The ‘eMerge’ project, a collaborative information technology initiative begun in 2007 but suspended in 2009 due to lack of funds, has been restarted. A kickoff event on Tuesday, March 29 will provide useful information about the project particularly to the Office of Admissions and other staff members who provide service to prospective students.

The initiative, first described in an April 2008 @Metro, was designed to be a new way for faculty and staff to track current and prospective students, communicate with each other about individual students, and use readily-available information to assess everything from how a student is faring academically to the recruitment and retention trends of specific demographic groups. The first two modules of the project, the operational data store (ODS) database and the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) were implemented in 2008.

The project was suspended amid budget cuts in 2009, and is being restarted thanks to funding from the Rightsizing With Technology initiative, the Hispanic Serving Institution initiative and the Strengthening Institutions grant, according to Director of Applications Services Rick Beck.

First to be implemented in this new phase will be the Banner Relationship Management (BRM) and Recruiting and Admissions Performance (RAP) modules. Subsequent modules will be implemented over the next three years.

A kickoff to the BRM module will take place Tuesday, March 29 from 9 a.m. until noon in AD 460.The agenda includes an overview of the project and a demonstration of the Banner Relationship Management module. All are welcome to attend.

Questions about the kickoff session can be directed to Associate Director of IT Application Services Steve Stanek at sstanek@mscd.edu or Associate Director of Admissions Michelle Brown at brmichel@mscd.edu.

BRM Kickoff Agenda

BRM for Recruitment: Project Kick-Off
· Project overview, vision and goals
· SunGard Higher Education’s implementation methodology
· BRM for recruitment: Why is it important?
· Workshop objectives
· Overview of working sessions

BRM Demonstration
· Review of BRM, RAP functionality
· Discussion of product relationship to Metro State-specific goals and objectives
· Questions and answers