Intended to fuel community colleges’ creativity in restructuring career training paths and timelines, the third round of Labor Department job-training grants is now open. And if community colleges’ track records thus far are any indication, innovative programs and employer partnerships are just ahead.

“This third round of funding will build on the work of earlier grantees by strengthening partnerships between institutions and employers so students develop the skills and attain the credentials they need for jobs in high-need fields now and in the future,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in announcing round three of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grants program.

So what can community colleges do with almost a half billion dollars?

According to Inside Higher Ed, some used grant money in rounds one and two to design valuable, sustainable programs that fit employer needs:

• Massachusetts Community Colleges—$20 million for 15 community colleges to improve career services and redesign or create new credentials targeting unemployed and underemployed adults
• Pennsylvania Consortium of Community Colleges—$20 million for 20 community colleges to focus on electronic medical records technology, advanced manufacturing, and renewable energy
• National STEM Consortium—$20 million for 10 community colleges in nine states to work with industry partners to develop one-year certificates in five high-demand fields
• Illinois Green Economy Network Career Pathways—$19 million for 17 community colleges to develop training programs in eight green economy industries

The Massachusetts initiative, dubbed the Transformation Agenda, will eventually develop more than 85 new degree, certificate, and noncredit programs in health care, biotechnology and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, clean energy/sustainability, information technology, and financial services.

The innovative part? Many of the certifications can be earned in one or two semesters, so students can be job-ready in high-demand fields, quickly.

So let’s get creative. Community colleges, businesses, a federal challenge, and millions of dollars. What would you do?

Recently, the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) released the results of a two-year study of the English literacy and mathematics required for success in the first year of community college. It wasn’t pretty.

According to What Does It Really Mean to Be College and Work Ready?, high school graduates don’t know enough of the basics to get them through one year at a community college. Think about it. An average of 45 percent of high school graduates attend a community college—with fast-track training that goes directly into the workforce. If the students aren’t ready for college, they most surely are ill-equipped to succeed in a career. The system keeps moving them along at a fairly rapid clip without ever really giving them what they need. Basic English and math skills, for example.

Alarming highlights from the study revealed that many college programs demand little or no mathematics. What students need most is middle school mathematics but their command of those concepts is weak. And the skills needed in many community college programs—mathematical modeling, statistics and probability, complex measurement, schematics and geometric visualization—are not even taught in most schools.

Most high school graduates cannot understand college texts written at 11th–12th grade levels. In many community colleges, the required reading demands little more than searching for basic facts. Most college courses require very little writing and industry training courses rarely ask students to do the kind of writing they will need to do on the job.

“This report shows that our community colleges have shockingly low expectations of the students entering their institutions, because many—perhaps most—of our future nurses, EMTs, and auto mechanics haven’t mastered middle school mathematics and cannot read much of the material in their first year college textbooks—even though they are only written at the 11^th and 12^th grade levels—and a large fraction of our future four-year college students have a very hard time writing a simple report that requires students to make an argument and support it with facts” said Marc Tucker, NCEE president. “If the United States does not fix this fast, its citizens will face a bleak economic future.”

It’s a complex issue with far-reaching implications. How do you think we can teach our students not only what they need to graduate, but what they need to succeed?

With a little creativity and some customization, institutions are building the tools they need. In the Campus Technology article Tools for Teamwork, David Raths highlights four specialized tools that bolster cooperation among students.

Document sharing

M+Box, University of Michigan’s branded version of Box, offers users 50 GB of storage—which works better for large video files and can be accessed from a central location. Resources are available at the same time to all team members, so faculty don’t have to spend time searching YouTube or Vimeo for projects. With one button, faculty can weigh in on student work in a comment box and email all team members. This transparency facilitates valuable interactions, promotes virtual self-expression, and enables collaboration with technology.

Screen sharing

Using Tidebreak ClassSpot PBL, Winona State University redesigned a 25-student classroom into a visual media studio. The studio features five tables with a shared display all connected to a computer, and an 80-inch white board. Students simply sit down, download the software onto their laptops, and in minutes are able to share screens on the monitor at their table. They can easily choose and annotate photos, and then take control and present projects to the entire group from the large interactive touchscreen. The software helps them work in larger, more diverse groups; students from computer science, mass communications, and art classes meet to do group projects involving graphic design, advertising, and mobile app development.

