannon University
