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The topic of whether universities and colleges should view their students, alumni and donors (Constituents) like customers is a debate that has been taking place for many years. Recently, TSI has noticed this debate is occurring with increasing frequency, especially in light of our recent Customer Experience training. Now more than ever seems to be the right time to continue the discussion of how to best utilize customer service/experience philosophies when working with Higher Education constituents.

The Challenge of Looking at Higher Education Constituents as Customers

Historically, many leaders in Higher Education abhor the thought of students as customers for many valid reasons. Anecdotally, I have found that the perception of Higher Education towards the concept of a customer is that customers are a number; customers are people that must be solicited or won over, and you need to sell to customers. Additionally, some feel that the merit of education should be separated from a financial transaction usually associated with being a customer.

In treating your constituents like customers, Higher Education institutions may feel pressure to lower their standards and values. While some of this vitriol may be warranted, Higher Education institutions should not dismiss important Customer Experience concepts since these can improve the service to their constituents.

The growing need for Customer Service in Higher Education

A critical factor in today’s higher education landscape is the continued decline in student enrollment across Title IV institutions in the United States. According to recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, postsecondary enrollment has been steadily decreasing, with undergraduate enrollment falling by nearly 8% between 2019 and 2022. This trend reflects a shrinking pool of traditional college-aged students, a rise in alternative education pathways, and shifting societal attitudes toward the value of a degree.

Higher education institutions are now competing not only with other universities and colleges (including for-profit and non-degree granting programs) but also with various career, social, and online education options, such as bootcamps, certifications, and skill-based training platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.

This competition extends beyond just recruiting new students. Alumni and donor engagement are increasingly critical for sustaining revenue. Institutions that fail to excel in student recruitment, alumni engagement, and fundraising risk flatlining or declining revenue streams. This, in turn, forces reductions in operational and capital expenditures, creating a feedback loop of restricted budgets and limited resources for future growth and engagement.

To counteract these challenges, innovative leaders in higher education are taking cues from the private sector. Businesses, particularly in competitive industries, are focusing on customer-centric approaches to foster loyalty and growth. They are investing in high-impact customer service strategies to create differentiated experiences that not only retain existing customers but also attract new ones.

So why should students/alumni/donors be viewed any differently than a business would view its customers?

Starting with the similarities:

1. Both are consumers – Students and customers are consumers of the product that is produced by the associated institution. For example, a student, when not in class, is consuming goods and services. Regardless of how the institution wants to classify these individuals, they define themselves as consumers since they pay, what they feel is a very high amount of money, in exchange for a service. As a result, they have high expectations for this service.

Think about how vocal students are when their Wi-Fi is slow; the course registration process has errors and/or takes too long; or the food in the Café does not meet their standards. Each of these seemingly small occurrences can influence how the student will share their experiences with their friends or peers, especially via social media, which enables other potential students to form their opinions as to whether they want to attend that institution.

A great example of Higher Education institutions appealing to their constituents that closely aligns with Customer Experience principles is through their athletics programs. There is no denying that in many major Universities in the United States, their football programs have become very proficient in marketing themselves to gain the best recruits, develop a rabid fan base, and ultimately profit from this fan base. Universities do not need to go all the way to this extreme; Higher Education administrators can still learn valuable lessons looking at how Athletic programs are appealing to their constituents.

2. Variety of appeals – People are constantly bombarded via social media, television, movies, newspapers, magazines and other channels to donate to this organization, or be a customer of that organization. This makes it very difficult for a single organization to “Cut through the noise”. I particularly like Forbes contributor, John Hall, advice to “Invest in your company leaders’ brands”.  Specifically, the leaders who had “invested time and resources in building their brands were attracting more attention from investors and even other participants.” Replace investors with students or donors, and this statement is fit for Higher Education. Of course, the question is how to build your brand. That is another topic for a different day.

Now, the key differences between Higher Education Constituents and customers:

1. Regulatory implications—Higher Education institutions that offer Title IV funding for their students are subject to rigorous federal and state regulations and policies that determine how the university interacts with the student and tracks the student’s outcomes. In addition, FERPA regulations strictly define how institutions are to maintain and protect student information. The closest parallel to this is in Healthcare, which is going through a similar debate with the Patient vs. Customer paradigm.

2. Student / Donor Lifecycle – Students have a unique lifecycle within Higher Education. At a high level, the lifecycle of a Customer involves attraction to the product, successfully completing the transaction, and maintaining a relationship to generate future transactions. The student lifecycle, at the same high level, has a few more steps in the process:

1. Becomes attracted to a particular college or university;
2. Applies to the university;
3. Is accepted by the university;
4. Completes required degree coursework, and ultimately;
5. Graduates from the university with their desired degree.

This process differs from the Donor lifecycle, which only begins when the Student lifecycle ends. The need for Higher Education to do more and more advancement work (fundraising) has required Schools to be cultivating relationships long past graduation, to aid in the fundraising needed to fill growing state funding gaps. In short, the student/alumni lifecycle is more complex, and needs to be treated as such.

The Donor lifecycle can be equally complex. Appeals for donations to a University can not only span years, but also can span generations. This requires extensive planning, communication and patience on the side of a university that often most businesses are not willing to invest.

So, what is the answer?

The answer to whether Higher Education institutions should view their Students, Alumni or Donors as Customers when discussing Customer Service in Higher Education is yes… and no.

