Introducing SUMS
Shaping the Future Together
At SUMS, we believe innovation thrives when fuelled by collaboration and inspired by the people who use our platform every day—you!
That’s why we’re excited to launch the Innovation Lab; a bold initiative designed to reimagine how we conceptualise, design, and deliver products by gathering your insights, ideas, and feedback to shape the future of our platform.
🧠 We're turning insights into action
What is the Innovation Lab?
The Innovation Lab is more than just a feedback program; it’s a collaborative space, fostering creativity, collaboration, and experimentation, where your insights and experiences drive the future of our platform. We recognise that every interaction you have with SUMS offers valuable insights into how we can improve, adapt, and evolve to better meet your needs.
✨What You Can Expect ✨
Share Your Voice
Your feedback matters. Through the Innovation Lab, you’ll have a dedicated channel to share your experiences, ideas, and suggestions to contribute to the co-creation of solutions.
Collaborative Problem-Solving
You’ll collaborate directly with our Product Development and Technical Development Teams through surveys, workshops, and beta testing opportunities. Your voice will shape the very foundation of the features we build and the updates we roll out.
Be a Pioneer
Innovation Lab participants will gain early access to test new features and updates before they’re widely released. Your feedback during this testing phase will help us fine-tune and perfect every innovation to ensure it meets your needs.
Exclusive Insights
Stay ahead of the curve with sneak peeks into upcoming developments and reports based on user feedback. You’ll always know what’s on the horizon and how it can benefit you.
🗓️️ Upcoming Opportunities
Here’s a glimpse of what’s on the horizon:
📝 Survey: Zendesk Knowledge Base
Be among the first to review the proposed format of the SUMS Knowledge Base and Support Documentation; provide feedback on designs and updated support materials to help inform how users interact with SUMS Support Documentation throughout their use of the platform.
🧰 Workshop: Student Dashboard
🗓️: Wednesday 5th February 2025
Join our very first user group to discuss our upcoming project, centred around the Student Dashboard. Work alongside SUMS and other users to provide your feedback and insights into how the Student Dashboard works for you, and how we can improve upon the available functionality to enhance your members’ experience.
💬 Focus Group: Data and Reporting
🗓️: Wednesday 19th February 2025
Participate in this collaborative session to help define functionality requirements for a new Reporting Module. Share your needs, explore potential feature requirements, and shape a tool designed to deliver the insights you need most effectively.
🧰 Workshop: Elections Module (NUS Delegates)
🗓️: Wednesday 5th March 2025
Those who conduct NUS Delegate Elections can join our workshop to discuss and help inform a robust solution to enable users to effectively facilitate delegate elections. Share your thoughts on how this process can be made easier when conducting these yearly elections.
🧰 Workshop: Elections Module (Round-Up)
🗓️: Wednesday 26th March 2025
Take part in discussions with other SUMS users to discuss your use of the Elections Module. Provide insights into what works for you and where you experience challenges (both from a staff and student perspective), helping to determine the direction of future enhancements and additions to this module.
🙋♀️ How to Take Part
Simply email productdevelopment@sums.su to register your interest, alongside providing an insight into the areas that you would be most interested in being involved in.
Once you’re on board, we’ll keep you updated with opportunities to share feedback, participate in testing, and collaborate on projects that matter to you.
Once you’re on board, we’ll keep you updated with opportunities to share feedback, participate in testing, and collaborate on projects that matter to you.
💡 Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible
Let’s Build the Future Together
SUMS Innovation Labs isn’t just about improving our platform—it’s about building something extraordinary with you. Together, we can push the boundaries of what’s possible and ensure that SUMS continues to empower you every step of the way.