alumni_lookup

Phase 9: Onboarding & Initial User Experience

Canonical sources: Portal philosophy, posture, and language live in /docs/planning/champion-portal/source/README.md.
Use these sources (including CHRIST_CENTERED__IDENTITY_STATEMENT.md) when writing specs or user-facing copy. Prefer quoting/paraphrasing over inventing new language.

Status: In Progress
Estimated Effort: 4-6 weeks
Prerequisites: Phase 5 Complete (Pre-MVP Updates)

Related Documents:

../README.md — Phase Index

../../JOBS-TO-BE-DONE.md — User needs (Jobs C1, C5, C9)

../../development/DESIGN-GUIDELINES.md — Visual standards

../../development/LANGUAGE_STYLE_GUIDE.md — Voice & tone

../phase-1/1.12-community-foundation.md — Community infrastructure

Sub-Phase Progress

Sub-Phase	Name	Status
9.1	Enhanced Onboarding Flow	✅ Complete
9.2	Seeded Discussion Questions	✅ Complete
9.3	Admin Seeded Question Interface	✅ Complete
9.4	Onboarding Metrics Dashboard	✅ Complete
9.5	Community Welcome Content	✅ Complete
9.7	Trust-First Community Access	✅ Complete

Overview
Why This Phase Exists
Goals
Non-Goals
Sub-Phases
Current State Analysis
Target State
Key Design Decisions
Definition of Success
Testing Requirements
Documentation Updates

1. Overview

Phase 9 transforms the onboarding experience to make Communities and Discussions central to a Champion’s first week. Instead of completing profile fields and waiting for activity to happen, new Champions will:

Join communities as part of the profile wizard
See seeded discussion prompts that invite participation
Receive guided nudges toward their first interactions

Core Thesis

“Communities are the onboarding engine.”

The Champion Portal’s value comes from connections with fellow Bruins. If a Champion finishes onboarding without joining communities or seeing discussion activity, they have no reason to return. Phase 9 ensures every new Champion lands in a community with active conversation prompts from day one.

What This Phase Delivers

Feature	Description
Enhanced Profile Wizard	Add “Join Communities” step after affinities
Seeded Discussion Questions	Staff-authored prompts that rotate, interpolate, and target affinity types
Admin Tooling	Lookup Portal interface to manage seeded questions
Onboarding Metrics	Track first-week engagement, community joins, discussion participation
Community Welcome Content	Dismissible welcome messages that orient new community members

2. Why This Phase Exists

The Drop-Off Problem

Current onboarding ends at profile completion. Champions:

Complete the wizard (8 steps ending at affinities)
Land on the dashboard
See communities they could join (suggestions)
See discussions they could participate in

But they don’t have a reason to participate immediately. No prompts, no seeded questions, no “here’s something to respond to right now.”

Research Insights

From JOBS-TO-BE-DONE.md:

Job	Relevance to Onboarding
C1: Find My Tribe	Onboarding should end with Champions IN a community, not just seeing suggestions
C5: Stay in the Loop	First-week experience sets expectations for returning
C9: Feel Like I Belong	Empty communities feel abandoned; seeded questions signal life

Competitive Gap

Alumni networking platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook Groups) have the advantage of existing content. A new Champion joining an empty community board will assume it’s dead. Seeded questions create perceived activity and low-friction entry points for first posts.

3. Goals

Primary Goals

Goal	Success Metric
Increase first-week engagement	60%+ of new Champions interact with a discussion in week 1
Reduce onboarding drop-off	80%+ complete wizard including community step
Accelerate community joining	Average Champion joins 2+ communities during onboarding
Enable staff-driven content seeding	100% of active communities have rotating discussion prompts

Secondary Goals

Goal	Success Metric
Reduce reliance on organic content	Seeded questions generate 30%+ of first comments
Improve return rate	50%+ of Champions return within 7 days of signup
Surface right communities	70%+ of suggested communities get joined or explicitly declined

4. Non-Goals

Explicitly Out of Scope

Non-Goal	Rationale
Complete profile redesign	Wizard structure is proven; we’re adding one step, not rebuilding
New community types	Phase 5 established types (district, college, major, affinity, industry, custom)
Auto-posting to discussions	Seeded questions are staff-authored prompts, not AI-generated posts
Mandatory community membership	Champions can skip/defer community joining
Gamification / points / badges	Out of scope; focus is on content and connection
Real-time notifications	WebSocket/Action Cable is future scope

5. Sub-Phases

Implementation Progress

Sub-Phase	Name	Status	Est. Effort
9.1	Enhanced Onboarding Flow	Not Started	1 week
9.2	Seeded Discussion Questions	Not Started	2 weeks
9.3	Admin Tooling	Not Started	1 week
9.4	Onboarding Metrics	Not Started	1 week
9.5	Community Welcome Content	Not Started	3-4 days
9.6	Onboarding Email Series	Not Started	1 week

Sub-Phase 9.1: Enhanced Onboarding Flow

Goal: Add a “Join Communities” step to the profile wizard that:

Shows suggested communities based on location, education, and affinities
Allows quick accept/decline for each suggestion
Explains community value proposition
Transitions smoothly to dashboard with communities already joined

→ See 9.1-onboarding-flow.md for full specification.

