Description
Project Overview
Panorama Education’s user management configurations for school district clients were handled entirely internally. As the client base grew, managing access for staff roles became time-consuming and inefficient for both the support team and clients. Clients relied heavily on Panorama’s Customer Success team to make permission changes, which created bottlenecks and made it hard for district administrators to understand how access levels impacted different parts of the platform.
What administrators were doing
District administrators were spending hours submitting support requests and waiting for confirmation on basic permission updates. Many were hesitant to fully implement Panorama’s products because they didn’t have a clear understanding of who could access what data. Additionally, complex permission configurations, like linking student data visibility with product-specific roles, were hard to track, leading to slow adoption and confusion.
In interviews, admins expressed frustration: “It’s a black box—every time I want to change a role, I have to email support and wait.” They wanted to be in control of access, but the current system didn’t allow them to self-manage.
Why they were struggling
The legacy permissions tool didn’t have a clear visual structure or labeling system, making it difficult for even experienced tech leads to navigate. The lack of a central hub forced administrators to rely on Panorama’s support team for even minor adjustments. Our interviews revealed that administrators didn’t just want control—they needed transparency to confidently make changes without fear of accidentally granting access to sensitive student data.
Brainstorming solutions
We realized we needed to build a centralized permissions hub that would serve as the go-to control center for district administrators. I led a series of brainstorming sessions with the Product Manager and Engineers, generating over 20 ideas for simplifying permissions management.
Our main ideas centered around:
Student Data Visibility Control — Creating a dedicated area to define who could access sensitive student information.
Role-Based Product Permissions — Establishing clear relationships between roles and product access, making it easy for administrators to configure permissions across multiple products.
Audit and Reporting Tools — Enabling admins to track changes and see a history of role updates for full transparency and accountability.
Prototyping and testing
We began by mapping out the current system’s limitations and created low-fidelity prototypes of a new permissions hub that highlighted visibility and access controls. I led 2 rounds of user testing with district tech leads and school administrators to validate the prototypes. Early feedback showed confusion around how student data visibility impacted product-specific permissions, so we created a dual-pane layout: one pane focused on Student Data Visibility and the other on Product Permissions.
This layout allowed admins to see the relationship between access levels and specific roles, making it easier to configure permissions with confidence. We iterated 3 different versions of this design, testing with educators and client liaisons until it provided clarity and minimized the risk of misconfiguration.
Trade-offs and constraints
Because we were working within Panorama’s existing design system, building many of the components—like the data visibility map and permissions dashboard—from scratch took more time than anticipated. We had to delay advanced automation features and a client-facing audit dashboard that would have provided more granular control and reporting capabilities. Additionally, due to technical constraints, we couldn’t fully integrate the tool with all of our products at launch, limiting its initial scope. However, these trade-offs allowed us to deliver a robust MVP that set the foundation for future enhancements.
By making strategic decisions around scope, we were able to launch a product that delivered immediate value while establishing a flexible architecture for long-term growth.
Building and measuring impact
Once validated, I collaborated with 2 engineers to build out the permissions hub over 1 month, prioritizing transparency and ease of use. The final product included a new Student Data Visibility section, a Role Management Dashboard, and a simplified interface for assigning permissions across multiple products.
Final designs
The final solution empowered administrators to manage access and permissions independently, reducing reliance on support and giving them the confidence to use Panorama’s products fully.
Key Features:
Visual Access Map: Clearly shows which roles have access to specific student data.
Customizable Permission Settings: Allows admins to create and adjust permissions quickly.
Change History and Audit Logs: Provides a full history of modifications, ensuring accountability.
The impact was immediate:
37% Reduction in Support Tickets — Admins were able to self-manage permissions without needing Customer Success assistance.
Increased Product Adoption — With clearer visibility, more districts fully adopted our suite of tools, leading to an increase in product usage.
Enhanced Security Confidence — District tech leads reported feeling more confident in managing sensitive student data.