Valuable lessons can be learned from the customer experiences of private businesses. Colleges and Universities do not need to feel like they are compromising their mission or selling their soul by considering the “personas” of their constituent base and defining differentiating experiences and processes that personify the “brand” of the institution.  The key however, is to really know your constituents including each of their objectives and the “moments that matter” to them.

When looking at how to improve Student enrollment and drive Alumni engagement and Donor interest, understanding how to serve them in a way that will lead to a truly differentiated experience is where to spend time and resources. However, if Higher Education institutions try to blindly apply all concepts from private businesses’ customer service practices without understanding how your constituents are different, they will create problems with their students, alumni, and donors. I would be incorrect if I said that these concepts are new to Higher Education and are not being practiced at all today.

What can you do for TSI, and vice versa?

It’s simple – help us help you. We at TSI always like to hear new and innovative ways that institutions are applying Customer Experience concepts to their customer service in Higher Education.  Please let us know:

• What did you think of this summary? And;
• What is your greatest challenge or achievement in providing a differentiated service to your constituents?

If you are interested in learning how your institution can apply Customer Experience concepts to student recruitment, donor engagement, and your advancement activities, contact us to discuss various approaches that can make a difference.

The post Adopting a “Customer Service” Mindset in Higher Education appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI) was engaged by Information Technology Services at a southern flagship university to help establish a Portfolio Management Office (PMO). This office was intended to support a variety of projects from across the University system. The University engaged TSI to help establish the PMO with training, structure, management strategies, and development of critical PMO foundations through the development of a charter, mission, and vision. Extensive in-depth training was also provided on topics such as project management, Lean Principles, and Business Process Improvement. TSI provided this training and ongoing support to the PMO staff and worked collaboratively to foster a culture of innovation and improvement throughout IT Services and the campus community.

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged the following approach:

PMO Development

In order to launch a new Portfolio Management Office, TSI was brought in to collaborate and provide ongoing support and development to newly appointed or hired PMO staff. Working closely with the PMO Director, a series of high level and detailed trainings were provided surrounding project management, office setup and maintenance activities, and mentoring for PMO growth and stability. Overall, TSI provided training to approximately 40 individuals including Project Managers, Business Analysts, Business Process Analysts, and administrative staff. Additionally, TSI collaboratively presented to groups throughout IT Services to foster cultural change towards improvement and level set language used across the unit. Part of the PMO development was a Business Process Improvement Training and Mentoring program which included an in-depth dive to BPI for PMO staff and a Train-the-Trainer component for Business Process Analysts.

BPI Training and Mentoring

To support PMO growth and development, the University asked TSI to provide in-depth training in TSI’s BPI methodology. With varied experience levels of PMO staff, TSI chose to implement its’ I DO, WE DO, YOU DO approach to training and mentoring. This approach provides a deep dive exploration of the 6 steps of the methodology followed by hands-on implementation of the concepts learned. It also allowed each individual in training to progress at their own pace. With the I DO phase, the TSI facilitation team led the facilitation and documentation of the current state, analysis of current state, and future state sessions and developed the deliverables for each session. The facilitators-in-training observed the methodology in action during the I DO sessions and reviewed the process of creating and finalizing the deliverables. 

In the WE DO phase, facilitators-in-training were actively part of the facilitation team for current state, analysis of current state, and future state sessions as well as for the development of deliverables for each process area. Collaborating with the TSI facilitation team, the facilitators-in-training took the lead with mentoring, guidance, and feedback as needed. Once a desired level of competencies were achieved and communicated, the individual continued to the YOU DO phase. In the YOU DO phase, each mentee took the lead for the facilitation team for all stages of the process improvement and developed the deliverables independently with review and feedback from the TSI team. For each session, pre-session planning and post-session debriefing meetings were held to share best practices for preparing for process improvement and gathering feedback about implementation of the methodology and engagement with stakeholders. This training was intended to empower PMO staff to be able to implement BPI across the University as needed for its projects.

Train-the-Trainer

Once each PMO staff member evidenced mastery of each competency for the various training components (BPI, Project Management), they were engaged to serve in a collaborative role with other mentees, observing, co-facilitating, and providing constructive feedback. Additionally, they were engaged to facilitate the training presentations for different topics to staff within the PMO, IT Services, or other stakeholders across the University. To modify and evolve the training content, PMO staff collaborated with TSI to add relevant examples, develop case study content, and track delivery. Each mentee received feedback, suggestions, and coaching throughout their trainer development.

Role

TSI worked closely with the PMO Director to develop training curriculum, materials, and tools that would result in sustainable PMO Operations. TSI serves as a project manager in collaboration with the PMO Director and other Business Analysts to reinforce training and project management best practices. TSI served as a facilitator, lead trainer, mentor, and evaluator.

Results

Throughout the engagement both the University and TSI gathered data to support progress toward goals, effective implementation of methods, measure outcomes, and evidence a return on investment. Some of this data included:

• 40 individuals received general project management training for the PMO development
• 20 individuals received deep dive training and mentoring in TSI’s Business Process Improvement methodology
• 20 Portfolio Management Office staff completed team training in Lean principles, Project Management, and Organizational Change Management
• 6 individuals completed all competencies for the train-the-trainer developmental coaching and now serve in the training role for the PMO
• Detailed feedback and coaching was provided and tracked for 20 PMO BPI mentees and train-the-trainers to ensure visibility and transparency of competency development
• Metric tracking was established to monitor project timelines, progress, success, and other defined measures
• Methods for tracking business processes and desired metrics were developed for the PMO which continue to be used for PMO internal work 

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Whether this gnawing feeling is triggered by your recent end of a campaign or you simply know that you and your team have outgrown your current technology, this is a topic that is top-of-mind for most institutions (and non-profits alike).