Social bookmarking

A cross-disciplinary team hunkered down at the Rochester Institute of Technology campus to create RIT BookBag. This web-based tool allows faculty to integrate a wide array of digital research materials as well as RIT’s library resources into a course curriculum and share with students. Faculty simply search for resources, then use RIT BookBag to populate syllabus content, add required material, and include pertinent links. Students can also share links to relevant material. Because a classroom includes different learning styles, some students learn more from each other’s research and the resources they found. It also gives students who would otherwise be too shy to speak up in class the opportunity to make valuable contributions and participate in virtual conversations.

Polling software

It can be tough to get students participate in large classes and even tougher to gather their responses. Institutions across the nation are ditching clicker hardware in favor of Poll Everywhere, software that allows students to talk with each other in small groups—via Twitter, text, or the web—and then share replies with other groups. Another option is Learning Catalytics which is now used in classes at the US Air Force Academy and Yale University for peer instruction and to encourage conversation. With Learning Catalytics, faculty can see how each individual responded and then group students based on their responses. After grouping students and letting them work together, instructors use the tool to measure the number of correct answers, which in most cases, improves as a result of peer interaction.

There’s no more, sit, stay. Your students are ready to play. How are you using software to support your project-based learning strategies?

The Cloud has fueled the immediate-access culture by providing the ability to download apps and consume them in seconds. Although centered on consumers initially, this culture can indeed be extended into the institution’s back office systems in order to adapt to the rapidly changing learning domain and support the education process, improving outcomes and meeting expectations that are rising each year from students, governments and the workplace.

An example of leveraging the cloud to make available rapidly adaptable functionality is the approach found in the Ellucian Mobile architecture. This method provides configuration and servicing in the Cloud, so nothing local has to be wrestled with technically, and all apps that appear on the student’s device can be crated with standard HTML5 and are deployed immediately without the student having to take steps to download and install. It’s similar to a consumer downloading an app to their mobile device, only it’s the institution accessing an entire mobile student system in a similar fashion, which then students can then download and enable on their devices in the familiar way. The immediate-access paradigm has merged with the institution’s enterprise back-office.

Moving as much infrastructure, provisioning, computing and functionality into the cloud, while surrounding it with tons of automation is not only compatible with the expectations the immediate-access culture students are members of, but also can enhance the learning experience yielding higher outcomes and success.

From a completely different angle, consider the opportunity of enterprise applications (such as the student ERP) relative to the usual rigidity of large enterprise systems in terms of leveraging their deep feature set in new ways or extending them to fit a changing dynamic. The app store concept (if applied at the enterprise level) can turn the institution’s back office into an immediate-access paradigm, similar to the way consumers assume rapid availability of functionality from mobile app stores. Ellucian will soon be making available such an app store, called the Ellucian XE Registry (the Extensible Ecosystem Registry) which is a catalog of interfaces (RESTful API’s and other interfaces) surrounded by SOA governance, all in the cloud (to be available at xe.ellucian.com). The XE Registry not only enables google-like discoverability of interfaces, but more importantly it provides rapid orchestration and consumption of functionality such that dynamic needs can be addressed very quickly.

Further, app stores can foster amazing collaboration. The “Ecosystem” attribute in XE refers to not only the collection of interfaces from across the largest education-specific library of functionality in the world, but also it highlights the support surrounding the collaborative nature of how institutions and students share and work together naturally, fostering the very fabric of cooperation, teamwork and partnerships for the common good. Referring to this attribute Gartner said “an app store can be a natural way to share new applications within the enterprise, recognize great applications, provide feedback to development teams, and even create a bit of competition between them — all to drive the development of better solutions.”

Cloud accessible app stores and registries will indeed be powerful forces going forward, yielding immediate-access capabilities to institutions and students, enabling better adaptability to the rapidly changing dynamics in education.

Read article: Announcing Ellucian Payment Center by TouchNet

Read article: Ellucian Rolls Out Payment Center, Banner Data Defense

“With a 67 percent one-year retention rate costing $6.5 million in lost revenue annually, Valdosta State University (Ga.) officials knew they had to act. The problem was data that could have helped identify remedies were sorely lacking, and what little information the institution possessed was difficult to access and analyze … (They) didn’t have to look far to find a solution. Valdosta State already was supporting its Banner student information system with Oracle Database. Many of its programmers were comfortable with Oracle, and thanks to a license through the statewide higher education system, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition was an easy choice.”

