University Business - August 2008 - (Page 39)

were visited and how long readers spent on a page. They recently saw an increase in traffic from New Jersey and were able to plan a recruitment trip in response. “We can more effectively deploy resources,” she says. 8. Use CRM to Manage Your Prospect Pool. Constituent relationship management technology can be used to track an applicant through the process and tailor communications. “We’re using Intelliworks Orion for total management of our funnel,” says Jeffrey Handler, assistant vice president for enrollment management at Empire State College, State University of New York. The software helps staff determine where a prospect came from by allowing them to see how a visitor navigated to the college’s website. It also helps move applications through the admissions process by allowing staff to alter e-mail communication based on the applicant’s status. Besides tracking the effectiveness of an e-mail by showing who opened it and what links were accessed, Handler can find out how many people signed up for and then attended open houses and other events. But he says his favorite part is the variety of real-time reports he can generate on a moment’s notice. “We don’t 10. Automate Placement Testing for Incoming Students. shudder when the president walks in and wants a report.” Administrators at the University of Michigan are using CRM Administrators at Seton Hall University (N.J.) found that adminfrom RightNow Technologies to a similar end. “We just e-mailed istering placement tests during orientation took up too much time 130,000 rising [high school] seniors and it took about 10 min- for both staff and students—time that students could have spent utes,” says Sally Lindsley, senior associate director of undergradu- becoming familiar with campus. In addition, students could not register for classes because their ate admissions. The goal was to scores weren’t available. Wendilet students know the written reann Sethi, director of the Departsponse questions for their appliment of Developmental Math, cation were available online and —Lee Harrell, Ohio Wesleyan University addressed the problem by impleto remind them to get letters of recommendation. “Before, we would send an e-mail and we didn’t menting the Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite. Staff time and know if it was effective,” she explains. Now they know e-mails sent effort is saved because the test suite has a variety of questions to from Tuesday through Thursday between 2 and 3 in the afternoon choose from when building a test, and scoring is instantaneous. are most likely to be read. The system is also used to customize Student time is saved because students can take the test online communications based on a student’s interest and status. Linds- from home so that when they arrive on campus they can be asley says that in addition to saving time, the department has saved signed courses and participate in orientation activities, rather than be stuck in a testing room. money on printing and postage by switchThe Maplesoft Test is valid for any course ing to e-mails. with a math component, including science and With any of the CRM systems curengineering courses. Other companies provide rently available, administrators can track all ACT, www.act.org tests for reading comprehension and writing contact with prospects and provide them a Aleks, www.aleks.com skills, such as Compass from ACT, Accuplacer personalized experience on their way to maThe College Board, from The College Board, and Aleks, which has triculation. www.collegeboard.com a tutoring component. ConnectEdu, www.connectedu.net From revising policies and processes to 9. Show Them a Digital Front Door. Datatel, www.datatel.com using modern technology to keep in touch with When a student in Minnesota wanted to ImageNow, www.imagenow.com prospects, college and university administrators compare offerings at colleges and universiare finding creative ways to assess, automate, Intelliworks, www.intelliworks.com ties in the state, he or she had to visit each and adjust the admissions process to make it campus or website. Now students can do Maplesoft, www.maplesoft.com more efficient. For staff and students alike, the their preliminary research through MinRightNow Technologies, www.rightnow.com process can be painless. Now someone just has nesota Online. Originally developed to adto figure out how to keep students calm while dress the needs of online students, the serXap Corporation, www.corp.xap.com waiting for their acceptance letter. vice has morphed into a front door for the entire Minnesota State College and University System. Students can start their research online and then either enroll in online courses or be handed off to the brick and mortar campuses. Student records are tracked using CRM from RightNow. Linda Thompson, a Minnesota Online representative, says the service even handles the entire admissions process for some campuses. She says other IHEs have called to find out more about them and suggests their model would work best for large institutions with a number of academic colleges, but even smaller Michigan students benefit from technology even before reaching campus. institutions have found a takeaway from their structure. ‘We anticipate our workload in the fall will be eliminated.’ Resources universitybusiness.com August 2008 | 39 http://www.act.org http://www.aleks.com http://www.collegeboard.com http://www.connectedu.net http://www.datatel.com http://www.imagenow.com http://www.intelliworks.com http://www.maplesoft.com http://www.rightnow.com http://www.corp.xap.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - August 2008

University Business - August 2008
Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
On the Hill
Future Shock
Independent Outlook
Community Colleges
Dorms of Distinction
Streamlining Admissions: Opening the Front Door
E-mail, Gmail, and Beyond
EduComm Deals a Winning Hand
What's New
End Note

University Business - August 2008