Let’s be authentic – your institution needs to engage alumni in a personalized and contemporary manner. And if you don’t, another organization or cause will engage with them in a manner that might cause them to participate more with them, than with you.

Based on what we consistently hear, organizations fall into 1 of 3 categories:

1. Have, in the past few years, converted to a new system
2. Are in the process of implementing their new system
3. Watching those intuitions in groups 1 and 2 to see how they are faring

We are in a most remarkable time and space for advancement systems – unlike I’ve ever seen. Perhaps because one of the major CRM vendors is announcing “end of life” for their system. Or perhaps, with the promise of new, cloud-based systems, many organizations are giving serious thought to replacing their aging systems that are often 20+ years old.

The problem is there are not a lot of options. The landscape is further complicated by a workforce, which expects everything to be Amazon-like in its delivery – easy to use, seamless, requires no training. As a result, we have little patience for anything else. At the same time, we are asking our advancement systems to be more than just a “system of record”. Our systems need to personalize outgoing communications, provide meaningful data for decision making, all while being as efficient as possible.

Today, there is a clash of viewpoints regarding an age-old question in the advancement world. The core database, is a system of record for biographic information, gift and pledge transactions, a repository for contact reports, correspondence, and other documentation. What’s exciting about today’s landscape is that you can overlay the core database with a whole host of tools. This helps with personalization, communication, segmentation, relationship management, reporting, and data analytics. These are powerful software tools to conduct business in the way in which is important to you.

One way we think of advancement system needs is in the form of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

We need basic functions like servers, internet, authentication, and security before we can think of anything else. Core data needs, such as biographic data and what is done with that biographic data, signify low engagement. Belonging needs, or beginning engagement, include gifts, pledges, and research. Esteem needs or substantive engagement involve stewardship and prospect management. Self-actualization is realized with predictive modeling and artificial intelligence that may result in increased personalization and improved engagement.

Tools overlaying a core database create an ecosystem. If you have the right integration tools, you can swap out old tools once new ones are developed, or as business needs change. Yet, as you can imagine, this means there are multiple products involved and it is common today to see products such as MuleSoft, Dell Boomi, and others move data from one application to another.

The following diagram has the nickname the “layer cake” diagram at TSI:

With this type of ecosystem, we can do more to take advantage of technology and be nimbler to react to constituent and business needs. Some vendors are doing fascinating, good work in this space. And if you are open to this type of advancement systems ecosystem, you can more readily take advantage of this exciting time in advancement.

As you have likely concluded by now, the difficulty arises in deciding which tools to employ, as well as in what order. You also must decide which ones are best aligned with your needs, culture, budget, and current challenges. TSI can help you articulate the problem, objectively assess the business case, help evaluate and select a new system, as well as manage the implementation. Since so many other consulting firms have a relationship with software vendors, it is very important to be discerning, comprehensive, and forward-looking while selecting external help.  Please give us a call; we’d love to be a resource for your team. Contact us!

The post Selecting Your Institution’s Next CRM: A Look at Your Advancement System Needs appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Five years ago, we reported that according to Gartner, “89% of companies surveyed plan to compete primarily on the basis of the customer experience”. According to Oracle, the percentage is even higher. 

Since our pandemic started in March of 2020 in the US, the need to pay attention to how we are serving our customers from the time we begin in the business development areas – contracting, “getting to a yes“, service and/or product delivery, invoicing, customer support and on – has never been more critical. Few professionals would argue that the emphasis on an organization’s Customer Experience, (i.e., CX is the product of interaction, including the resulting perceptions, between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship) is not simply a fad, but an important tool to achieve what industry leaders like Seth Godin and Clay Hebert (among many others), recommend connecting to those vital to that organization.

As Ian Altman says in Forbes:

“it has become clear that we are in a Connection Economy.“

As we say at TSI, “the Customer Experience is the manifestation of your processes, technology, organizational chart, staffing levels, and culture. Whether it is good or not, it all comes out in the customer experience.”

Recently, it seems that there is something incongruent with the articles and statistics I read and the experiences we have with our clients and other organizations contemplating new strategies in this area. Perhaps it is just what we are seeing here, as I would posit that it appears many companies and higher education institutions are simply going through the motions in this area.

A few key questions to ask:

1. Is your organization at 89% or 11%? 
2. How are you approaching this change?
3. How are you truly enhancing your customer experience?

Here are three points that will have a big impact on your organization in enhancing your customer experience:

1. Start by honing your CX awareness skills. You will see a payoff if you are planning to enhance or improve the customer experience within your organization.

2. Rather than simply going through the motions, use CX to create a real, legit, unfair advantage for your organization.

3. Expect the journey to be difficult, but prepare to persevere.

Hone your CX awareness skills

I challenge you to book your next business trip, make a doctor’s appointment, plan a vacation, buy a car, take out a mortgage (or refinance your existing one), drive a car in Mexico (that’s a story for another day), or enroll in a college course.

