© 2013 Jenzabar, Inc. Presented by David J Colson Oct 2014 Southern Wesleyan Operational Assessment...

© 2013 Jenzabar, Inc.

Presented by David J ColsonOct 2014

Southern WesleyanOperational Assessment Summary


Jenzabar is a leading provider of enterprise software, strategies, and services developed exclusively for higher education. Our integrated, innovative solutions advance the goals of academic and administrative offices across the campus and throughout the student lifecycle.

Who is Jenzabar


You have the Top Student Information System


Headquarters: Boston, MA 320+ employees 40+ years serving higher education 1,000 campuses and growing 564 unique clients in the higher education space 22 international clients, representing 12 countries 63% of customers: Private colleges 100% Revenues: Higher education The only major provider that is majority controlled by

management Most stable ownership tenure

At a Glance


Jenzabar EX Jenzabar® is a leading provider of software, strategies and

services developed to meet the unique needs of higher education.

Headquarters in Boston, MA with offices in Knoxville, TN, Harrisonburg, VA and Cincinnati, OH• 650 campuses

Southern Wesleyan and Jenzabar have been working together since 1998. Thank you! • 300 plus EX schools


Our Commitment to Client Success

Extensive Complimentary Training• Free on-going training (basic-level courses) • Free webinar training for all product releases

Support• Unlimited client support (800# and Web)• 30+ dedicated support staff• Average response time: 28.5 min• Satisfaction Measurement: 9.69 for 2012

Unlimited Software Updates and Enhancements• 90+ full-time developers


Jenzabar Annual Meeting (JAM) • 2,000+ attendees and 350 sessions

Jenzabar Advisory Group Regional User Groups Executive Summits List servs

Vibrant Client Community


The EX Solution

350 EX customers Most successful SQL solution in the marketplace Microsoft Gold Partner Designed and built for higher education institutions Implementation of Best Business Practices Comprehensive management of the Student Life Cycle Integration of all administrative offices Business driven solution – automated processes

Extendable Flexible Configurable


Jenzabar Solutions

Accounts PayableAccounts Receivable

BudgetingGeneral Ledger

Fixed AssetsPurchasing

Human ResourcesPayroll

Alumni/Development

RecruitmentAdmissions

RegistrationNon-Traditional Reg.

Student Life Advising

Financial AidRetention

ERP System

Student Information

System

Institutional Advancement

FinancialManagement

and HR CRM Staff

CRM ConstituentCRM Advancement Officer

CRM StudentCRM FacultyCRM Parent

CRM CandidateCRM Admissions Officer

User Experience

JICS Portal

Jenzabar Mobile and Jenzabar Social

Recruitment Management

Analytics

StudentsFacultyAdvisorsMentorsTutors

AlumniDonorsStaff

Staff

CandidatesRecruiters

eLearning


Southern Wesleyan– Jenzabar/Partner products not owned

BI: Vantage Dashboard Reporting AD and De

Jenzabar Retention Management System

Nuvision-One Card Document

Management/ Imaging NetPartner Xitracs- Accreditation &

Assessment

JICS/ CRM’s• Jenzabar Recruiting

Manager (NEW)• CRM Admissions

Budget Module Managed

Services/Cloud Hosting


Operation Assessment Purpose and Methodology

The purpose of the Operational Assessment was to evaluate Southern Wesleyan business processes and the usage of technology. Specifically, each office’s aptitude and knowledge of the technology available to them to better the mission of the institution.

The methodology used was a full and complete interview session with each office on campus conducted by Sarah Mitchell PhD Sr Consultant.

The outcome was a comprehensive report of findings and recommendations.


Operation Assessment Project Members

Mike Preusz, Director IT Sarah Mitchell PhD, Sr Consultant, Jenzabar David Colson, Regional Manager, Jenzabar Joyce McMillen, Project Manager, Jenzabar


Major Findings Strong IT organizationSince the EX implementation, the IT department of SWU has been known for excellence in supporting the technology needs of the University and leadership among their peers in other EX colleges and universities. That legacy continues in the current staff. Consistent trainingSWU has consistently provided training for new and veteran employees, giving them a basis for staying up to date and preventing a gradual decline in institutional knowledge of the ERP system as personnel changed and the software evolved. Leadership in portal innovationThe SWU IT Department continues to push the envelope in integrating the ERP and the MySWU portal and moving processes online through innovative and creative portlet development. Turnover of long-time employeesThe University’s “historians” are leaving. These are the individuals with many years of personal knowledge of how the University operates. Compensating for the knowledge gaps caused by these departures has not been adequately addressed.


