AI Student Support Chatbot

Overview

24/7 student support, built on solid BA foundations.

Led the analysis and design of an AI powered student support chatbot aimed at improving student access to information, reducing administrative workload and providing around the clock support for common enquiries.

The solution was designed to support course enquiries, admissions guidance, enrolment assistance, payment support, frequently asked questions and escalation to human advisors when required.

The Problem

High volume, limited hours, inconsistent responses.

Students frequently experienced delays seeking support for admissions, course information, enrolment, payments and administrative queries. Support teams faced increasing enquiry volumes, repetitive requests and limited availability outside standard operating hours.

High volume of repetitive enquiries

Delayed response times

No support outside office hours

Inconsistent information delivery

Manual handling of routine requests

No self service capability

No seamless escalation path to advisors

I mapped the current state workflows across candidate enquiry, payment and enrolment journeys, identified the manual touchpoints creating delays, and designed a chatbot capable of automating the most common interactions while routing complex cases to live support.

My Role

Business Analyst and Product Owner.

I led the engagement across discovery, analysis, prioritisation and solution design, covering stakeholder interviews, student pain point analysis, requirements definition, user story creation, MoSCoW prioritisation, conversation flow design, wireframing, prototyping and delivery roadmap production.

I also maintained the product backlog, supported stakeholder review sessions and produced the implementation recommendations to move from concept to delivery ready design.

Key Features

Four capability pillars.

Student Support

Course information assistance
Admissions support
Enrolment guidance
Payment support
FAQ automation

AI & Self Service

Natural language query handling
Automated response generation
Intent based routing
Knowledge base integration
24/7 self service support

User Experience

Human advisor escalation
Guided user journeys
Mobile friendly experience
Structured conversation flows

Product Delivery

Prioritised MVP scope
Product backlog
User stories and acceptance criteria
Interactive prototype
Delivery roadmap

Solution Scope & Process Context

Use case model and current state workflows.

The use case model defines the chatbot's actors and interactions. The current state process maps, spanning candidate enquiry handling, payment and enrolment journeys, provided the baseline for identifying where automation would deliver the greatest value.

Use case diagram for AI-powered student support chatbot — **Use case diagram.** Actors include the Prospective Student, Existing Student and Live Support Agent. Core use cases span course information, enrolment guidance, technical issue diagnosis, personality test processing, payment assistance and human escalation via an extend relationship.

Academy AS-IS BPMN process diagram — **Academy AS IS.** Candidates visit the website, browse course and enrolment information manually and, if they cannot self serve, submit an inquiry via phone, email or web form. Support agents receive, review and handle cases, escalating to a specialist team when needed.

Payment Process BPMN diagram — **Payment process.** Admin provides payment details, the candidate makes payment, and the outcome routes to either a confirmation or an alternative payment path, with confirmation sent on success.

Enrolment Process BPMN diagram — **Enrolment process.** Candidate makes an enquiry, attends a free taster session and, if proceeding, completes payment before attending training sessions, being placed on a project and completing the programme.

Delivery & Impact

A delivery ready AI support concept.

9

Functional requirements

8

User stories created

£40K

Delivery budget defined

MVP

Scope prioritised via MoSCoW

Live

Interactive prototype delivered

4 actors

Modelled across the use case scope

The project produced a delivery ready concept for an AI powered student support solution, validated through stakeholder review, with a defined MVP scope, prioritised backlog and interactive prototype.

✓Improved student self service capability through 24/7 availability

✓Reduced dependency on manual support channels for routine enquiries

✓Enhanced student experience through structured conversation flows

✓Increased service availability beyond standard operating hours

✓Clear roadmap for future implementation defined and validated

✓Stronger alignment between business and technology stakeholders

Deliverables

The full artefact set.

Business Analysis

Business Requirements Document
Stakeholder analysis
Functional requirements
Non functional requirements
User journey maps
Process maps

Product

Product backlog
User stories
Acceptance criteria
MoSCoW prioritisation
MVP definition
Delivery roadmap

Design

Wireframes
Chatbot conversation flows
Interactive prototype
Future state service design

Business analysisProduct ownershipAI solution designUser story writingMoSCoW prioritisationConversation flow designWireframingCustomer journey mappingBPMN process modellingBacklog management