Johnson County Community College (JCCC) leveraged the capabilities of its Banner by Ellucian system to streamline communications to applicants. “Historically, all 26,000 annual applicants to Johnson County Community College (Kan.) received up to three printed communiqués regarding their admissions status. While more information is usually better, the problem with JCCC’s process was that pieces of communication were not sent in chronological order. This created confusion for students. … Leveraging the capabilities of the Banner system, JCCC created a MyJCCC account visible to students and applicants on the JCCC website. Within this centralized channel, applicants and students have a Personal Admission Plan tab where they can view the status of their application, identify missing documents, and commit to attend. No more postcards, no more letters, no more confusion…. Moving more of the admissions process online and providing students with real-time access to information about application status is saving the college close to $30,000 per year. The savings from not mailing postcards and letters is approximately $20,000 and the time saved from preparing those documents is valued at around $7,000. In addition, not having to automatically issue student Gmail accounts saves time and money.”

Model of Efficiency on University Business

And it took a group of nine homeless men to help her reach that realization.

As Ellucian Live’s closing keynote speaker, Mahlum detailed her journey from disillusioned, confused teenager to founder and CEO of Back on My Feet, a nonprofit organization that uses running to help homeless people build self-value and self-worth—the first ingredients to self-sufficiency.

She turned to running as a teenager after her father’s gambling addiction tore apart her family—and her image of an idyllic life.

“It’s where I felt most alive. It made me feel like me. Made me feel strong. Made me feel sure of myself.”

So years later as a successful—but still kind of lost—adult with a graduate degree, she began to wonder what running could do for the homeless men she traded hellos and chitchat with during her daily run.

“Why don’t I share this amazing gift of this sport that has made me love who I am, and see if it can help them, too,” she said. “Running does not discriminate.”

She called the homeless shelter on her running route and proposed a running club. After overcoming initial skepticism from the director—“He tried to think of the nicest way to tell me that homeless people don’t run.”—members of the shelter eagerly signed up, and Mahlum gathered donations of new shoes and gear for their first outing.

It was July 3, 2007. Participants had to sign a contract promising to show up three days a week, be on time, respect themselves and their teammates, and more.

“It was almost as if these guys were waiting for someone to demand such excellence from them,” she said. “It was pure commitment. They all signed that piece of paper that day.”

What started out as a running club has grown to become a $6.5 million nonprofit organization that helps has helped 800 homeless people build on the self-worth they’ve gained from running and become independent and self-sufficient. Back on My Feet now operates in 10 U.S. cities, offering running clubs, job training, employment opportunities, and more.

Mahlum reminded the audience that we’re not much different from each other, homeless or not. We all will travel difficult roads in life, she said.

Years ago, she knew she should address her eating disorder, but it had become such a part of her identity, dominating her thoughts, time, and energy, that it was scary to imagine who else she’d be.

“We all stay in this place we don’t want to be in because we’re so scared about the unfamiliar and what it’s going to be like,” she said.

Look at the members of Back on My Feet.

“How brave is that?” she said. “You’re willing to take that step because you think you deserve it. Every time I think I should be doing something, I remind myself of our members and those brave steps they take.”

She challenged the members of the audience to think of the things they think they should be doing. I should be spending  more time with my kids. I should exercise more. I should start that business.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are ‘shoulding’ all over ourselves,” she said. “We’re so scared to get out of our circle.”

She closed the session with an ambitious group exercise, asking everyone  in the hall to turn to the person next to them and declare one thing they love about themselves. The crowd responded.

“I love that I have a positive attitude.”

“I love that I’m honest and will say the things people think but are afraid to say.”

“I love that I’m eager.”

That’s how it starts.

“If we can get people to love who they are and create ridiculous amounts of self-value and self-worth, this world can become a better place,” she said. “How can it not?”

As part of the seventh annual Luminis Idol competition, held Tuesday, seven schools had five minutes each to demonstrate the cool features and functions of their Ellucian Luminis Platform-based web portal. And while each earned applause and kudos from judge Alistair Calder, The College of St. Scholastica dazzled the rowdy crowd with its new mobile app.

“Persistence has its rewards,” said Chris Bacigalupo, the school’s portal administrator. “And my boss won’t fire me.”

Second place—and a bag of chocolate-covered bacon—went to Portland Community College, and third place went to Shippensburg University. Also participating were Denison University, Valencia College, Lasalle University, and Johnson & Wales University.

Presented by: Kevin Meldorf, Senior Product Manager, Ellucian

Institutional effectiveness has risen to the top of many presidents’ cabinet agendas. Why? Because every institution aspires to improve. And because institutional effectiveness is at the core of the concerns that they deal with every day.

In the session, Institutional Performance Management, senior product manager Kevin Meldorf said institutions must ask four questions:

• How do we know that we are achieving our mission and high-level goals?
• How do we address external call for accountability and transparency?
• How do we measure performance and progress against strategic plans?
• How do we demonstrate that core learning outcomes are improving?