Major Findings Need to transition from paper to electronic business processesThe University does not have a document imaging system. An Admissions users said, “We are constantly making copies of transcripts for different offices and individuals on campus. 1. Transfer evaluations 2. Advisee files 3. Athletics 4. Financial aid 5. Education department . . . and many times more than one copy for each. . . . Implementing document imaging would transform the way business is done within the University. No time to try new methodsStaffing is bare bones, and workloads are heavy. If time is set aside to learn and implement a new process, regular work piles up, thus departments are hesitant to break out of the routine to implement new features and processes that might ultimately result in higher productivity. Need for more data sharing among departmentsInefficient and redundant processes are created because data is not shared. Asked how the Registrar’s Office, Business Office., etc., are informed when a new student is ready to matriculate, one survey respondent said, “In every archaic way you can imagine—scans, copies, phone calls. All this data is available in Jenzabar yet for some reason other offices are not allowed to access it.”


Major Findings Reporting frustrationsA few users are spending a lot of their time generating information to fulfill requests from other departments. Some users wish they were better equipped to create reports for which they are asked. Other users feel they have to wait a long time when they request assistance with reports from IT. Need for online processesForms collected as part of the admission process are not available online. Online availability of all forms and services is especially needed for online applicants and students, who shouldn’t have to—and sometimes can’t come to the campus or a center to pick up forms or ‑‑complete paperwork. Other key processes, such as advising, are dependent on paper workflows. Marketing online programs to the English-speaking world requires rethinking how student services are delivered.


Recommendations:Southern Wesleyan University Initiatives Recognition of the importance of technology support

• With the introduction of online programs, the University has moved to a different level of dependence on technology. To recognize this relationship and ensure that technology issues are given the level of priority they need, it is suggested that you elevate the Director of Information Technology position to a Cabinet-level University Chief Technology Officer position, as is commonly being done in private universities in your size range.

Process reengineering• The advising folder is just one example of many expensive, inefficient, paper-

based processes that make up the flow of information among the admitting and student services areas and the academic departments. The University needs to identify these areas of inefficiency and implement more effective processes.

Although not always the ultimate decision-makers, the module managers can play a role in questioning these processes and proposing changes that improve data quality, conserve organizational resources, increase efficiency of operations, and provide better service to internal and external customer constituencies.


Recommendations:Document imaging Through the interview process the answer to the question “What would unblock

your processes?” The best answer each time was document imaging. While the cost in money and time of implementing an enterprise document imaging system may seem overwhelming, Sarah feels it would be one of the best ways to solve a number of issues within the administrative functions of the University, including reliance on paper-based workflows, the need for access to information across departmental lines, and lapses in communication between the administrative departments and faculty advisors.

It would be especially advantageous for the remote centers, because it would incorporate them into the workflow without the inefficient, extra processes to move paper and information that are currently being used. It would help to close the gap between being a university that is attempting to offer online programs in a non-technology-driven environment and a university that is capable of fully supporting online education and would be a step in bringing student services up to the level expected by working adults and graduate students.


Recommendations:

Student Action Form Financial Aid is requiring way to much from the Registrar’s Office to do

via the Student Action Form. There is considerably more audit information in the EX database than there was originally. For example, NSC Registration Transactions (Reports – National Student Clearinghouse > NSC Edit Registration Transactions) records every increase or decrease in student enrollment levels. Please investigate whether this process can be replaced by reports based on audit data available within the system.

Student Retention The University is not using a comprehensive predictive model, early

alert, and notification system. Given the priority being placed on improving retention, you would undoubtedly benefit from having an integrated system with these features. I suggest you thoroughly evaluate Jenzabar Retention and make plans to implement it the near future.


Recommendations:

Data standards Data standards were prepared during your implementation 15 years

ago. A lot of technological and social change has occurred during those years, and your data standards may need to be updated to reflect those changes. This is a good project for the module manager organization. The standards should be reviewed and updated annually and as needed.

Emergency Preparedness Some efforts are being made to collect student and employee

emergency contact information, but the data is incomplete and may be out of date. It appears no provision has been made for the information to be available to campus security personnel when offices are closed and no one is available to retrieve physical forms or log in to EX. This needs to be addressed.


Recommendations:

Jenzabar Recruitment I believe EX Admissions/CRM Candidate may meet some of

your needs for the near term, but a true recruiting tool like JRM should be evaluated. I believe you have the IT resources necessary to support the implementation, and the increasing complexity of your programs and potential candidate base will require more sophisticated candidate communication and admission workflow management.


