University Business - November/December 2010 - (Page 41)

Admissions And EnrollmEnt sErvicEs, cEntEr for instructionAl dElivEry University of St. Francis TRICKLE-DOWN EFFICIENCY links with the university’s enterprise resource planning system so that admissions staff is immediately notified electronically when an application is ready for review. student files are shared digitally among various offices and departments, eliminating the need for multiple copies and reducing processing time. Hand-written notes, paper files, and the aforementioned walks across campus have been replaced by electronic, instantaneous messaging. the improved communication supports a robust workflow system that notifies the appropriate staffer when a new task requires an action and when a task is complete—no updating of spreadsheets and no more wondering where physical files have escaped to. an unexpected benefit was that the admissions office interfaces with so many other campus departments, university officials soon realized the project needed to have a bigger scope than administrators originally envisioned. “the implementation moved fast,” says Bogovich, who oversaw the project. “We intended to implement only two offices, but we did about seven. … We didn’t have a choice except to move the system forward in order for people to Admissions Processing staff can take a phone call while reviewing get the information. it has had a tricklea student’s electronic file via dual monitors. down effect.” Document imaging saved st. Francis $14,000 in paper costs last year, and response time to prospective students cuuniversity’s commitment to environmentalism. looking to reduce its carbon footprint, back up rious about their admission status has been slashed. documents effectively, and deliver better student student advising has improved as well, as faculty service, st. Francis purchased and implemented a advisers can more easily access files. Bogovich anticipates that even greater efficiendocument imaging system. the admissions office was chosen as the first area of implementation be- cies will be realized as the system is used more fully, cause its paper consumption was both massive and especially in the area of quantifiable metrics. “We can look at the number of tasks going in detrimental to delivering decisions to applicants in and out of processing,” she says. “it’s great to know a timely fashion. “We live in an age where response time is im- how much communication there is between the portant, and processing paper was really slowing counselors and admissions processing. it’s great to us down,” says suzanne Bogovich, instructional know what kind of tasks need to be done. it’s great database specialist. “admissions primarily captures to know if we need to add another student worker; the majority of the documents that come into the it’s great to know when someone else needs to join the office at peak times of the year, because it’s easy university. starting there just made sense for us.” the new system, Hershey systems’ singularity, to count—it’s all in the system.” ollege Campuses are typically beautiful places. tree-lined walkways, verdant quads, and stately buildings make for a pleasant place to take a walk. But for staff at the university of st. Francis (ill.), too many campus strolls took up time that could be better spent on other tasks—such as tending to prospective students. and the paper files they were delivering from office to office belied the C A planned first step evolved into several unanticipated next steps, with multiple benefits for several campus offices. universitybusiness.com November/December 2010 | 41 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - November/December 2010

University Business - November/December 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Financial Aid
Models of Efficiency
An Edible Arrangement
Friend or Foe?
Sense of Place
Independent Outlook
Internet Technology
What's New
End Note

University Business - November/December 2010