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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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?
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Things to Consider
Cost-Benefit Analysis Strategic Planning Review of Business Process Competitive Analysis Risk Management Gap Analysis Timing RFPs
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
Financial repercussions Impact on productivity Staffing Data management Technological needs
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Strategic Planning
Institutional goals/objectives Institutional culture
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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AACRAO Publication
Student Information Systems: A Guide to Implementation Success Sharon F. Cramer, Ph.D. $95 non-members / $70 members 2005, item #0108
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Final Thoughts & Questions? Ana del Castillo
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
(312) 329-6601 [email protected]
Keith Werosh National University of Health
Sciences (630) 889-6547 [email protected]