| University Business presents Models of Efficiency, a national recognition program honoring institutions whose innovative solutions have solved higher education business and technology challenges. |
Running Refunds
American Public University System (WV)
Finance
An online school, American Public U is being honored for automating its manual refund process, reducing turnaround time for 5,000 refunds a month from 10 days to two. See full story. |
Taming Tuition
American Public University System (WV)
Finance
Processing tuition benefits for employees and their families was a slow, arduous task. By automating several key systems, including scholarship applications, revenue recognition, and payment calculation, American Public saved about 240 hours a month, and improved customer service. See full story. |
Centralizing Help Requests
Carthage College (WI)
Library and Information Services
Answering 10,000 library and IT-related questions a year required an organized tracking process. Combining an open source ticket system with Google Apps for Education, work is more easily assigned, scheduled, tracked, and communicated, eliminating 80 percent of repeat, follow-up phone calls and saving $4,000 annually. See full story. |
Keeping the Core
Ivy Tech Community College (IN)
Communications/Enrollment/Marketing
Student and prospect calls were going unanswered or unresolved. A virtual Student Success/ Help Center was built, with a knowledge base and trained live support. The results: wait times dropped from 19 minutes to 30 seconds, hang-up rates went from 50 percent to under 2 percent, and overall call volume plunged 57 percent. See full story. |
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Career Development Curriculum
LDS Business College (UT)
Student Development Center
To reach more students more effectively, 13 Career Development Milestones were incorporated into existing curricula. The college also replaced its career fair with a two-day conference, reaching 2,000 students. Spreading career prep responsibility throughout the curriculum has increased students' involvement and enhanced the quality of the services they receive, without adding staff or technology. See full story. |
Automating Admissions
Royal Roads University (Canada)
Admissions and Enrollment Services Department
A new online system allows applicants to accept, defer, or decline offers, pay deposits, and receive alerts. It is saving 18 hours per week, or $16,000 a year, with additional savings from no longer mailing 2,000 offers and 200-plus denial letters annually. See full story. |
Mobile Emergency Preparedness
Texas A&M Health Science Center (TX)
Environmental Health and Safety
The eduSafe mobile app was built to allow the university community to access emergency information anytime, anywhere. Manual process reduction is saving $35,000 a year, with an additional $135,000 savings in labor. The app has been so successful that the university is now selling it to other organizations. See full story. |
Flood to Flow
The University of Oklahoma (OK)
College of Arts & Sciences Hobson Academic Services Center
The university digitized student records and streamlined a cumbersome, paper-based advising system. Now advisors and students can access files electronically, the advising process takes minutes instead of days, communication has improved, and paper costs have been cut by 30 percent. See full story. |
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Not by the Book
Walsh College (MI)
President's Office
To reduce the cost of preparing massive, paper-filled binders used by its board members at their meetings, Walsh turned to digital books accessible via an iPad app. The new books, which can be marked up electronically and store historical documents, are saving around $35,000 a year. See full story. |
Apply now for the Models of Efficiency 2013 winter program.
Deadline for entries is September 3rd. |
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