After completing one of these, reflect and assess how these experiences were in terms of the following:

1. How easy to do business with was this organization or process? What best reflects the impression the vendor left on you? To further understand, ask yourself the following:

• Do they care about your business?
• Would they rather maximize profit on one transaction, or have you become a loyal customer for a lifetime?
• Does your time matter to them?
• How would you rate the experience overall?

2. Aside from the efficiency and effectiveness aspect of the transaction, did the transaction have any emotional connection that left you with a memory that was more positive, neutral, or negative in nature?

Many of the readers of this likely saw the video from a United flight when a ticketed passenger was removed against his will, simply because the plane was over-booked, and members of the United crew had no room to board. Based on the reaction by United’s CEO, that was not the intended emotional connection the organization was hoping to achieve. Although this example can be seen as an outlier, both in terms of how ridiculous the situation and how publicized the customer’s ‘experience’ was, consider the financial effects alone. Fortune reports that United Airlines’ stock dropped $1.4 Billion shortly after this controversy took place!

In each of these examples, the business or higher education institution on the other end of the transaction would accurately tell you that they are in a very competitive industry. Yet, at the risk of generalizing, each of these examples is opportunity-rich concerning how they often fail to create a memorable, meaningful, and intentional moment that matters to the customer. Or in the United Airlines’ example, just the opposite.

So what should you do? Become a CX Jedi warrior and develop awareness skills that you can apply in your organization.

Consider Your Actual Unfair Advantage

When we consult with our clients or lead CX training workshops on the topic of developing an improved customer experience, we emphasize the notion of creating the organization’s unfair advantage (UA). Yes, it sounds like defining your own superpower. Organizationally, this is exactly what it is. What do you want to be known for? What will you be famous for?

We look at it this way – your UA is a function of your organization’s:

Quality x Originality/Uniqueness x Service x Convenience/Comfort/Location x Price

There is a lot to unpack in this formula and you and your colleagues could easily spend a few focused work sessions on this topic. Do not expect to nail it the first time. However, if you can understand what the moments that matter is – from your customer’s perspective – and define your unfair advantage, that provides a unique and memorable customer experience.

Yes, it’s hard, but Worth it!

In short, a positively memorable customer experience matters! It is a logical leap to think that a customer who has an excellent experience remembers it. Because of one positive experience, they can tell others about it; sometimes even becoming mini marketers for that product or service. Along with this, those who are loyal and have a positive experience are retained: becoming much more likely to buy a product or service over and over.

Consider the following: Studies[1] by Bain & Company, along with Earl Sasser of the Harvard Business School, have shown that even a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits of between 25 and 95 percent.

There are several reasons why this small increase in retention can have such a substantial impact on profits:

1. Customers are likely to spend more time (and spend more $) with companies they’ve already done business with. Particularly with small businesses that do not have a lot of brand recognition, a customer’s first purchase or two can be considered somewhat of a risk. These individuals are more likely to keep spending relatively small and then increase it as the relationship grows.

2. Repeat customers are more likely to refer others. Bain & Company’s research showed that after just one purchase from an online apparel retailer, an average shopper was likely to refer three other people to the site. But a customer that made ten purchases from an online apparel retailer was likely to refer seven different people to the site.

Creating a positively memorable experience is difficult! Especially for an organization that has any degree of complexity around the following:

• The types of products/services your customers want
• How easy or hard, fast or slow, manual or automated, simple or cumbersome it is for you to quote/price the right products/services
• How easy or hard, fast or slow, manual or automated, simple or cumbersome it is for them to order it, receive it, process the invoice, and actually pay for it
• What about the delivery, set up/configuration, training, etc., how seamless are these processes?
• Do you have numerous people involved, sometimes with “less than ideal” coordination when you think about those involved from contracting, pricing, order processing/execution, set up, training, implementation touchpoints?

Closing Thoughts on Customer Experience

I urge you to start this journey today. Waiting for tomorrow only lets your competition gain ground on you.

Start your journey today by following these three steps:

1. Hone your CX awareness skills – these will pay off for you as you can be the CX Jedi that designs amazing and enhanced customer experiences for your organization.

2. Use CX to create a real, legit unfair advantage for your organization – consider how your organization can effectively compete largely on the basis of experience.

3. Expect the journey to be difficult and prepare to persevere – consider TSI’s Change Readiness Survey as a tool to assess your organization’s readiness to change.

As you know, TSI is always happy to discuss your situation, should you need any assistance enhancing your Customer Experience. Regardless, please give us feedback; we love hearing from you! Contact us via our website, or reach out via social media.

[1] https://smallbiztrends.com, 2014

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Transforming Solutions Inc. (TSI), was engaged by the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) to create an organizational culture of continuous improvement. As background, UNTHSC is one of the nation’s premier graduate academic medical centers, with five schools that specialize in patient-centered education, research and health care. They are part of the University of North Texas system. 

Spearheaded by the Chief People Officer, the UNTHSC sought to explore new ways to address problems and continuously improve through guidance and training to transform the institution into one that embraces LEAN and Agile in an employee-centric and pragmatic way. 

Starting with pockets of exposure to Agile and LEAN methodologies, UNTHSC wanted TSI to help the overall organization take this, along with other cultural attributes (such as their vision, mission and values) and transform the culture to improve quality and gain efficiencies. 

