CRE MITREX

The Center for Real Estate (CRE) seeks to transform the quality of the built environment and the real estate industry by providing a forum for education, research, and the exchange of ideas among the thought leaders of the global real estate community. The Center accomplishes this through degree programs, interdisciplinary research, as well as outreach to industry and alumni.

Client Need

CRE contacted AMPS and proposed creating a knowledge base so that members of the community could share information in many forms. Through an iterative design process, AMPS helped CRE expand its community-of-interest model to create a knowledge base that also allowed people in the community to find and make contact with others who have similar interests.

Strategy

AMPS places a premium on client participation in all phases of the design process. The first phase called for identifying and interviewing all major stakeholders to gather requirements and validate that the right tool was being developed.

AMPS then developed wireframes — paper prototypes of each website page that contain all website functionality. Wireframes quickly orient the design process around the client’s needs by helping the client visualize and understand the product. Refining the wireframes established a constant feedback loop between the client and product designers. When the design matured, AMPS quickly built the website, tested it, wrote user documentation, and delivered it to the client.

Results

AMPS delivered the MIT Real Estate Exchange tool (MITREX) on time and within budget. MITREX has been universally praised by the client and its alumni user base as an excellent community-building application. “The MITREX tool is a great asset to CRE,” says Marion Cunningham, CRE Associate Director, “and working with AMPS has been a very rewarding collaboration.”