Recommendations: Jenzabar Assisted

Top Priority! Registration The staff are not using many features of EX that would bring

them to a new level of sophistication and efficiency in their operations. They need a major infusion of training in how to configure and use the new features, along with consulting as to how to integrate them into their core processes, but with updated electronic forms, workflow, and communication.


Recommendations:Campus-based Admissions Follow-up to their successful Notepad training is suggested for

Admissions, including communication strategy consulting, using conditional statements in documents, configuring Action and Action List Stops, and improving email-related processes.

General process consulting is recommended, to try to identify ways manual processes can be replaced with more efficient, automated processes. Another important topic is the configuration and use of Requirements and Requirement Lists. Travel and organization information should also be covered.

Admissions and Registration Admissions needs to begin using Admissions to Registration Transfer and

a Rules Based Update Cluster to create new students in Registration. Training for all personnel involved in this process as soon as possible.


Recommendations:Evening and Online Admissions Consulting with Evening and Online Admissions is recommended to discuss

a strategy to get leads into the database, rework the online application for more complete uploading, look for ways to improve the account creation process, and identify steps to eliminate paper-based manual processes.

Basic InfoMaker for Admissions training for those who are interested and advanced InfoMaker for Admissions for the individuals who will be heavy report writers and customizers.

Advising Among the issues to be discussed with Advising administrators are a

strategy to address curriculum change policies, working with Admissions and Registration to improve student processes, and looking for ways to help faculty take better advantage of online advising capability.


Recommendations:Financial Aid I would suggest consulting to help Financial Aid get started with automated

packaging, including a tutorial on building PowerFAIDS algos. They also need sessions on how to use the Financial Aid Manager Disbursement Reconciliation Reports and help with setting up and testing FA SAP [Satisfactory Progress].

Student Development Follow-up steps with Student Development should include:

• Review all features of Student Life and note any that might lead to enhanced functionality or increased efficiency for Student Development personnel. Develop an agenda for configuring and training these topics.

• Continue to look for ways to improve the data collection side of the housing application and assignment process.

• Set up a housing notification Action.• Work on a plan to collect updated emergency contact information from all on-ground

students.• Define a HEALTH Session and work with IT to transfer the Student Health Profile data to the

HEALTH Session.


Recommendations:Institutional Research IR should participate in as much departmental training, consulting,

and InfoMaker training as possible, to keep learning how the database is structured and how the data are being used at SWU. IR will be asked to participate when Registration and HR cover IPEDS reporting using Regulatory Reporting.

Business Office Business Office users should continue to incorporate new features,

such as Paste from Excel, Feedback, and the new Excel financial reporting templates

Online timecard entry and approval• While everyone seems to agree that online timecard entry and

approval is an implementation that needs to move forward, for some reason, it seems to be stalled.


Recommendations:Student Accounts They are not making full use of Discounts and Refunds. It might be

helpful to review these areas with a consultant, to learn how you can automate these adjustments.

Human Resources Follow-up for Human Resources should include these items:

• Get help to set up employment application processing, so you can move ahead without delay.

• Review new-employee processes to look for ways to make them more timely.• Commit to reducing the number of external databases and set goals for

getting the information into EX.• Review HR IPEDS reporting.• Work with Student Life and IT to develop a plan for merging employee

emergency contact information into a campus-wide emergency contact database.


Recommendations:Advancement data assessment Using a few simple queries, Sarah found a discrepancy in the totals in the gift and pledge

records (not in the handling of the money, but in the database records). A quick comparison of RE degree completion to DE class year data shows that they are pretty consistent. While I don’t expect any major surprises to be revealed, I would strongly recommend to Advancement a data assessment by a Jenzabar Development expert, partly to set your minds at ease as to whether what is there is reliable enough to be used.

Advancement consulting and training After learning about the President’s focus on fund-raising, the recent personnel changes

in Advancement, and the reported condition of the data. The time is right for an infusion of consulting, to help Development get their data back on track, create reports to guide their strategic planning and monitoring of their progress, and map out a plan for supporting portfolio management through EX.

User training Topics that should be covered are Communication Management, Moves Management, Major Donor Proposals (planned gifts, grants, other major gifts), reaching an agreement with other departments as to who will enter and maintain employer, church, and parent information, setting up and testing gift acknowledgments, and a long list of unused features and information.