According to Meldorf, “The bottom line in answering each of these questions is: How do you know that you are effective? How do you demonstrate to all the internal and external interested parties that you are effective in a systematic way that is aligned to key goals?”

Meldorf and senior product owner Ken Brulia then introduced Ellucian Institutional Performance Management, a unique new offering that provides leaders with a platform to foster a culture of evidence by simplifying the process of connecting stakeholders with the data they need in order to make informed decisions. Ellucian Institutional Performance Management is the intersection of Ellucian Business Intelligence solutions, Nuventive TracDat^®, and Microsoft^®’s SharePoint portal, providing critical information that can be easily used for planning and assessment.

They went on to say that accurate data is important, but there is also the need for collaborative action, context for that data, and a culture of performance willing to take action. In a culture of high performance, everyone is aligned and collaborating. The session included role-based scenarios that demonstrated how Ellucian Institutional Performance Management helped various departments foster that culture.

Download the session handout.

The school’s human resources department wasn’t set up to function that way, however. Human resources was considered a transactional enterprise rather than a strategic one. The department had little capacity to organize and manage training, and no overall vision for evaluating and rewarding performance.

The university’s president changed all that by creating an executive-level leadership position responsible for human resources, launching a pay-for-performance initiative, requiring performance evaluations that incorporated ongoing feedback during the year, tying department and individual goals to organizational goals, and creating a talent management and organizational development department focused on learning for employees.

As part of these sweeping changes, Drexel implemented Ellucian Talent Management Suite, with modules for recruiting, learning, and performance.

The learning module offered something the university sorely needed: a record of each employee’s full professional development. The module provides a central place for employees, their supervisors, and HR staff alike to organize, communicate, and manage training opportunities, from sessions on effective email communication to working effectively in multicultural groups.

Likewise, the performance module provided new opportunities to understand employees and their success on the job. The module enables you to enter individual and team goals, as well as track progress toward those goals throughout the year. And when it’s time for performance reviews, the module captures each employee’s self review, along with their manager’s review—all in the context of the established goals.

DePodesta was interviewing to become assistant general manager of the Oakland A’s , a hapless, small-market team without resources to compete with the marquee teams in major league baseball. And that reality was at the heart of his question to General Manager Billy Beane: With your resources, do you really think you can win?

“Billy looked at me as if he were looking right through me and said, ‘I will never use payroll as an excuse,’” he recalled during his plenary session Wednesday.

And with that came permission—a culture—to think differently.

As depicted in the movie, Moneyball, DePodesta helped the Oakland A’s win—and win a lot—despite having one of the lowest payrolls in major league baseball. By evaluating, measuring, and assigning value to talent in an entirely new way, he helped change the way baseball teams are built.

He went on to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he guided the team to its first playoff win in 16 years, then to the San Diego Padres, which then posted a 90-win season despite having the lowest payroll in baseball, and now to the New York Mets.

DePodesta’s work has been recognized in various publications, including Fortune magazine, where he was named one of the “Top Ten Innovators Under 40.”

It all started with that simple idea of looking at things differently. Players, talent, dynamics—everything.

“We couldn’t have the same business plan,” he said. “Putting together a championship team is like cooking a gourmet meal—bringing together all these ingredients. The only caveat is that we were only allowed to shop at 7-Eleven.”

Instead of stacking the roster with traditional (and unaffordable) powerhouses—players who could hit, hit for power, field, run, field, and throw—DePodesta and his colleagues began looking for players who were above average in a few of those skills. After evaluating massive amounts of data—unconventional data– and finding the puzzle pieces they were looking for both on the field and in the front office, the team and the organization was above average—collectively.

“If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the same way we would start?” he said. “You realize how many things that we’re surrounded by that are as they are because that’s the way it’s always been.”

He urged attendees to ask that question again and again, because it applies to just about any scenario. And then he made one more request: “If you don’t remember anything else I’ve said today, just remember one thing: root for the Mets.”

It was the second run of the week in connection with Back on My Feet, the nonprofit organization founded by our closing keynote speaker, Anne Mahlum, to help transform the lives of people experiencing homelessness by building self-worth through running. Special thanks to all who participated!

The “Bruce in the USA” tribute band started the night off with favorites such as Thunder Road and No Surrender while dancers swayed to the beat on stage.

Meanwhile, attendees danced the night away while beach balls flew overhead and techno lights lit up the floor. Folks took breaks from dancing to try their hand at miniature golf, get their tarot cards read, take a spin on the carousel or swings, or don costumes and mug for photos at the photo booth.

Those wanting a little treat could sample cotton candy, corn dogs, and caramel popcorn or get a cone with sprinkles from the ice cream truck. And when it all got to be too much fun, some folks chilled under beach umbrellas, relaxed knowing a life guard was nearby.