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged in the following:

• In the initial phase, UNTHSC sought to develop and prioritize processes for improvement and initial process improvement implementation for critical need areas to help build a business case with proven effectiveness and value for further buyin. This work intended to implement and share best practices and training with internal LEAN coaches and key stakeholders for process improvement, establish a usable, sustainable communication plan, evaluate improvements through metrics, and estimate return on investment for the improvement initiatives.
• In the second phase, TSI was asked to develop a Continuous Improvement methodology to be shared with UNTHSC staff through training with follow up coaching. This methodology was intended to be sustainable and usable for improvement initiatives across UNTHSC. 

TSI collaborated with the UNTHSC Leadership Team to identify and prioritize business processes to implement a practice-based training and mentoring program to enhance LEAN and Agile understanding and development of implementation skills. TSI created a training program for continuous improvement and led a cohort of leaders through process improvement methodology using critical processes including Budgets, Contract Administration, HR Hiring, and UNTHSC Leadership as a pilot. Once the pilot was complete, phase two was implemented that provided full training and mentoring to the cohort for implementation of business process improvement and other continuous improvement strategies throughout UNTHSC and coaching for growth and development for future Continuous Improvement sustainability at UNTHSC.

Role

TSI served as a methodologist, project manager, continuous improvement leader, trainer, coach, and facilitator throughout this project. TSI provided and tailored its methodology as the basis for the methodology that is currently in place. After that, TSI evaluated trainees and quality of deliverables after they were trained and did a variety of “hands on” activities to get familiar with the tools.

Results

This project was viewed as a huge success. Based on TSI’s involvement the UNTHSC achieved the following:

• Developed and used a repeatable methodology to use on areas deemed “ripe for improvement”
• Took dozens of areas through the methodology which resulted in hundreds of improvement ideas implemented
• Trained over a dozen practitioners thus improving their skillsets
• Realized tangible savings, from the improvement ideas mentioned above, that resulted in hard dollar savings of over $1 million dollars annually.

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Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI) was engaged by a southern flagship institution to ensure that appropriate mechanisms were in place to meet the needs of the University community for the modernization of its student information systems, which included the four University institutions. The project was driven by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in collaboration with the other three campus CIOs.

To support the broader priorities of the CIO for improvement across IT Services and the University, a Portfolio Management Office (PMO) was established. TSI, in collaboration with the PMO team, was tasked with training and mentoring the PMO staff in business process improvement (BPI) methodologies. Additionally, TSI spearheaded the process improvement initiatives across the four campuses to assess the current state of readiness for change, opportunities for improvement, pain points, requirements for a new student system, and collect data about student, staff, faculty, and administrator experience across the four institutions through constituent experience sessions.

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged in the following:

BPI Training and Mentoring

TSI was asked to provide in-depth training in TSI’s BPI methodology. With varied experience levels of PMO staff, TSI chose to implement its’ I DO, WE DO, YOU DO approach to training and mentoring. This approach provides a deep dive exploration of the 6 steps of the methodology followed by hands-on implementation of the concepts learned. It also allowed each individual in training to progress at their own pace. With the I DO phase, the TSI facilitation team led the facilitation and documentation of the current state, analysis of current state, and future state sessions and developed the deliverables for each session. The facilitators-in-training observed the methodology in action during the I DO sessions and reviewed the process of creating and finalizing the deliverables. 

In the WE DO phase, facilitators-in-training were actively part of the facilitation team for current state, analysis of current state, and future state sessions as well as for the development of deliverables for each process area. Collaborating with the TSI facilitation team, the facilitators-in-training took the lead with mentoring, guidance, and feedback as needed. Once a desired level of competencies were achieved and communicated, the individual continued to the YOU DO phase. In the YOU DO phase, each mentee took the lead for the facilitation team for all stages of the process improvement and developed the deliverables independently with review and feedback from the TSI team. TSI was present to provide feedback and assistance as needed. For each session, pre-session planning and post-session debriefing meetings were held to share best practices for preparing for process improvement and gathering feedback about implementation of the methodology and engagement with stakeholders. Additionally, for each WE DO and YOU DO session, verbal feedback and written feedback in the form of a rubric with comments were provided to each individual. The rubric included competencies such as preparedness, meeting management, methodology implementation, and soft skills. Competency development was rated with the following scale with detailed feedback for each:

• Exceptional – ready for next phase, shows full development of competencies, no further need for co- support
• Proficient – Evidencing growth and development of competencies, may need more co- support but showing strong progression.
• Developing – not ready for next phase, needs to receive feedback and mentoring for further development, still needs co- support.

BPI Train-the-Trainer

Once each PMO staff member evidenced mastery of each competency for BPI development, they were engaged to serve in a collaborative role with other mentees, observing, co-facilitating, and providing constructive feedback. Additionally, they were engaged to facilitate the training presentations for different topics to staff within the PMO, IT Services, or other stakeholders across the University. To modify and evolve the training content, PMO staff collaborated with TSI to add relevant examples, develop case study content, and track delivery. Each mentee received feedback, suggestions, and coaching throughout their trainer development.

Process Improvement Sessions

TSI created a visual representation of business processes that identified the stakeholders responsible for the process, to what standard it should be completed, and how the success of each process should be determined for critical entities with direct influence into the Student System: Recruiting and Admissions, Student Records, Student Accounts, and Financial Aid. These student-focused units were assessed independently at each of the four institutions to document the similarities and differences of the current state business processes.