Traits of Jenzabar Customer with highest software utilization (Continued) Listserv activity

• Effective departments at the College utilize the Listserv more often

Annual Jenzabar Training/Consulting• Recommend funds for consulting / training be budgeted on an

annual basis as a lump sum whose use will be determined throughout the year.

Partnership with Jenzabar• Establishment of a partnership between Southern Wesleyan and

Jenzabar at both strategic and tactical levels is a key element in maximizing the returns on the investment in Jenzabar.


Traits of Jenzabar Customer with highest software utilization

Report Writing specialists identified• Departments working best have their own effective report

writing capability Certified Users calling Help Desk

• More Users need to make calling a general practice for the Module Managers:

Learning Center Training utilized• Are Module Managers & IT getting training?

Annual JAM attendance• Who attends?


Recommended Training and Consulting by ModuleConsulting Purpose/Comments Priority Hours

Evening and Online Admissions (AGS)

Review AGS admitting processes and EX configuration. Review use of Communication Management and follow up Notepad training. Review online application and use of CRM Candidate. Teach InfoMaker for Admissions.

High 92

Student Life Student Life/CRM Student functionality review and needs assessmentConfiguration and training reviews for Residence Life (including Incidents), Student Activities, Student Health, Vehicle Management

High 44

Human Resources Develop implementation plan and timeline for employment application processing and complete implementationReview new-employee processesReview employee data and data entry and update processesReview employee emergency contact processReview HR IPEDS configuration and reporting

56



Advancement Data Assessment

Review existing data, recommend improvements, and assist with updating data as needed. High 48

Advancement Development configuration review, including Giving Clubs, Campaigns, Scholarships, etc.Constituent information review, including RelationshipsMajor donor tracking and internal research review Communication Management for AdvancementGift entry training review, including matching and planned giftsConfiguration, testing, and training of gift acknowledgmentsCRM Constituent reviewInfoMaker training for Advancement, including Additional Reports

High 112



Advising Remote, pre-consulting Advising and CRM Student/Faculty auditAdvising consulting to look for ways to improve the Advising administration and advising processes, address any tree or Advising Worksheet issues, rework Advisor Type usage, and deal with any data-cleanup issues.

High 32

Financial Aid Assistance with configuring and testing automated packaging, including algo trainingAssistance with configuring and testing EX FA SAPTraining on using Disbursement Reconciliation Reports

Med-High 32

Online Timecard Entry and Approval Implementation

Remote Consulting Med-High 24



Student Accounts/Accounts Receivable

Student Discounts and Refunds configuration review and trainingCreate Student Refund Invoice process review and other issues, questions, and training topics

Med 20

Total Hours 652


Consulting; Pricing Options

100 Hour Consulting Pool Contract10 Hours Project Management @ $200 per Hour = $2,000100 Hours of General Consulting @ $190 per Hour = $19,000Total Contract Amount = $21,000*Savings of $1,250 200 Hour Consulting Pool Contract20 Hours Project Management @ $190 per Hour = $3,800200 Hours of General Consulting @ $180 per Hour = $36,000Total Contract Amount = $39,800*Savings of $4,700 300 Hour Consulting Pool Contract30 Hours Project Management @ $180 per Hour = $5,400300 Hours of General Consulting @ $170 per Hour = $51,000Total Contract Amount = $56,400*Savings of $10,350 400+ Hour Consulting Pool Contract40 Hours Project Management @ $175 per Hour = $7,000400 Hours of General Consulting @ $165 per Hour = $66,000Total Contract Amount = $73,000*Saving of $16,000


Recommended Software Solutions

Software Licenses Purpose Priority Cost

CRM Advancement Officer

Gain internet access to constituent contact information and contact and giving history, along with ability to submit updates and contact notes on the go

recommended Please request a demo and pricing information from your Jenzabar Sales representative

Jenzabar Retention

Adopt a comprehensive, integrated predictive model, early alert, and notification system to improve student retention


EX Budget This innovative module provides sophisticated tools for collaborative budget preparation and monitoring, fine-grained worksheet-level security, and integration with current and historical actuals.


EX Fixed Assets This information-rich module maintains a full record of an asset’s life cycle, including integration with purchasing and accounts payable information, calculation of depreciation, and access to detailed depreciation history.


Jenzabar Recruitment

Move to a more sophisticated level of admission prospect communication and workflow management

Please request a demo and pricing information from your Jenzabar Sales representative


Next Steps:

Create a Campus wide action plan to ensure that your investment in EX is fully utilized

Don’t just file the operational assessment on a shelf, use it as an action plan

Thank you for your business!

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