Sub-Phase 9.2: Seeded Discussion Questions

Goal: Create a system for staff-authored discussion prompts that:

Rotate on configurable schedules
Support text interpolation (e.g., {community_name}, {champion_first_name})
Target communities by type (district, college, major, affinity subtype, industry, all)
Appear as “Engagement Team” posts in community boards
Never duplicate within a community

→ See 9.2-seeded-questions.md for full specification.

Sub-Phase 9.3: Admin Tooling

Goal: Provide Lookup Portal interface for managing seeded questions:

CRUD for question templates
Assignment to community types / specific communities
Preview with interpolation
Rotation schedule configuration
Analytics on question engagement

→ See 9.3-admin-tooling.md for full specification.

Sub-Phase 9.4: Onboarding Metrics

Goal: Instrument onboarding to track:

Wizard completion rates per step
Community join rates during onboarding
First-week engagement (posts, comments, reactions)
Return rate (7-day, 14-day, 30-day)
Seeded question engagement (views, replies)

→ See 9.4-metrics.md for full specification.

Sub-Phase 9.5: Community Welcome Content

Goal: Provide community-specific welcome messages that:

Introduce new members to the community’s purpose and culture
Appear on the community landing page for newly-joined Champions
Are dismissible (manually via button, or auto-dismissed after 3 visits)
Use pre-written “Welcome Packs” with text interpolation
Can be edited by staff via Lookup Portal admin interface

Key Design Decisions:

NOT using News system — News is for time-sensitive announcements; welcome content is static orientation
ActionText storage — has_rich_text :welcome_content on Cp::Community for rich formatting
YAML templates — Welcome Packs organized by community type (district, college, major, industry, affinity category, custom)
Champion tracking — welcome_dismissed_at and community_view_count on cp_champion_communities join table

→ See 9.5-community-welcome-content.md for full specification.

Sub-Phase 9.6: Onboarding Email Series

Goal: Implement a 6-email drip campaign that guides new Champions through their first 30 days:

Welcome email (Day 0) — Account confirmation and getting started
Profile completion nudge (Day 2) — Encourage completing profile if incomplete
Directory introduction (Day 5) — Help Champions find others in their area
Community engagement (Day 10) — Introduce discussion boards and communities
Event participation (Day 15) — Highlight upcoming events and how to RSVP
30-day check-in (Day 30) — Recap engagement and encourage continued participation

Key Design Decisions:

Database tracking — New cp_onboarding_emails table tracks which emails have been sent to each Champion
Background job — Cp::OnboardingEmailJob runs daily via Heroku Scheduler to identify and send pending emails
Conditional logic — Some emails skip if action already completed (e.g., skip profile nudge if profile is 100%)
Unsubscribe support — Champions can opt-out of onboarding series via notification preferences
Admin visibility — Lookup Portal shows onboarding email history per Champion

Email Series:

Email	Day	Trigger	Skip If
Welcome	0	Champion verified	—
Profile Nudge	2	2 days post-verification	Profile 100% complete
Directory Intro	5	5 days post-verification	Champion has searched directory
Community Engagement	10	10 days post-verification	Champion has joined 3+ communities
Event Participation	15	15 days post-verification	Champion has RSVP’d to event
30-Day Check-In	30	30 days post-verification	—

→ See 9.6-onboarding-email-series.md for full specification.

6. Current State Analysis

Profile Wizard (as of Phase 5)

Location: app/controllers/cp/profile_wizard_controller.rb

Current Steps:

STEPS = %w[help_find_you confirm_education location champion_role profession photo bio affinities]

Step	Purpose	Required?
`help_find_you`	Match to alumni record (conditional)	Conditional
`confirm_education`	Confirm matched education (conditional)	Conditional
`location`	ZIP code / district assignment	Required
`champion_role`	Select Champion role (Connector, Builder, etc.)	Optional
`profession`	Job title, employer, industry	Optional
`photo`	Profile photo upload	Optional
`bio`	Bio text	Optional
`affinities`	Select affinity groups	Optional

Gap: No community-joining step. Champions see suggestions on dashboard but don’t join during onboarding.

Community Suggestions (as of Phase 1.12)

Model: Cp::CommunitySuggestion

Current Behavior:

System generates suggestions based on education, location, affinities
Suggestions appear on dashboard and community discovery pages
Champions can accept (creates ChampionCommunity) or decline

Gap: Suggestions are post-onboarding. No wizard integration.

Discussion Boards (as of Phase 3)

Model: Cp::BoardPost

Current Behavior:

Champions can post to community boards
Polymorphic author supports Champions and Users (staff)
“Engagement Team” display name for staff-authored posts

Gap: No seeded question system. New communities start empty.