As part of the I DO, WE DO, and YOU DO phases of BPI training, Business Process Analysts (BPA) worked collaboratively with TSI team members to manage the process work in order to appropriately plan for, staff, and map out processes for all functional areas across the University that worked with the current student system. This included all functional areas that touched Recruiting and Admissions, Student Records, Student Accounts, and Financial Aid such as Athletics, Bursar, Financial Aid, Registrar, Advising, International programs, the Graduate School, and others. After a pilot phase of process improvement through the current state, analysis of current state, and future state, the University decided to expand process improvement to all four campuses. This decision was intended to align system requirements and processes across all four campuses to align needs for a new system and ensure all campuses needs were met.

By using real processes, the PMO staff were able to gain hands-on experience of the intricacies involved and flexibility needed in processing mapping. 350 processes were mapped across four campuses with two deliverables (current state process map and analysis of the current state document) produced for each process area. 

As BPA’s mastered the needed competencies for independent process improvement, they took over leadership of process improvement for the PMO. After completion of the training initiative and the process improvement initiative across the four campuses, the PMO had 13 fully trained staff members to lead process improvement. Six of these staff members were designated as BPAs and continued process improvement projects throughout other departments on campus.  The other 7 trainees had either switched roles or had continued on as trained project managers. Some metrics that were collected throughout the process improvement sessions included the total number of: pain points, opportunities for improvement, participating stakeholders, processes, and sessions held.

Stemming from the 350 process improvement sessions, constituent experience sessions, and supplemental requirements gathering sessions, 1119 unique requirements were gathered to support the broader system selection project.

Constituent Experience and Voice of the Customer

In order to assess readiness for change, capture unique needs of campus constituents, and understand the experience of faculty, staff, students, and community members using the existing student system, the University requested that TSI conduct Continuous Improvement Constituent Experience and Voice of the Customer sessions across the four institutions. TSI team members partnered with University staff members to facilitate and document these sessions and analyze the data collected as a result. University staff members were trained in the methodology for both facilitation and documentation. Some of the data surrounding these experience sessions included total number of: student participants, faculty, staff, and community participants, sessions held, unique requirements from each session, and existing requirements that emerged but already identified in another session.

Role

TSI led training and mentoring in Business Process Improvement (BPI) and constituent experience. TSI served as a project manager and lead for the BPI mapping initiatives and constituent experience sessions across the four University institutions. TSI served as a facilitator, documenter, lead trainer, mentor, and evaluator.

Results

Throughout the engagement data was gathered to support progress toward goals, effective implementation of methods, measure outcomes, and evidence a return on investment. Some of this data included:

• 20 individuals received deep dive training and mentoring in TSI’s Business Process Improvement methodology
• 13 individuals successfully mastered all competencies of the Business Process Improvement training and mentoring initiative evidencing mastery of facilitation, documentation, deliverable creation, and stakeholder engagement
• 6 individuals complete the train-the-trainer developmental coaching and now serve in the training role for the PMO
• Detailed feedback and coaching was provided and tracked for 20 PMO BPI mentees and train-the-trainers to ensure visibility and transparency of competency development
• 350 processes were mapped for the current state and analyzed collaboratively with TSI and BPI trained PMO process mapping analysts 
• 46 Constituent Experience sessions were held across the four campuses
• 145 unique requirements were gathered from the Constituent Experience sessions
• 1119 unique student lifecycle requirements were gathered throughout the duration of this project across the four institutions
• Metric tracking was established to monitor total numbers of: pain points, opportunities for improvement, participating stakeholders, processes, and sessions held.
• Methods for tracking business processes and desired metrics that were developed with TSI for this project continued to be used for the PMO internal work within the PMO after completion of the project

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Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI) was engaged by Information Technology Services at a southern public flagship university as a strategic, transformation partner to ensure that appropriate mechanisms were in place to meet the needs of the multi-institution University community for the modernization of its student information systems. One goal of the initiative was to build a more centralized environment for university system-wide functionality. As a strategic partner, TSI’s transformational team worked to identify, align, and drive the needs of the University with the identified institutional priorities as well as analyze the academic governance structure of each institution to ensure alignment with the new system to maximize successful implementation. Using change management strategies throughout the project, TSI emphasized people and processes over software while working to ensure that the proposed student information system efficiently and effectively aligned with key university values. 

TSI’s Approach and Role:

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged in the following:

Change and Cultural Management

To achieve the goals of the digital transformation project, TSI used various strategies. Change management strategies were employed throughout the entire project across the four campuses. TSI assessed change readiness with various key stakeholder groups, leadership, and other critical players using a series of organizational context definition sessions. TSI worked collaboratively to foster a culture of innovation and improvement throughout IT Services and the University campus community. The conversations with stakeholders, the development of requirements, and the early discussions with the vendor regarding functionality all facilitated the development of detailed Business Cases as well as a Roadmap for demoing the proposed software.  

IT Needs Evaluation and Assessment

TSI conducted an IT needs assessment to determine areas of need, technology currently used, integrations needed, existing gaps, functional and technical requirements, etc. TSI worked closely with an identified vendor to gather and analyze all necessary functional and technical requirements to support the customized demonstration of and design of software to meet the needs of the institution. Working collaboratively with representatives from the four campuses and Workday, TSI led the development of user stories, scenario narratives, and personas based on the gathered requirements to lead software functionality demonstrations.

