In 2014, the University completed an Enterprise Readiness Assessment to further understand campus readiness to implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. As a result of this assessment process, it was determined that the implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would allow the campus to better align with and enable identified University Strategic Priorities.
1. Provide an Exceptional Undergraduate Experience
Current Systems
The University currently does not have an institutional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to manage information, communications and relationships with prospective students, current students and alumni. This impedes the ability to compete for students, retain students and maximize the relationship with alumni
The current SIS lacks functionality and flexibility to adequately support non-traditional programs from development to delivery (i.e. English Language Improvement; compressed programs; non-credit) which will differentiate UWindsor. This represents a large and growing percentage of the University’s tuition, and manual workarounds that have been used in the past to manage registration and payments are not sustainable, exposing the University to risk.
There is a lack of clear student data in one central system which prevents UWindsor from having a comprehensive view of a student from start to finish. Among many consequences, this impedes the ability to give quality academic advising to students, and make informed decisions on enrolment planning.
Future System
- Integrate student success measures, such as a holistic understanding of student learning.
- Provide better tracking of engagement and learning amongst all students, including comprehensive view of Centre for English Language Development (CELD) and continuing education.
- Build a student support network that includes faculty, adviser, and parent accessibility through a unified portal.
- Improve academic advising functions through a centralized source of student data that tracks student lifecycle at UWindsor.
- Provide more flexible options for how students want to learn and earn their degrees (i.e. online, blended, non-credit courses, etc.).
2. Strengths in Research and Graduate Education
Current Systems
The external compliance requirements from grant issuing authorities are driving graduate program systems to be more efficient. Continued use of current systems would put UWindsor at risk of losing out on research grants in the future.
As graduate enrolment grows, the lack of an efficient online application process is becoming increasingly onerous and impacting. UWindsor is implementing a new online application, however it also was developed and maintained in-house, which presents risks in terms of flexibility and sustainability.
Current systems make it difficult to have a view of graduate student metrics, track progress and advise.
Advisors currently don’t have extensive access and ability to create reports in SIS so Microsoft Access is used as part of the manual work around. Use of shadow systems introduces risk and extra effort.
Future Systems
- Build infrastructure to track graduate student metrics, e.g. time-to-degree, time-to-candidacy, papers, publications, conferences, etc.
- Configure milestones to accommodate decentralized divisional degree requirements, e.g. track correlations between student populations and educational milestones with notification to faculty, advisors and others.
- Develop metrics that track the graduate student economy, e.g. impact of working and student indebtedness.
- Enable support for students to enrol in flexible, interdisciplinary programs.
- Track potential burdens to graduate student successes (i.e. excessive teaching load, illness, etc.).
3. Recruit and Retain the Best Faculty and Staff
Current Systems
The University is currently unable to provide the staff and faculty with analytical capabilities required to properly track and retrieve data in the current systems which impact the ability of faculty and staff to perform their duties.
The University is unable to adequately track faculty workload and staff attendance. The University’s inability to track metrics such as sick time and vacation time expose UWindsor to financial risk.
Inefficient processes and excessive manual effort cause staff to spend more time on transactional tasks, and less time on more strategic value added work.
Future System
- Provide a comprehensive faculty view of student information in one system (i.e. academic, activities, student research, employment, and financial data) which provides greater accessibility to student data for faculty.
- Provide a “one stop shop” self-service for faculty, students and administrators to access data in one central location, making workflow and data retrieval much easier.
- Start the process of changing culture to a more open data environment. A University that is open with data and uses industry best practices for internal functions will attract top talent as well as retain current staff.
4. Engage the Community in Partnerships
Current Systems
In terms of supporting pathways from other colleges and universities, UWindsor’s transfer credit process is completely manual, resulting in delays of applications being accepted. These inefficiencies impede UWindsor’s ability to send offers to potential students quickly. Universities that are able to provide an offer first have the advantage in an increasingly competitive market
The University currently can’t track and analyze data from entrepreneur incubator, innovation center, etc. due to lack of system integration. This impacts the ability to strengthen partnerships with the community and improve programs.
The University is unable to identity and track people (including high school students) who take part in community events on campus. These are potential students who may want to come to UWindsor in the future, and not having the ability to identify, track and manage these relationships means the University is missing potential recruitment opportunities.
Future System
- Automate the transfer credit assessment, reducing effort, improving transparency and response times, improving pathways for students to transfer to UWindsor.
- Improve collaboration with partners in the region to help grow the Windsor economy.
- Take on more community projects and partnerships in the future, further benefiting those in the region and growing UWindsor’s ties with local industry.
- Increase the ability to offer blended or community based programs (classes delivered elsewhere in the Windsor-Essex region).
- Develop capabilities to track data in order to provide analytics on community programs to see how they are performing and how the University can improve them.
5. Promote International Engagement
Current Systems
The SIS is unable to easily support processing of non-traditional applicants/students (i.e. international, transfer) which are forecasted to be vital opportunities for enrolment growth. The records of students studying at Centre for English Language Development (CELD) are stored in a separate system, making reporting difficult and the student experience fragmented. This situation is exacerbated for students who are in both CELD and academic courses concurrently. There are anecdotal stories of CELD students who have to transport thousands of dollars in cash between offices due in part to the fragmentation of systems and services.
The current SIS and Finance systems lack flexibility to offer programs abroad. This is a strategy that many institutions utilize in order to grow enrolment, revenue, and reputation.
Future System
- Support a global expansion of the University by offering administrative data anywhere, anytime, and in any language, e.g. global campuses, international centers, study abroad.
- Decrease international student application processing time, thus allowing more applications to be processed and sent out, potentially resulting in increased enrolment.
- More easily handle transfer requests from international students with non-traditional credit/non-credit course mixes.
- Track international students post-graduation to follow up with them and incorporate them into UWindsor’s alumni network.