THE SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION

“It was challenging to coordinate seamless recruiting efforts across programs and campuses. Our main goal related to CRM practices was to streamline the recruitment and enrollment processes. The aim was to standardize, automate and yet personalize communication with prospective students through the entire enrollment funnel.

“SNHU fosters an entrepreneurial environment, and we wanted a robust, scalable and flexible CRM system to meet our changing needs. We chose EMAS because it offered a solution for almost all the end users — the ability to utilize EMAS Pro for the differing needs of offices and departments on our campuses.”

THE RESULTS

“Since implementing EMAS Recruitment Pro, we at Southern New Hampshire have seen remarkable improvements in staff efficiency, the volume of effective student outreach, enhanced data management practices, and have also noticed shorter enrollment cycles.”

RESULTS: DATA MANAGEMENT

“In EMAS Recruitment Pro, we track and report to better understand our recruiting practices, and we’ve also begun creating unique fields within EMAS Recruitment Pro to track important data for different recruiting areas. For example, we generate reports on conversion rates for specific departments, majors and schools on campus. These reports help us understand the viability of recruitment areas as well as specific programs. They also guide us in our future travel planning as well as other recruitment efforts.

“Reporting and data management are becoming more important in this tough economic environment and because of the ease of reporting through EMAS Recruitment Pro, almost everyone in our admissions office has data available at their fingertips. EMAS Pro training is conducted regularly for all users — from staff to directors — across campus. Users are now enabled to run queries/reports for their departments on their own and do not have to depend on a few power users.”

RESULTS: STAFF EFFICIENCY

“Visible staff efficiencies have been created through the automated communications function in EMAS Recruitment Pro. Follow-ups are set up automatically when a prospective students fulfills the criteria we’ve established. Our staff no longer has to manually input communications or follow up on missing documents, thus saving time spent on manual processes.

“EMAS Pro has also enabled some departments at SNHU to become ‘paperless’. We still find it necessary to communicate by mail with certain group of students but our online program mainly communicates via email and uses the telecounseling features in EMAS Telecounseling Pro. The communication history feature is available to users to see details of every interaction that SNHU has had with the student and set communication in motion without the need of manual intervention.

“We have streamlined our communication practices, which in turn has enabled our staff to spend more time working with students and performing other job functions. It was a big project to implement and set up our communication programs, but now all of our communications are standardized and yet has the ability to be personalized as needed via the use of ‘logic’ in EMAS Recruitment Pro. The automation allows our staff to not spend time implementing communication plans manually, and our messaging is more consistent instead of each department doing something completely different.”

RESULTS: STUDENT OUTREACH THROUGH THEIR ENROLLMENT FUNNEL

“SNHU has been able to reach out to more prospective students by utilizing EMAS Recruitment Pro. Email and telecounseling features of EMAS Telecounseling Pro help the outreach in terms of speed and cost savings. This is especially important at the inquiry stage. We can make meaningful contact early in the process with these students that may have fallen through the cracks before EMAS. Through EMAS Recruitment Pro’s reports, we’ve seen the importance to our enrollment of early contact with students and are now better able to put early forms of contact into practice.”

RESULTS: SHORTER ENROLLMENT CYCLES AND BETTER CONVERSION RATES

“The automated communication functionality within EMAS Recruitment Pro has made our conversion rates better. We are seeing a difference in how quickly inquiries move through to the applicant and then the enrolled stages.”

Many departments at SNHU which used to rely on the admissions department for information, now access EMAS. They are empowered to access their information…

“We have also created a ‘complete file’ field within EMAS Recruitment Pro so that now our staff can run reports on whether or not a student’s file is complete and have this information available quickly. We can run this report daily, and are now able to accept students faster instead of waiting for staff to look through a student’s paper file and then make its way to different individuals for a final decision.”

“EMAS Pro in general is user friendly and intuitive. Many departments at SNHU which used to rely on the admissions department for information, now access EMAS. They are empowered to access their information, reach out to students and do their own reporting. End users find it easy to use, understand and interpret.”

RESULTS: FUTURE OF EMAS AT SNHU

“SNHU is currently working on major strategy goals for the University for the next 5-10 years. We all know that the traditional programs are on the verge of a plateau, and that the adult student population is steadily increasing. The University-wide goals will help us chart our future path and EMAS Pro will be a key role in our future plans.”

ABOUT SNHU

Southern New Hampshire University trains intellectually and culturally enriched individuals to be successful in their careers and contribute to their communities.