Business Process Improvement and Requirements Gathering

Additionally, TSI spearheaded process improvement initiatives across the four campuses to assess the current state of readiness for change, opportunities for improvement, pain points, process complexities and connections, requirements for a new student system, and collect data about student, staff, faculty, and administrator experience. TSI created a visual representation of business processes that identified the stakeholders responsible for the process, to what standard it should be completed, and how the success of each process should be determined for critical entities with direct influence into the Student System. The team also helped drive the designing of future state processes to foster interconnectedness throughout campus, improve efficiency in university operations, and maximize use of technology. These student-focused units were assessed independently at each of the four institutions to document the similarities and differences of the current state business processes.

TSI managed the process work in order to appropriately plan for, staff, and map out processes for all functional areas across the institution that worked with the current student system. This included all functional areas that touched Recruiting and Admissions, Student Records, Student Accounts, and Financial Aid such as Athletics, Bursar, Financial Aid, Registrar, Advising, International programs, the Graduate School, Online programs, and others. Processes and session outcomes were used to align system requirements and processes across all four campuses to align requirements and needs for a new system and ensure all campuses’ needs were met. The team mapped 350 process improvements and held constituent experience sessions and supplemental requirements gathering sessions resulting in the gathering of 1119 unique requirements to support the broader system selection project.

TSI led the process of prioritization of the identified requirements to ensure appropriate infrastructure and planning was established for a smooth implementation.

Role

TSI served as a project manager, transformation leader, change agent, and facilitator throughout this project. Additionally, TSI collaborated and worked closely with the Workday software team to deliver requirements, demos, build user stories and personas, and meet the needs of the University client.

Results

Throughout the engagement both the University and TSI gathered data to support progress toward goals, effective implementation of methods, measure outcomes, and evidence a return on investment. Some of this data included:

• 350 processes were mapped for the current state and analyzed collaboratively with TSI and the University
• 46 Constituent Experience sessions were held across the four campuses
• 145 unique requirements were gathered from the Constituent Experience sessions
• 1119 unique student lifecycle requirements were gathered throughout the duration of this project across the four institutions
• Metric tracking was established to monitor total numbers of: pain points, opportunities for improvement, participating stakeholders, processes, and sessions held.
• 20 University staff received training in BPI, Lean principles, Project Management, and Organizational Change Management
• Methods for tracking business processes and desired metrics that were developed with TSI for this project continued to be used for the PMO internal work within the PMO after completion of the project

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Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI) was engaged by a top 10 public research university with a medical center to assist with technology transformation efforts for University Advancement to develop a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the technology infrastructure and use this information as a basis to inform the evaluation and selection of a new CRM system. As a foundation for this work, TSI was asked to spearhead a CRM software selection effort. These efforts were managed by the Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Operations for the Foundation. TSI has served as a transformation partner throughout the project lifecycle, including the execution of an IT needs assessment, change readiness assessment, business case development, organizational change management, requirements gathering, development of an RFP, system identification and selection, and business processes improvement training and execution.

TSI has frequently engaged in similar software evaluation and selection projects, and we aim to gather data to capture answers to the following questions:

• What technology is in place and used (and by whom) to perform various activities?
• How effective is this technology? 
• What gaps or opportunities exist to streamline processes and increase ROI? 
• Are there areas where the existing applications or resources can provide more value by being upgraded or by investing additional resources in training efforts?
• Are there risks that are apparent in the current inventory of technology?
• What is the “customer experience” or “constituent experience” as a function of the current processes? 
• What future state options should be considered moving forward?
• What platforms may be feasible alternatives to meet the defined functional and technical requirements?

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

Process Improvement Sessions

The software selection project provided a relevant platform for which to conduct business process improvement sessions with the cohort of practitioners. This cohort of documentors and facilitators conducted business process improvement sessions in functional areas related to Advancement including Gift Processing, Prospect Management and Research, Annual Giving and Membership, Finance and Accounting, Donor Relations, among many others. The facilitation teams actively engaged with stakeholders by asking reflective questions, identifying opportunities for improvement and areas of risk, and developing recommended action plans based on current and future state maps.  

An integral part of any software evaluation and selection project is the identification of functional requirements for a new CRM system. BPI sessions provide a platform to collect requirements.

Constituent Experience and Voice of the Customer Sessions

The University requested that TSI conduct a series of constituent experience sessions to assess change readiness and capture the unique needs of the employees and stakeholders to inform the evaluation and selection of a new CRM system. In order to assess readiness for change and capture the unique needs of the constituents and their needs and desires for a new CRM system, TSI team members partnered with the stakeholders to document and facilitate Constituent Experience and Voice of the Customer Sessions. The cohort of practitioners were trained in the facilitation and documentation of these sessions, whereby they collected points of pride, pain points, areas of opportunity, envisioned the future state, and gathered requirements for a new software system. 