Thanks for coming to our party!

Check out some pictures on Facebook.

Presented by: Deborah Santiago, Co-founder and Vice President, Policy and Research, Excelencia in Education

Plenary speaker Deborah Santiago, co-founder and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education, spoke today about how to help students succeed.  She began by explaining that, because student populations are changing so rapidly, most students today are actually non-traditional students. “That sounds negative though,” she says. “Like it’s not normal.” The reality is that many students are in the work force, raising families, or returning to their educational pursuits after a period of time. So Santiago proposed that a more accurate term would be post-traditional students.

The assumptions being made of students and the trade-off between efficient and effective can often leave many students out of the equation. “Institutions have to choose how to meet diverse student needs or how to spend money,” she said. “And that leaves a void.” For example, with funding issues and an intense focus on performance, institutions are measured on their graduation rates. But that’s not exactly accurate. “If a school wants to improve graduation rates, they simply restrict access by increasing admission requirements,” she said. It’s a workaround to get the funding they need but it doesn’t really help students succeed at all.

In 2012, 37 percent of the Caucasian population had a baccalaureate degree or higher. But only 12 percent of Latinos can say the same. With a student population that is increasingly Latino, this inspires us to think constructively of what we can do to help. “We all know that what we’re doing in education now will help those future generations,” she said. So rather than asking students to adapt to the old approach, we need to shift it to meet the needs of post-traditional students.

“If you had the ability to do things differently, what would you do?” she asked. “Find an environment or create one that can help you do what you would like to do.” When you challenge the approach, the opportunity to make a difference is profound. Change your focus to how you can serve the students you care about in ways that are relevant for them. Simply by pronouncing a student’s name correctly can improve retention and engagement—true measures of success.

Brave schools don’t say these students are failing, they ask how they can serve them better. “Dream,” she said. “That’s what your students do. We are in the business of creating an infrastructure that supports the next generation to reach their dreams. And that has the potential to change their lives, your lives, and the lives of entire communities.”

Session: The Road to Recruiter for Banner Schools
Presented by: Linda Perez, application analyst; Amy Rice, assistant director of admissions, undergraduate; Linh Trang Tran, assistant director of admissions, graduate, all of Houston Baptist University; and Scott Knick, Ellucian

With the implementation of Ellucian Recruiter^™, admissions office staff at Houston Baptist University can keep better track of prospects and the university’s communications with them.

In the session, The Road to Recruiter for Banner Schools, admissions department staff outlined their transition to Recruiter and advised the audience to examine their current processes and be open to new ones.

“This is really a chance to look at your business practices and say, ‘We can become a better and more efficient admissions office,’” said Amy Rice, assistant director of admissions, undergraduate.

The school looks forward to the next release of Recruiter, said application analyst Linda Perez.

“We’re part of the beta team, and we’re really excited by what’s in there,” she said.

The goals achieved were:

• No more esign/paper
• Less – and more accurate, data entry
• No need to look up per diem rates online
• Scanned image receipts
• Travel Desk is always the first approver
• No more ad-hoc approvals and consistent predefined approvers
• Ensure every department paying expenses included in approvals
• Reduced data entry for accounts payable
• Give campus a way to track the status of each TA and TR

“We are much more efficient now,” said Colman recalling one travel authorization that required 17 different approvers before, many of them unnecessary. The university just finished implementing the solution and Colman was one of the first to use it. “I submitted expenses on a Tuesday and they were approved the same day, and then I received an email the next time accounts payroll did a check run telling me the money was in my direct deposit. The process never went that fast before.”

She suggested that other institutions take the time to explain and demonstrate the solution to their campus users before rolling it out in order to get buy-in and incorporate their feedback. “We looked for opportunities to demo TE&M to as many groups as possible. And be sure to include people who will do most of the data-entry, e.g. Dean’s assistants.” She also recommended that institutions engage their internal auditors early in the process.

“The ideas of a manager really working with his or her employees to help them achieve their goals, and linking individual’s goals to the institution’s is a big cultural shift,” said Medros.  “The solution is great, but implementing it is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to help people accept the cultural change.”

USNH’s implementation was driven by new objectives from the Board of Trustees, calling for:

• Performance-based culture
• Rewards consistent with mission, vision, and values
• Employees and managers have shared responsibility to achieve goals
• Learning and work environment serve as differentiators

To help employees, the system brought in outside consultants to do training on the cultural change. After that, the institution introduced everyone to the software solution. Medros also said it is important to have a clear plan and processes in place and documented before using the solution itself, otherwise some people get overwhelmed by the functionality. USNH is rolling out limited functionality at a time, with a plan to introduce more each year. “There are so many bells and whistles in the software that users can get overwhelmed. We think it is important to simplify at first as they adjust to the cultural change.”

