Limited Resources & Limited BudgetsSuccessful Student Information System Implementation Strategies for Small Institutions

AACRAO 94th Annual MeetingOrlando, FloridaTuesday, March 25, 2008- Session 2264:15-5:15- Room: Atlanta/Boston

About Us Keith Williams (facilitator)

University Registrar University of Vermont

Ana del Castillo Registrar & Associate Director of Student

Services The Chicago School of Professional

Psychology, Chicago, IL Keith Werosh

University Registrar National University of Health Sciences,

Lombard, IL

About the Institutions

The Chicago School

Certs.,MA, EdS & doctoral degrees (PsyD)

On ground and online offerings

Founded 1979 Multiple

campuses 1,400+ students

National University AA through first

professional degrees (chiropractic & naturopathy)

Founded 1906 550 students

Basis for Upgrading

The Chicago School SIS relied on old technology Wasn’t scalable to allow for the

institution’s rapid growth Wasn’t user friendly or flexible to

allow for tailoring to institutional needs

Vendor technical support wasn’t reliable and consistent

::

Basis for Upgrading

National University of Health Sciences

Records were managed via use of Excel spreadsheets

Technology in registrar’s office was nonexistent

No use of technology to share relevant information between departments

Data management was labor intensive

Limited Budgets

The Chicago School ~$750,000 Included hardware, software,

training and support.

National University of Health Sciences

~$200,000 Included hardware, software,

training and support.

Limited Resources

The Chicago School Limited technical support (3

staff) No dedicated SIS manager Little knowledge of successful

system implementations Busy office created a challenge

to divert attention to implementation

::

Limited Resources

National University of Health Sciences

Seriously behind the times with technology (used Excel for everything!)

No technical support on staff– outsourced IT support help

Nobody on staff to provide perspective or guidance

Were we truly ready to accept a change?

Things to Consider

Cost-Benefit Analysis Strategic Planning Review of Business Process Competitive Analysis Risk Management Gap Analysis Timing RFPs

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Financial repercussions Impact on productivity Staffing Data management Technological needs

Strategic Planning

Institutional goals/objectives Institutional culture

::

Review of Business Process Prepare to make changes! Take a serious look at how you

manage your operation Think about how technology can

make things more efficient Don’t just document what you

do, think about what you want to be able to do

Non-negotiable functionalities Document, document, document

Risk Management

Impact analysis Better or worse after the change?

Pitfalls Prepare for problems Develop work-arounds Have a contingency plan in place

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Gap Analysis

What functionalities are not satisfied by new SIS?

What previous functionalities will be missed?

Financial repercussions Need for additional

software/hardware Extra modules

Timing

When to implement? Backward timeline from key

events/priorities Build in extra time for problems or

additional training Consider term processes:

Financial aid Course registration Exam period Grading period

::

RFP Request for proposal

“The formal mechanism by which a company conveys its business requirements during the search for a new application system”1.

Consider boilerplate version Useful to thoroughly document needs

and solicit formal response from vendor

1Source: Georgetown University UIS

What’s Next? Vendor & system selection

Research vendors: who are their clients? Research other schools’ systems (what’s

popular?) Vendor sales

Salesperson is usually not a system expert

Beware of guarantees; do your homework Sources

Colleagues Professional associations, listservs Request for Proposal (RFP)

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Implementation Strategy

Target timeline Alternate

timeline Negotiable vs.

non-negotiable Pace of

implementation

Contract Negotiation

List price is not the price you pay Deal-breakers Support level Evaluate add-ons & modules Beta testing (save $$) vs. impact

on operations Portal (heavily consider systems

with student, faculty and alumni portal access)

Project Management

Designate project manager Establish committee

Include module leaders, process and data experts

Involve all constituencies: staff, faculty, students

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Budget Management

Manage schedule to maximize consultants’ billable hours

Maintenance costs Additional modules Customizations (can do in-house

or must be done through vendor?)

Level of support Training

Org. Change Management How will various sectors of

community react? Turnover

Where is there little/no support? Managing expectations Staff workload Seamless services for students Formal vs. informal leaders

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Communication Plan/PR

Community-wide announcements Generate excitement while

managing expectations Communicate project progress at

all levels of implementation from beginning through end

Targeted communication to different constituencies Address unique concerns of each

group

Tech. Support Services

Help Desk Online, phone, in-person support

Impact on workload Technology support staffing Consider needs during and after

implementation Hosted solution for institutions

with limited or no technology support staff

Data Validation

Thorough data validation Saves time Saves money Prevents data integrity issues

Create time and separate space for staff to validate data

Create data validation protocols Accountability Document data validation

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Training Scale back on over-implementing:

train first and start out “vanilla” Vendor support In-house knowledge of module

leaders Future releases: training on new

functionalities Provide adequate support for

those less technologically savvy Build reference resources as you

go::

If Only We Knew Then… Upgrades/future releases

Add functionalities, provide fixes Also break things that worked before

Shift in job focus for power users Managing system

permissions/access Designate single point-person Develop permissions approval protocol

Post-implementation Transition implementation committee

If Only We Knew Then… Vendor Relations

Know how their support mechanisms work How quickly are tech support issues

handled? Don’t go crazy with customizations Identify a well detailed plan for data

migration Who is responsible? What type of information will be migrated?

Make friends with staff at institutions with the same system installed

Know how to extract information from the system

AACRAO Publication

Student Information Systems: A Guide to Implementation Success Sharon F. Cramer, Ph.D. $95 non-members / $70 members 2005, item #0108

Final Thoughts & Questions? Ana del Castillo

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

(312) 329-6601 adelcastillo@thechicagoschool.edu

Keith Werosh National University of Health

Sciences (630) 889-6547 kwerosh@nuhs.edu