Requirements Gathering

TSI facilitated and documented requirements gathering sessions as a part of the Constituent Experience and Voice of the Customer sessions by answering the following prompt: “In the desired future state, I need the ability to…”. Throughout the requirements gathering process, it became clear that while functional areas had requirements that were unique to their job responsibilities, there were also requirements that transcended throughout all areas. Some of these included flexible reporting functionality, customizable homepage dashboards, and in-system notifications. These requirements gathering sessions resulted in 1,215 unique requirements for desired functionality that were then divided amongst the project’s eight Lots:

• Lot 1 Core CRM
• Lot 2 Integrations
• Lot 3 Communities & Portals
• Lot 4 Online Giving
• Lot 5 Event Management
• Lot 6 Digital Marketing
• Lot 7 Data Catalog
• Lot 8 Implementation Services

Role

TSI facilitated all sessions during this engagement, including requirements gathering sessions, constituent experience, business process mapping, vendor demonstrations and training sessions, stakeholder training, reference checking calls, among many others. TSI also led the analysis of various scoring and evaluation factors, including:

• Functional and User Experience Scoring
• Technical Scoring
• Vendor Viability
• Reference Checking
• Total Cost of Ownership, Transition, and Support
• Cultural fit

At the end of the selection process, TSI developed a set of pre-final recommendations and analysis in collaboration with the project team. This iterative process culminated in a comprehensive final report that incorporated stakeholder feedback and data from the entire project. 

Results

The project team and TSI were intentional about collecting metrics to track progress toward goals in learning, process, and strategy. Some of this data included:

• 13 practitioners received in-depth training on business requirements and requirements gathering methods
• 56 processes were mapped and analyzed (current state, analysis, and future state) with TSI, practitioners, and stakeholders
• 176 total processes have been mapped as a result of BPI training efforts
• 40 current state, analysis, and future state process sessions held to capture existing and forward thinking processes and define requirements
• 20 requirements gathering, constituent experience, and voice of the customer sessions with functional area stakeholders
• 1,215 requirements were gathered as a result of BPI and Constituent Experience sessions, which will inform the selection of a new CRM system
• Metric tracking was established to monitor total numbers of: pain points, opportunities for improvement, technical and functional requirements, participating stakeholders, processes, and sessions held

The post Software Evaluation and Selection for Top 10 Public Research University appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI) was engaged by a top ten, public research university with a medical center to develop and execute a business process improvement training program. A cohort of University trainees embarked on a journey to capture the current state, analysis of the current state whereby stakeholders identified areas of risk and opportunities for improvement within their current processes, and identified the ideal future state of these processes. These change efforts were managed by the Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Operations. TSI served as a transformation partner throughout the business processes improvement training and execution.

TSI gathered data and performed analysis to address the following questions:

• What processes existed and how was work within those processes conducted?
• What technology was in place and used (and by whom) to perform various activities?
• What gaps or opportunities exist to streamline processes and increase ROI? 
• What is the “customer experience” or “constituent experience” as a function of the current processes? 
• Why did the processes occur in the way they were documented in the current state? What areas of waste occurred? What opportunities for improvement emerged?
• What metrics were used in the process to measure success and efficiency?
• What future state options should be considered moving forward?

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

BPI Training and Mentoring

TSI was asked to facilitate an in-depth training in BPI methodology with a cohort of Advancement employees who would later facilitate, and document business process improvement sessions throughout the Advancement lifecycle. Practitioners followed TSI’s I DO, WE DO, YOU DO approach to training and mentoring that was customized to meet the unique learning styles of the cohort and needs of the department. The centralized focus of the University’s Advancement department helped frame the strategy of application of the I DO, WE DO, YOU DO methodology. Trainees observed TSI Consultants as they modeled the facilitation and documentation of the I DO, WE DO, YOU DO methodology using relevant, Advancement-focused case study examples. Practitioners gained mastery of BPI methodologies through a co-facilitation and co-documentation model, collaboratively working as part of a facilitation team with a TSI Consultant who provided just-in-time feedback during sessions with stakeholders to encourage in-the-moment, transformative learning that could be applied throughout the remainder of the mapping session. This feedback was also provided in an online rubric for reference and development.

Process Improvement Sessions

The cohort of co-facilitation team members conducted business process improvement sessions  (documentation and facilitation) in functional areas related to Advancement including Gift Processing, Prospect Management and Research, Annual Giving and Membership, Finance and Accounting, Donor Relations, among many others. The facilitation teams actively engaged with stakeholders by asking reflective questions, identifying opportunities for improvement and areas of risk, and developing recommended action plans based on current and future state maps. The sessions also collected any functional or technical requirements of any technology options for desired future state processes.

Role

TSI established the curriculum for the business process improvement training and mentoring program and managed the training project. TSI monitored all processes examined, evaluated competency development and progress of each cohort participant, and managed the finalization of all BPI deliverables.

Results

TSI and the cohort were intentional about collecting metrics to track progress toward goals in learning, process, and strategy. Some of this data included:

• 10 individuals received deep dive training and 9 received further mentoring and coaching in TSI’s Business Process Improvement methodology and mastered all competencies of the Business Process Improvement training and mentoring initiative evidencing mastery of facilitation, documentation, deliverable creation, and stakeholder engagement
• 47 University participant stakeholders received a high level training in BPI without outlined expectations for their involvement
• 14 University leaders participated in an engaging training about BPI and their role in supporting process improvement and change across the Foundation
• 13 University practitioners received in-depth training on business requirements and requirements gathering methods
• 56 processes mapped and analyzed (current state, analysis, and future state) with TSI, cohort practitioners, and University stakeholders
• 40 current state, analysis, and future state process sessions held to capture existing and forward thinking processes
• 700 technical and functional requirements gathered 
• Metric tracking was established to monitor total numbers of: pain points, opportunities for improvement, participating stakeholders, processes, and sessions held

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