SNHU’s educational philosophy challenges students’ intellectual potential and prepares them for professional lives in an ever-changing and increasingly interconnected world. It provides a supportive and close-knit learning community, delivering engaging instruction in a flexible variety of formats. Students develop the knowledge to understand a complex world, the skills to act effectively within that world and the wisdom to make good choices. They do so within a community of teachers, staff and peers that is encouraged to add its scholarly, creative and pedagogical contributions to the larger social good.

THE SITUATION

Texas Chiropractic College, a 100-year-old institution located in Pasadena, Texas, has distinguished itself as a top-ranked chiropractic school and offers promising students innovative and experience-based study programs at the doctorate level. “Our school’s prominent position – not just in chiropractic education but in providing future leaders for the nation’s health care industry – requires that we reach out to talented students from the region, the country and beyond,” comments Dr. Fred Zuker, Dean of Enrollment Management at Texas Chiropractic College.

THE SOLUTION

After thorough research of available options, Dr. Zuker and his team at Texas Chiropractic College selected the EMAS Pro suite of enrollment tools to support and manage the school’s recruitment and enrollment efforts. “We’re confident that EMAS Pro will deliver a new level of flexibility in our ability to communicate with a diverse recruitment pool and will provide increased staff efficiencies.” The school has a reputation for attracting the country’s top students and looks forward to a rapid implementation to maintain current momentum and to expand their outreach efforts. The vendor-provided conversion tools and on-site training support will assure a smooth transition into the new solution.

In addition to installing the main program – EMAS Recruitment Pro – EMAS Pro will work closely with Texas Chiropractic to implement several fully integrated companion solutions:

• Telecounseling Pro – for facilitating an effective and user-friendly call management program
• Online Pro – for developing an integrated, student-facing portal on the school’s website
• Campaign Pro – for development of engaging e-mail campaigns – easy to manage and enhanced with rich media – to supplement ongoing communications with prospective students

These modules will greatly enhance the recruitment suite’s power and they represent best-in-class tools for streamlining communications and improving efficiencies for faculty and staff.

“We’re looking forward to getting Texas Chiropractic College up and running with EMAS Recruitment Pro,” commented Sean Gottlieb, EMAS Pro’s Director of Solution Services. “The software solution they have selected will prove to be a great fit for their ambitious recruitment goals. We’re eager to partner with them for a rapid implementation.”

Although Texas Chiropractic College has big drawing power and big goals, Zuker admits to having been somewhat handicapped by their current systems: “EMAS Recruitment Pro promises to provide us with an alternative data management system from what we are currently using – an ERP system that has proved to be unwieldy for giving us the recruitment data we need in a timely fashion. We were familiar with EMAS Pro and knew that it set the standard for higher education CRM.”

Acknowledging the importance of also drawing from a regional population, Zuker commented, “Our primary target population comes from the Southwestern US, including Texas and Louisiana. Houston has become a very diverse city and we are especially interested in boosting our enrollment of women, Latinos, African-Americans, and Asian Americans. Our school’s management team as well as our Board of Trustees fully understand the importance of bolstering our recruitment activities. We feel that EMAS Pro will give us the support we need to succeed with our enrollment efforts.”

ABOUT TEXAS CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE

For more than 100 years, Texas Chiropractic College, located in Pasadena, Texas, has been a respected player in America’s landscape of health care education. Highly ranked programs, world-class faculty, unparalleled opportunities for hands-on training, and an uncommonly collaborative campus family have earned the chiropractic school a reputation as one of the nation’s finest producers of skilled, thoughtful, and ethical Doctors of Chiropractic.

The school has over 300 students and offers a Doctor of Chiropractic degree in addition to a bachelor degree completion program.

ABOUT EMAS PRO

Since 1997, EMAS Pro has been a leading provider of customizable, solution-oriented, higher education enrollment management software and “best practices” consultative services. By engaging not only prospective but also enrolled students with dynamic, multi-channel communications and providing the staff tools needed to nurture student relationships, EMAS Pro provides the industry’s trusted solution to grow and shape enrollment while fostering student success.

EMAS Pro solutions, which now include EMAS Recruitment Pro and EMAS Retention Pro, benefit from direct consulting with more than 500 enrollment management teams and the support and confidence of 40 years of continuous experience in the industry. More information on EMAS Pro can be found at the company website: http://www.emaspro.com.

As the state’s largest and most comprehensive research institution, the University of South Carolina plays a key role in the region’s economy. Located in the state’s capital city, USC is an educational leader in the fields of business, fuel cell research, nanotechnology, health sciences, and sports and entertainment management. A diverse and vibrant community of nearly 20,500 undergraduates and 8,000 graduate and doctoral students call USC “home.” At the heart of the campus lies the “Horseshoe,” a lush park with ancient oak trees and historic buildings that evoke the University’s rich 200-year history. Today’s USC is a dynamic blend of proud tradition and modern innovation.

