Editor’s Note: In the April 9 and 30 editions of @Metro,
the Metro State community was introduced to the eMERGE initiative, a
collaborative information system that will change how the College
shares and uses information. To read the articles, go to
http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/emerge_twv5040908.shtml
and
http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/emerge_twv5043008.shtml
When Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services Judi Diaz
Bonacquisti came to Metro State two years ago, one of the first things
she knew she wanted to do was to acquire a constituent relationship
management (CRM) system. She’s now just a few months away from getting
the first half of her wish.
By this fall, the eMERGE collaborative information system will have
the recruitment module of the CRM in place. The retention module will
follow at a later date. The modules are a product of Sungard, which
produces the Banner software.
Tailored to higher education, the recruitment module was only
recently completed but was worth the wait, according to Diaz
Bonacquisti. “It was a no-brainer to wait for Sungard to have
recruitment and retention modules so that everything would be synced
with Banner.”
Rick Beck, director of applications services in Information
Technology and eMERGE project manager, says that he hopes to start the
recruitment module in the fall in an early adopter program with the
vendor.
The advantage
The recruitment module will allow the
tracking of potential students: staff members’ first and subsequent
contacts and all communications with them.
“Long term, it’s a means for gathering data that will help us refine our recruiting skills,” Diaz Bonacquisti says.
Beck adds that Banner does this to a certain extent already, but is
much more rudimentary. “We’ll now be able to track trends and target
communications,” he explains.
And the recruitment module is just the first of what will become a pipeline, from recruitment to retention to alumni.
For Diaz Bonacquisti, recruitment and retention are both essential
to strategic enrollment management. “You cannot separate the two. You
don’t have a student success-focused program if you do,” she says.
The retention module, which is being designed with the input of
staff from Metro State, is the second half of the CRM that Diaz
Bonacquisti eagerly awaits. According to Larry Worster, director of
student services technology and assessment, that faculty and staff
input “will be critical in ensuring that features that will enhance our
ability to work with our unique students at Metro State will be
incorporated.”
When both modules are up and running, the system will be complete,
allowing tracking and assessment from prospective student to graduate.
“In the end, we will be able to use the performance indicators from CRM
data to understand which of our programs most positively affect
persistence toward graduation and to emphasize and prioritize those
that are effective,” Worster explains.
For Diaz Bonacquisti and the other team members, it is important
that faculty and staff understand that eMERGE will not just be an
enrollment or IT issue. “It’s a comprehensive way to communicate across
all areas of the college for the benefit of our students,” she says.
Watch @Metro for additional information about the eMERGE system as it becomes operable.