Session: Banner XE Architecture and Extensibility Explained for All Audiences

Waterfall upgrades can be daunting, labor intensive, and fraught with peril.

In the session, Banner XE Architecture and Extensibility Explained for All Audiences, Alan Hansen detailed the advantages of the extensibility ecosystem behind the new Banner^® by Ellucian vision. This “XE” platform enables institutions to create an integrated digital campus that makes it easier for constituents to communicate, find the information they need, and accomplish any task, from engaging prospects to paying tuition to cultivating alumni.

“You can upgrade on your schedule with the things you care about,” he said.

With catalog, class schedule, grade entry, event management, and attendance tracking modules available today—and more modules coming—the XE vision means you can upgrade Banner according to your priorities.

Presented by: Justin Sentz, Director, Information Services, Shippensburg University

Shippensburg University implemented the myShip portal in 2011. In the session, Ellucian Luminis^® Portal and Content Management—Integrating Targeting of Content, Shippensburg representatives Justin Sentz, Dustin Sier, and Mira Mattern discussed where they are one year later.

The university’s stakeholders determined what content they wanted to push to the portal. Because most of the content they wanted to display was already in their CMS, they chose to integrate the systems, eliminating the need to duplicate content maintenance.

The university uses the Ektron Web Content Management System for both dual-purpose content and unique myShip content. “We kept things pretty simple,” says Mattern. We chose Ektron because we have more than 450 users on campus that are already familiar with it,” said Mattern. Now, content displays on multiple ship.edu pages and can be pushed to portlets.

The session wrapped with a technical discussion of how to create a portlet.

Download the session handout.

Presented by: Alan Crowley, Director, Enterprise Information Systems, Alma College

This morning, the room was packed to hear more about how two colleges are improving communication processes in the session, Colleague^® Communication Management: How It Can Help You Improve Communication with Constituents.

Lorrie Kratzer, Colleague support and trainer in the Colleague support and development department at Red River College began the session with an overview of both the pros and cons of Colleague Communication Management. Advantages include the ability to merge, track, and process batches quickly. But a disadvantage is complexity. Red River College created a team that is actively training to become experts on the solution. “I highly recommend not having just one expert,” she said. “It is very complex.”

“It does take a little bit of time and effort to get it set up,” said Alan Crowley, director of enterprise information systems for Alma College. “But once it’s ready, it’s really cool.” Crowley says the college can now send more consistent documents, create them faster and track all the incoming and outgoing documents.

Colleague Communication Management can be used to send communications via letter, emails, and Colleague Web Advisor. Crowley provided step-by-step instructions for how Alma uses the solution to create late notices and labels and envelopes.

Red River College uses the tool to manage finance communications such as how to find students with outstanding tuition fees as well as admissions including application confirmation letters. The question and answer portion of the session centered primarily on how this solution can be used in various departments.

Download the session handout.

Ellucian Advancement Performance has made it easier to manage fundraising campaigns, keep decision makers informed, and more, Ellucian Advancement Performance client panelists said Monday.

As an integrated package of advancement scorecards, dashboards, reports, and analytic capabilities, Ellucian Advancement Performance helps leadership see how well advancement initiatives are performing.

“Just the fact that they’re seeing the data means they’re making decisions based on the data,” said Clete Rickert, director of university information systems at Villanova University.

And they’re not just seeing the data. They’re seeing the data electronically and all in one spot—rather than in a half dozen print reports, said Michelle R. Hussey, assistant vice president for advancement services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She’s working to achieve the same kind of data management success there as she did at the University of Memphis.

“There it was—transparent. That is how they do it now, and they’re thrilled.”

• Communication and planning foster strategic business alignment and help with resource management
• Prioritization helps IT deliver maximum value
• Project life cycle helps ensure customer and quality expectations are met, and that projects are executed and delivered successfully.
• “An added benefit of the communications is that all affected users and colleges are aware of what IT is doing,” said Gravelle.

Weighing the impact of modifications is especially crucial because the system runs Banner by Ellucian as a single instance (multi-entity processing). So a modification impacts all 13 colleges. Gravelle outlined the system’s processes. First there is a Business Case Evaluation by several governance groups for all requests for modifications. After a project is approved, it is prioritized by project request, project type, and required inputs. Prioritization takes into account whether the project is mandated (eg by the legislature), the number of customers it will impact, complexity, direct and indirect benefits, and more. “Each step deserves attention and can’t be skipped,” emphasized Gravelle. “We even take mandated projects through this process.”