MAKING THE CONNECTION WITH EMAS PRO

During the past decade, the University of South Carolina experienced a tremendous increase in the number of undergraduate applicants at the same time that it received national recognition for academic innovation and research. This changing market landscape meant the University had to find a new way to conduct its enrollment business. USC needed new tools to manage its burgeoning number of student inquiries in a timely fashion and to communicate effectively with multiple market segments as it grew more selective. The admissions team found it more and more challenging to keep up with demand; they needed a full-featured, recruitment solution to support their work.

A well-designed CRM system can not only add functionality, but with a strong communication engine, can also improve level of service, shape enrollment, and build a more committed student body. In exploring recruitment solutions in 2007, the admissions team at USC discovered that EMAS Pro offered an intuitive yet comprehensive system built around the ways enrollment professionals actually work.

Mary Wagner, Senior Associate Director of Admissions, participated in the search for a recruitment solution and points to one of the reasons EMAS Pro stood out, “EMAS Recruitment Pro manages telephone calls, e-mail, letters, recruitment outreach, and more as part of their overall communications system. Up until that time, we had relied on our legacy system and could only use batch processes with limited ability to stagger communications. Tracking applicants and their supporting credentials was very difficult. With EMAS Pro, we were able to capture and use data that was relevant to the recruitment and enrollment process.”

Referring to EMAS Pro’s robust recruitment tracking, call documentation, application management, and file completion tools, Mary Wagner observes, “Prior to EMAS Pro, we had a very difficult time finding applicants with completed files to process for admission. Furthermore, it was difficult to identify what the incomplete applicants still needed to submit. Now, we can target the right applicants with the right message at the right time and encourage all of them to complete their files by the proper deadlines. “

DEMONSTRATED SUCCESS WITH TARGETING PROSPECTS AND GROUPS

EMAS helps the admissions team demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness to both internal and external audiences. In an environment of limited resources, the team can verify, for example, that enrolled students for a particular term received an average of 10 communications if they were admitted to the University, and an average of 14 if they were admitted to the Honors College. Underscoring this increased efficiency, Wagner reports: “We can demonstrate how many contacts it takes to bring in a class. For the Fall 2010 term, for example, we sent out over 153,000 communications to students.”

EMAS Pro strengthens a school’s ability to reach out to niche populations and to tailor the recruitment process to fit that target’s needs. Mary acknowledges that this heightened recruitment capability and the EMAS-provided tools to facilitate file completion are a likely explanation for enrollment of African-American students increasing by 28% in the fall 2010 term – accounting for almost one-third of admissible African Americans across South Carolina. USC has used tools like EMAS Pro to communicate an important message to African-American prospects – that the USC system provides a welcoming, cost-effective, and success-driven environment for pursuing academic goals.

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY

USC is now installing Sungard’s Banner student information system and some changes in workflow are likely, but Ms. Wagner does not see any diminished role for EMAS Recruitment Pro. “Recruitment and yield communications will remain with EMAS Pro. We’re thrilled to adopt a strong, industry-accepted ERP but also realize that Banner is unlikely to mimic the recruitment functionality and tools we get with EMAS Pro.”

INCREASED POWER WITH THE ENROLLMENT SUITE

As part of their EMAS Recruitment Pro implementation, University of South Carolina chose to include several modules to further streamline operations: Telecounseling Pro – for facilitating an effective and user-friendly call management program, and Campaign Pro – for rich-media, e-mail communications to prospective students.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

The University of South Carolina serves the state from its flagship Columbia campus, three senior campuses, and four two-year schools. Combined enrollment at all campuses is 45,000. Committed to academic excellence, outreach, and community partnership, the University of South Carolina has forged a variety of cooperative relationships with other academic institutions, with businesses throughout the state, and with a number of international groups for academic exchange and collaborative research. The Columbia campus now includes an innovation district, Innovista, which follows a master plan to support job creation and growth in the state’s burgeoning knowledge economy.

THE SITUATION

The University of Michigan – Flint is the fastest growing public university in the state of Michigan and offers degrees in over 100 undergraduate and 40 graduate areas. Recently added graduate degrees include English, Social Sciences, Computer Science and Information Systems, and Nursing. Although it has a relatively small graduate school, in the past several years the University of Michigan – Flint has experienced a rapid increase in the number of graduate applicants. The admissions team was finding it difficult to keep up with student communication demands and needed to implement new technology to not only manage student inquires, but to proactively reach out and obtain the top applicants. Due to these increasing application numbers, the university realized the importance of implementing a CRM tool to better handle recruiting and enrollment demands, while managing and maintaining multi-channel communications to inquiries and applicants.

