SAARNA
The most critical decisions in criminal justice risk assessment demand access to rigorous, evidence-based tools. Researchers, practitioners, students, and trainers who use these instruments need reliable platforms to collaborate, learn, and stay current.
The Society for the Advancement of Actuarial Risk Need Assessment (SAARNA) exists to serve this need: a specialized hub where professionals across criminal justice, mental health, and research can access assessment instruments, training, and community with the rigor their work demands.
Initial Timeline
3 months
Engagement
Fixed Fee
Technology
WordPress
Services
Technical Consultancy
Website Design
Website Development
UI/UX
E-commerce & Payments
Role-Based Access Control
Custom Platform Development
Membership & User Management
The Challenge.
As SAARNA’s library and user base grew, the platform that once served them well became fragmented. Users juggled multiple subscriptions, inconsistent access levels, and manual verification processes. The system couldn’t scale and SAARNA needed a foundation built for complexity.
SAARNA needed to simplify their experience while maintaining strict control over specialized content. At the same time, their team needed a simpler way to manage users, roles, permissions, resources, training, and digital purchases without relying on fragmented processes.
Our Strategy.
Troon rebuilt the SAARNA platform around a centralized, role-based access system that makes a complex resource ecosystem easier to navigate and manage.
We mapped each user pathway and authored detailed user stories to understand what researchers, practitioners, students, trainers, and administrators needed to accomplish. Through iterative design, low-fidelity wireframes to validate flow, then high-fidelity designs for implementation, we transformed complex permission logic into intuitive, purpose-built interfaces.
- Unified User Accounts: One profile connects subscriptions, purchases, and resource access, with permissions determined by user role, subscription type, instrument access, and verified credentials.
- Structured Verification: Trainer and restricted-access requests move through a centralized approval workflow, with automated role, permission, payment, and access updates.
- Organized Resource Libraries: Instrument content is structured into clear categories and subcategories, bringing research, guides, training materials, and other resources into one navigable system.
- Smarter Discoverability: Search, filters, language options, view controls, and access-state indicators help users quickly find relevant resources and understand what they can access.
- Integrated Commerce: Subscriptions, training and event registration, role-based pricing, and pay-per-view video purchases operate within the same platform.
- Centralized Administration: SAARNA can manage users, subscriptions, permissions, approvals, resources, training, events, purchases, pricing, and access rules from a unified backend.
The result: A completely revamped digital platform built to simplify access today and scale with SAARNA’s growing resources, users, and educational offerings.
Final Design.
Working with Troon on the redevelopment of the SAARNA website was a significant project. Our platform is complex, with multiple subscription levels, user permissions, restricted resources, training materials, purchases, and a large professional library.
Troon took the time to understand that complexity and built a platform that is easier for our members to navigate and gives us much more control over our resources and users. Like any project of this size, there were technical challenges and some areas that required more follow-up and back-and-forth than expected.
Troon stayed engaged, worked through the issues with us, and delivered a stronger platform. We’re pleased with the result and appreciate their continued support as the platform evolves. Troon helped us build a solid foundation for SAARNA’s next stage of growth.
Dr. Yolanda Fernandez, C. Psych.
Vice-President Policy and Practice
The Outcome
The new SAARNA platform brings subscriptions, resources, permissions, training, and digital content into one organized ecosystem.
For users, an intuitive dashboard and organized resource library with advanced search and role-based access make it simple to discover and engage with content relevant to them.
For administrators, centralized controls streamline user approvals, subscriptions, permissions, and content management. While the more robust system comes with a learning curve, it gives the SAARNA team greater visibility and control as the platform continues to grow.
Since launch, SAARNA has received positive feedback on the platform’s organization, navigation, and overall experience. Troon continues to provide hosting and ongoing maintenance, working with the SAARNA team to continue improvements, and refinements as their needs evolve.