Formal signoffs are required at different points of the phases. The authorizations and the detailed project lifecycle help ensure that IT is working on the projects that will deliver the most value; and they eliminate the possibility of IT projects being under way that the institution as a whole is not aware of.

“We want to elevate the management and investment of our ERP up to a strategic level so that it helps drive fundamental changes in our processes and the way we interact with students, and position the college for success for at least the next 10 years,” said Rob Stanicic, CIO, San Jacinto College. “Our Banner by Ellucian ERP is more than an administrative support system; it is an enabler for doing business. We want to leverage it to its fullest capacity to gain the maximum ROI.”

Stanicic said a strategic ERP program should have the following elements:

• Mandated by the board and leadership
• Clear and communicated positive vision for change
• Appropriately budgeted
• Contracted implementation partners
• Clear program approach & accountability
• Organizational alignment and sustained change management in place

Stanicic said the college chose to work with Ellucian to drive its reengineering efforts for several reasons:

• Risk mitigation: outcomes primary driver
• Capabilities: global, wide reach
• Firsthand knowledge of product direction
• Limited 3rd party choices; “We needed people experienced with Ellucian today – not with SunGard 10 years ago”
• Ability to escalate directly with vendor

The Revitalization engagement will help the college improve business processes across core business units and broaden its distance learning program to serve new students. “Organizational alignment and institutional adoption are key factors in realizing a return on investment on technology,” Stanicic said.

Session: Actionable Metrics with Banner Enterprise Data Warehouse Daily Analytics  (2665)

With more and more emphasis placed on performance measures, institutions need to easily access—and use—meaningful data. Department leaders need information that informs decisions and addresses key performance challenges.

In the session, Actionable Metrics with Banner^® Enterprise Data Warehouse Daily Analytics, Mike Salisbury, Ellucian Product Owner, Business Intelligence demonstrated how to get actionable metrics from Banner Enterprise Data Warehouse using examples from ad hoc queries and Simple Reports.

Salisbury highlighted the Banner^® Performance Reporting and Analytics steps: acquire, transform, trend, report, analyze, and collaborate. He then explained the Ellucian Business Intelligence platform approach: performance data, trend summary data, and detailed data. “Information needs to reach all levels of organization,” he explains. “Data from lower levels must be summarized to upper levels while maintaining consistency.”

The session helped attendees understand the data behind the metric from data lineage and delivered metadata and featured demonstrations on ad hoc reporting and advancement analytics.

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Presented by: Niccole Gatliff, Registrar Service Representative, Shenandoah University

Shenandoah University recently took part in testing the new Colleague^® Student Planning solution. In the session, The New Student Planning Solution—Come Learn from a Beta Client, Niccole Gatliff, registrar service representative from Shenandoah University, walked through some of the new features that help students plan and register for classes as well as make better course-planning decisions.

With step-by-step instructions, Gatliff demonstrated how students can register online and plan to attend outstanding courses and sections right from their degree plan in WebAdvisor. Shenandoah University requires advisor approval before a student can register for classes. So the tool includes faculty approval to help make the most of advising resources. “In order to make accurate decisions, advisors need to have all the information possible on a student in a single page,” says Gatliff. Colleague Student Planning provides course list, degree audit, and plans for upcoming terms, providing advisors with an at-a-glance view of a student progress. It provides a place to add notes that help track anything significant (such as student reluctance to take a required course) and can be retained for degree audits. Color-coding helps quickly identify any scheduling issues.

This is helpful for both student and faculty advisors—because both have access to the same information at the same time. The session ended with a lengthy question and answer exchange with suggestions for potential enhancements.

Download the session handout.

• Update your vendor data now
• Start conversations with your bank now
• Build a cross-functional team
• Develop a new reconciliation process

Having a successful ongoing program relies upon:

• Incentivizing your vendors to adopt vCard payments
• Adding electronic payments into contracts and general vendor onboarding activities
• Managing your Ellucian/SunGard/Comdata relationships – do not forget that they work for you!

Read the case study.

“2013 is a year of deadlines, and deadlines fundamentally drive decisions in a government that doesn’t want to make them,” Hamill said to a packed room. Some key deadlines in 2013 are May 19, debt ceiling extension ends (although it could be extended again to August); July 1, student loan rates double; and Oct. 1,  a new fiscal year begins. As it stands now, the debt ceiling puts government spending on a trajectory that will result in spending caps 13 percent below the level of inflation over the next 10 years.