According to Brad Maki, Director of Graduate Admission from the University of Michigan – Flint, “Before EMAS Recruitment Pro we were in the dark ages. We would get requests for information by phone or email. A secretary would write down names and addresses, and send those people material. No keeping the information for future reference or communication, no tracking through the admissions funnel.”

THE SOLUTION

EMAS Recruitment Pro is a staff multiplier and provides complete control over student records. It uses 360 degree tracking of multi-channel communication plans that deliver effective messages to students. EMAS Recruitment Pro is designed to parallel an institution’s unique enrollment management strategy and provide complete control of and real-time access to student records through secure data tools and robust reporting capabilities. The user friendly EMAS Pro software allows universities to segment candidate markets based on unique criteria and trigger communication plans without involving IT programmers. EMAS Pro allows universities to build, manage, and maintain an unlimited number of automated and personalized communication flows for direct mail, email, and phone campaigns.

RESULTS

With the help of the EMAS Pro CRM software that was implemented in 2004, the University of Michigan – Flint has consistently boosted their enrollment numbers while decreasing communication costs. Since 2004, the university has increased graduate applications by 57%, increased graduate admissions by 46%, and increased graduate program inquiries by 25%.

According to Jon Davidson, Marketing Communications Specialist at the University of Michigan – Flint, “EMAS Pro plays a central role in the university’s graduate enrollment goals. EMAS Pro is the primary tool for developing relationship building with prospective students. The university’s graduate school has seen significant growth of 120% over the past five years and EMAS has helped to facilitate our enrollment goals.”

EMAS Pro is the original enrollment management software for higher education and takes pride in client satisfaction. “When you call for technical support you get someone you know on the phone. They are good about troubleshooting problems and thinking of ways to make the system work for your needs. We have made several special requests for product enhancements and many of them have already been implemented,” said Maki.

According to Anna Gosselin, VP Client Services for EMAS Pro, “The graduate enrollment management team at University of Michigan – Flint did a creative and effective job setting up EMAS Pro to address their specific recruitment needs. While they face decentralization challenges typical of graduate admissions operations, they segmented their markets and personalized their communications to meet program-specific recruitment needs. They started with a focused effort for two programs, and soon those programs became the envy of all graduate departments. Their centralized Office of Graduate Programs now uses EMAS Pro to recruit for all graduate programs.”

FUTURE

It is essential for a rapidly growing school to obtain the technology needed to properly recruit the right students for their university. As the University of Michigan – Flint continues to implement other EMAS Pro Solutions (Recruitment Pro, Online Pro, Campaign Pro) into their new graduate programs around campus, their enrollment numbers will continue to increase.

“When we launch a new graduate program we can go to that department and show them how we can use EMAS to create and maintain communication plans with their students so that they don’t have to think too hard about it or create a shadow system on their own,” said Maki.

THE SITUATION

Just south of bustling Milwaukee, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside provides a calm counterpoint, nestled in the idyllic park-like setting that gives this area its name. Founded in 1968, the campus has now grown to include 5,300 students – primarily undergraduates either in the arts and sciences or in business and technology.

In January 2006, Governor Jim Doyle signed into law the Wisconsin Covenant – both a forward-looking challenge for state high school students to earn a college degree and a commitment to provide those students with an academic home at one of Wisconsin’s public or private institutions of higher education.

UW-Parkside, as part of the state school system, supports the Wisconsin Covenant’s programs for educational attainment, especially for the state’s under-represented students. The school’s partnership with EMAS Pro now gives them powerful tools to meet these and other recruitment challenges.

MAKING THE CONNECTION WITH EMAS PRO

UW-Parkside’s previous recruitment activities lacked the capacity for communicating effectively with prospective students and couldn’t measure the value of contacts that were made. Before EMAS Pro, the staff had no choice but to wrestle directly with the large ERP/SIS (enterprise resource planning/student information system software). This did not give admissions staff the control or the results they wanted.

Like a lot of campus admissions offices, the UW-Parkside team learned that a student information system, although powerful, cannot be easily tamed to do specific and detail-intensive tasks like enrollment management.

A well-designed CRM system – dynamically pulling information from the ERP system – can not only add functionality, but also improve level of service, shape enrollment, and build a stronger and more committed student body. UW-Parkside was gratified to discover that EMAS Pro comprises an intuitive yet comprehensive system built around the ways enrollment professionals actually work.

