Setting up the EICAA Digital Platform

Adsata is responsible for prototyping, planning and documentation of the EICAA Digital Platform (DP). In this sense, Adsata acts as a bridge between the technical and the non-technical partners in the project to take ideas and vision, and convert them into a technical roadmap for the developers to achieve the desired results. In addition, Adsata is also leading the documentation of the platform.

Evista is responsible for all technical related tasks of the project. They have created both the visuals and developed the EICAA website, designed the platform’s UI based on the inputs from various partners and created the digital platform itself based on Adsata’s directions. Evista’s roles apart from the development included the technology selection, security and privacy considerations, testing and quality assurance as well as deployment.

SETTING UP THE EICAA-DP

The aim was to take the outputs from the previously elaborated results in the project (i.e. the Competence Monitor and the Competence Development Kit → CDK), and to transform them in to the EICAA Digital Platform, where users can create self-assessments, collect/analyze data, and then act on the suggested CDK modules to improve the entrepreneurial competence profile of their assessment groups.

Additionally, this part also involves documenting the software for the user, and maintaining the software as an Open Source software for any future stakeholders.

User Stories

In the first step, Adsata organized workshops for partners to produce user stories for EICAA-DP. User stories captured the requirements and functionalities of the EICAA-DP from the user’s perspective. They described the interactions and features the app should provide. User stories helped the development team understand what needs to be built and served as a basis for further design and development decisions.

Collection of user stories and user story mapping

Mockups

The next step was to take the user stories and create visual representation of what the platform would look and function like. Mockups were the visual representations or wireframes of the EICAA-DP’s user interface. They provided a high-level overview of the app’s layout, design elements, and functionality. These mockups helped partners visualize the app’s structure and flow, ensuring a common understanding among the team before proceeding to the next steps.

First Design

Once the mockups were approved, the design process began. The first design stage involved creating detailed designs that incorporated the visual elements, branding, and aesthetics of the EICAADP. Designers from Evista used design software or tools to produce graphical representations of each screen and interaction, including colors, typography, icons, and images. These designs provided a more accurate representation of the final product’s look and feel.

The process of the development of the EICAA-DP was outlined in a planning document, where the specifications of the entire tool were outlined in a stepwise manner and also roles/ responsibilities were fixed to each partner involved.

Development

After the first design was approved, the development phase began. This involved writing the code necessary to implement the functionality described in the user stories and design specifications. Developers used programming languages, frameworks, and tools to create the front-end (client-side) and back-end (server-side) components of the EICAA-DP. This step included building the user interface, implementing assessment logic, integrating databases, and handling any necessary APIs or external services etc.

THE STATUS-QUO

The EICAA Digital Platform has two active environments to let the partners preview and use the features.

The staging environment has the most up to date set of features, which reflects the state of the development. The features included here can be subject to more or less substantial changes until they get their final form based on the points considered from the valuable feedback of the partners. Given these circumstances, many of the corresponding features are not accessible at all in the live environment (e.g. Competence Monitor, Competence Development Kit, Recent Activity chart and sharing with QR code), or they are present in a former, less developed state (Results Dashboard).

The live environment has the key features (creating, sharing, deand reactivating assessments) to let the partners manage piloting rounds, which help the collection and evaluation of the data acquired in compliance with the goals set for the platform (the data collection process for the participants is already long established). The platform users have the ability to export the collected data related to the assessments they own. The data can be exported in csv format – and there is also a temporary solution based on an Excel workbook template, but this feature will be discontinued once the development of the Competence Monitor concludes.

The Purpose And Functions Of The Digital Platform

EICAA aims to develop a digital platform for the assessment and development of entrepreneurial competences. This will enable universities, companies and other organizations to carry out profiling and monitoring of entrepreneurial competences (e.g. among students or employees).

The platform aims to deliver an impartial evaluation of users’ existing entrepreneurial competences, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. This assessment serves as a valuable tool to identify areas that require improvement. By offering a convenient and cost-efficient alternative to attending physical courses or workshops, the platform empowers users to enhance their competences effectively.

Possible Challenges Ahead

The platform’s success hinges on two essential factors: acquiring a sufficient volume of user data and attaining a critical mass of users. These elements are crucial for the platform’s sustainability beyond the development phase. If we reach the number of people using the platform, the next question can be what else we can do with the data gathered on the platform, it is something that can be discovered in a separate project.