The recent sequestration already is hurting higher education funding. Hamill expects that origination fees for direct loans will increase, and grants will decrease. TRIO and GEAR UP grants will be reduced, and Hamill warned that there will be fewer and smaller research grants as government agencies like NIH, NSF, and others implement spending cuts. The one bright spot is that Pell grant funding was exempt from any cuts for the 2013-2014 term.

Whether it is cuts in grants or overall spending, make no doubt that higher education and increasing tuition rates are on the President’s radar, said Hamill. “In his State of the Union address for two consecutive years, the President has been critical of increases in tuition.  No president has ever done this before. Institutions need to take this attention seriously.”

As further proof, Hamill directed attendees to College Scorecards that are posted at whitehouse.gov.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/college-score-card

“The fact that this is on the White House website – not the DOE’s – is significant in itself,” he said.  Hamill also touched on the impact of potential tax reform on institutions (charitable deductions, tax exempt bonds, and education tax benefits for employees), and pending government regulation impacting online education and veteran’s benefits.

Presented by: David Gibson, Director, Abilene Christian University

David Gibson, director of Abilene Christian University (ACU), shared the rationale, real-world results, and lessons learned along the way when it decided to switch from a team of in-house database administrators to Ellucian Application Management Services in the session, Managing Your Banner^® by Ellucian/Colleague^® by Ellucian Installation Better.

Chris Stanley, engagement manager for Ellucian, introduced Ellucian Application Management Services and explained how they can help support an ERP development strategy. Limited resources, high expectations from IT, and staffing needs present challenges. “Ellucian Application Management Services can help reduce risk, close skill gaps, provide faster upgrades, optimize application and database, and enable IT to move from day-to-day activities to strategic development,” said Stanley. “We provide a team of IT experts all trained within the backdrop of higher education.”

Those services were just what ACU needed. “ACU struggles with providing the high tech services our students want while still being able to just reach out and talk to them,” said Gibson. For ACU, retaining that one-to-one interaction with students was more important than spending resources on IT maintenance. So nine months ago, ACU implemented partial support services and now retains end-user functional support, ownership of all data actions, application security, and applications modifications. “We wanted to test the waters,” he said. “So far, it’s going very well.”

With this project, ACU is still in the driver’s seat. Ellucian Application Management Services provides expertise and makes recommendations, but ACU makes the final decisions. The transition occurred in just two weeks—a timeframe that both parties agree was too quick. “Lesson learned, take time with the transition,” said Gibson. “Maybe more like two months.” But once into the steady state, the improvements were readily apparent. “There are real cost savings,” says Gibson. “We’re down a few servers and cleaned up the clutter.” In this frank discussion, Gibson laid out all the pros and cons, facilitating a lively question and answer session.

Download the session handout.

Presented by: Andy Brantley, President and CEO, CUPA-HR

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not abstract concepts. Rather, they are key drivers that help institutions define their culture and values. In the session, A Call to Action: A More Diverse, Inclusive Campus Creates Institutional Excellence, Andy Brantley, president and CEO of CUPA-HR, outlined the important role HR plays in making the changes needed to focus on diversity. “We need to shape a higher education culture that welcomes, learns from, and celebrates differences among people,” said Brantley.

HR departments need to provide leadership and take responsibility in order to offer both a window to frame new experiences and a mirror to show students how they are reflected within a campus. Brantley encouraged the audience to ask each other how they defined diversity, inclusion, and equity. While many people agreed on basic concepts, it was clear that definitions could be limiting. “It’s time to quit talking and get to work,” he said. “Find a definition that you can use and get started.” As a reference, CUPA-HR has adopted the Association of American Colleges and Universities definitions as a starting point.

Institutions need practical tools in order to build awareness of the business case for diversity, inclusion, and culture competency. They need to be deliberate in their efforts. “International food day serves a purpose,” says Brantley. “But it’s passive, we need to do more.” Different backgrounds and cultures provide an opportunity to be more creative with how institutions can improve success outcomes.

Even if your leadership is not on board, one person is always sufficient; simply starting in your sphere of influence, you can demonstrate leadership, and that can have a positive effect. “Engaging in the intentionality of learning is so important,” says Brantley. “So don’t worry so much about being politically incorrect, just focus on doing your best and learning from mistakes.”

An evolutionary path starts with fostering dialogue and raising awareness. From there, create a course of action that helps you create transformational change. Develop a strategic framework and engage your community—an inclusive model is more than an initiative—it is a commitment to building campus-wide competency.

Finally, ask yourself: “What can we do to cultivate a more diverse campus and create the windows and mirrors that our students and employees need to be successful?” Be the champion for change.

Download the session handout.