As UW-Parkside’s Interim Director of Enrollment Management, DeAnn Possehl is eager to move beyond the rigidity of the ERP system and into a customized and flexible recruitment solution using EMAS Pro. Since we have a small staff and a lot of work to do, we are expecting EMAS Pro to improve staff efficiency while helping us give prospective students more individualized attention. We’re hoping that EMAS Pro will help improve communications, strengthen relationships, and provide actionable data for decision making.”

Anna Gosselin, VP of Client Services with Education Systems, Inc. (makers of EMAS Pro), has partnered with the UW-Parkside team. “This school is focused on results. Now that EMAS Pro can provide a user-friendly front-end to their ERP system plus a best-in-class communications engine for targeting student populations, the team here at UW-Parkside will have more control over enrollment than ever before. The school will see results – both in the near term and far into the future.”

As part of their EMAS Recruitment Pro implementation, University of Wisconsin-Parkside has chosen to include several modules to further streamline operations:

• Telecounseling Pro – for facilitating an effective and user-friendly call management program
• Online Pro – for developing an integrated, student-facing portal on the school’s website
• Campaign Pro – for development of engaging e-mail campaigns – easy to manage and enhanced with rich media – to supplement ongoing communications with prospective students
• EMAS Managed Services – for consulting time and operational resources from Education Systems, Inc. to accelerate data projects and customizing as needs arise

LINKS

For more information on UW-Parkside, visit their website at: http://www.uwp.edu.

For more information on Education Systems, Inc., makers of EMAS Pro solutions for strategic enrollment management, visit: www.emaspro.com.

THE SITUATION

Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools strive to offer high-tech, in-demand programs designed for students in their junior and senior year of high school. In addition to the 40 traditional career and technical programs, such as Auto Technology, Welding, and Cosmetology, Eastland-Fairfield offers many programs designed specifically for students who intend to continue their education at a college or university.

With the growing number of enrollment applications and communication inquires, Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools found it difficult to connect with prospective students and accurately report recruitment and communication costs. From a marketing standpoint, Angela LeHew, Marketing and Recruiting Specialist, wanted an enrollment management CRM that could automate personalized communications to target markets and decrease communication costs.

THE SOLUTION

In an effort to personalize their recruiting outreach and provide accurate reports, Eastland-Fairfield chose EMAS Recruitment Pro as their enrollment management CRM in 2009. With EMAS Recruitment Pro they were able to determine and report the real cost of their recruiting programs and communication cost with the 125 integrated reporting options and a powerful resource planner.

According to LeHew, “Before we implemented EMAS Recruitment Pro, we were using generic form letters and excel spreadsheets to communicate. There was no master list; each recruiter kept their own data. It was a very cumbersome and we were not nearly as effective as we wanted to be.”

Although Eastland-Fairfield evaluated other enrollment management software solutions, EMAS Pro’s Managed Services solution had added appeal, providing ongoing additional resource and support as well as consultation on best practices.

According to Lorna Harris, EMAS Pro’s Managed Services Manager, “From a Managed Services standpoint, it has been a real pleasure working with Angela LeHew. Managed Services has helped Eastland Fairfield answer many recruiting outreach questions, assisted in the creation of potential students’ records, and reduced the reliance on their IT department. We look forward to continue working with Eastland-Fairfield and to continue to help improve their recruitment process.”

RESULTS

“By streamlining our efforts using EMAS Recruitment Pro, we’re able to house every piece of information we gather on a potential student in one place and make it easily accessible to those who use it. The data is consistent no matter who accesses it. Reporting is now a simple function and we’re using our data to drive our recruiting efforts in a smarter, more informed way. The integrated communications piece of EMAS Recruitment Pro has been a huge asset. No longer are there different versions of the same letter or confusion over which communication item to send.” said LeHew.

EMAS Recruitment Pro has helped Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools increase their enrollment numbers consistently over the past three years. They spend less money on direct mail and are able to focus their efforts on admitting qualified students.

According to Angela LeHew, “With the help of EMAS Pro, we were able to identify areas where growth was needed, and in some cases, it helped us determine when it was time to discontinue a program due to declining enrollment. We are accurately able to report these results and make these decisions.”

FUTURE

Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools will continue to use EMAS Recruitment Pro as their enrollment management CRM tool to increase enrollment numbers and report accurate results, which will continue to save them money.

According to Angela LeHew, “EMAS Recruitment Pro has transformed the way we work with prospective students. We have been able to do things that only a couple of years ago seemed like pipe dreams. We have truly become a pacesetter among career-tech institutions in Ohio thanks to the foundation EMAS Recruitment Pro has helped us build.”