7. Target State

Enhanced Wizard Flow

Current:  help_find_you → confirm_education → location → champion_role → profession → photo → bio → affinities → [DASHBOARD]

Phase 9:  help_find_you → confirm_education → location → champion_role → profession → photo → bio → affinities → join_communities → [DASHBOARD]

New Step: `join_communities`

UI Pattern:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🎯 Join Your Communities                                           │
│                                                                     │
│ Based on your profile, we think you'd fit right in with:          │
│                                                                     │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 📍 Nashville Champions                                          │ │
│ │ 23 Champions in your city                                        │ │
│ │                                          [Join] [Not Now]        │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                     │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 🎵 Music Business                                                │ │
│ │ Connect with fellow Music Business Bruins                        │ │
│ │                                          [Join] [Not Now]        │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                     │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 🎭 Phi Mu                                                        │ │
│ │ Stay connected with your sorority sisters                        │ │
│ │                                          [Join] [Not Now]        │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                     │
│ You can always discover more communities later!                     │
│                                                                     │
│                                          [Continue to Dashboard →]  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Seeded Questions in Communities

Example:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📌 Nashville Champions                                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                     │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 👥 Engagement Team                              2 days ago       │ │
│ │                                                                 │ │
│ │ What's your favorite Nashville hidden gem that other Bruins     │ │
│ │ should know about? 🎸                                           │ │
│ │                                                                 │ │
│ │ 💬 3 replies    ❤️ 5 reactions                                  │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                     │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 👤 Sarah Champion                               4 hours ago      │ │
│ │                                                                 │ │
│ │ Anyone heading to the Belmont basketball game Saturday?         │ │
│ │                                                                 │ │
│ │ 💬 1 reply      ❤️ 2 reactions                                  │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

8. Key Design Decisions

Decision	Choice	Rationale
Community step placement	After affinities, before dashboard	Affinities inform community suggestions
Community step required?	Optional (can skip)	Reduce friction; Champions can join later
Seeded question author	“Engagement Team” (existing pattern)	Consistent with staff-authored content
Question rotation timing	Per-community, configurable	Prevents same question appearing everywhere at once
Interpolation scope	Community name, Champion first name	Keep simple; add more tokens as needed
Question targeting	Community type + optional subtypes	Affinity subtypes (Greek, Athletics) get specialized questions
Admin interface location	Lookup Portal `/champions/seeded-questions`	Staff-only, consistent with Champion Admin namespace

9. Definition of Success

Functional Acceptance Criteria

Enhanced Wizard (9.1):

New join_communities step appears after affinities
Community suggestions render based on profile data
Join/decline actions work inline (no page reload)
Step can be skipped entirely
Dashboard shows joined communities after wizard completion

Seeded Questions (9.2):

Staff can create question templates with interpolation
Questions post to community boards on rotation schedule
Questions display as “Engagement Team” author
Same question never posts twice to same community
Rotation respects community type targeting

Admin Tooling (9.3):

CRUD interface for question templates
Preview with sample interpolation
Community type/subtype targeting
Rotation schedule configuration
Question engagement analytics

Metrics (9.4):

Wizard step completion funnel tracked
Community join events tracked during onboarding
First-week discussion engagement tracked
Return rate cohorts tracked (7/14/30 day)
Dashboard displays onboarding health metrics

User Experience Criteria

Criteria	Target
Wizard completion including community step	80%+
Champions joining 2+ communities during onboarding	60%+
First-week discussion participation	60%+ interact with at least one post
7-day return rate	50%+ return within a week

10. Testing Requirements

Controller Tests

ProfileWizardController:

join_communities step loads community suggestions
Join action creates ChampionCommunity record
Decline action marks suggestion as declined
Skip action advances to dashboard without joining
Step renders only for verified Champions

SeededQuestionsController (Admin):

CRUD operations require portal_admin role
Question templates save with targeting
Interpolation preview renders correctly
Rotation schedule persists

Service Tests

SeededQuestionService:

Question selection respects community type targeting
Rotation prevents duplicate posts
Interpolation replaces all tokens
Posting creates BoardPost with staff author

Model Tests

SeededQuestion:

Validates required fields (body, targeting)
Validates interpolation token syntax
Scopes: active, for_community_type, due_for_rotation

Integration Tests

Full wizard flow with community step
Community join + immediate board access
Seeded question appears in community after posting

11. Documentation Updates

After completing Phase 9:

Update phases/README.md — Add Phase 9 to index
Update roadmap_controller.rb — Add Phase 9 with sub-phases
Update FUNCTIONALITY_OVERVIEW.md — Document new onboarding flow
Update FAQ — Add questions about communities and discussions
Update CHANGELOG.md — Document Phase 9 features
Update AI Context Bundle — Reflect new onboarding capabilities