Let it snow....

So, snow. Lots of it. And still coming down. I am old enough to remember when this happened at least a couple of times every winter - and still the same questions being asked. Do we come to work, can we leave early, how long will it take to get home, will the University be open tomorrow, do I have to turn up for my exam?

I love it - but then I haven't got to get anywhere, and can walk to work in 2 minutes. I miss sledging with the kids though.

Last Friday had a meeting to look at how to take forward our CRM project. It's become much bigger than just CRM and is looking at the whole student experience.

We went live with our CRM system for prospective students in July 06, and we handle all enquiries, application processing, open day management and campus tour management through it. It is well used and liked, and we need to build on its success and expand to cover all students and alumni, not just applicants. We're looking to build systems which put the student at the heart of them, and change the culture so that interactions are simple, seamless, and streamlined. Eventually we'll have a single view of student information through our portal for staff and students. We've already done a lot of work on this but need to pull information from different systems together and make some changes to business processes.

Had a very good joint meeting with library colleagues this lunchtime to look at research data management, and how we can work together to provide a service to researchers. Both services have a role to play - CiCS in providing storage capacity, back up, disaster recovery, technical advice, etc, and the library on the management of the data, especially in terms of data curation. The UKRDS feasibility study will be published soon and we look forward to implementing its recommendations.

And interestingly given my opening paragraph, writing this blog post was interrupted to get a message on the University Home page and send mails to staff and students about arrangements for opening the University and exams tomorrow!

CRM

The University's been doing a lot of work over the last few years on CRM (Customer Relationship Management), particularly for prospective students. We've developed a system in-house which brings together on one screen all interactions with prospective students, including what information they've been sent, what open days they've attended, what course they've applied for, what accommodation they've been allocated, any phone calls they've made or emails they've sent - a very popular system which has gone down very well with most of the departments who have used it. It also allows people to book places on open days through a web form. Now this pilot phase is being extended - imaginatively called CRM2 - and I'm on the Steering Group. As well as improving the current system, we will be extending the project to include all interactions with students - the virtual student file - by utilising technologies such as our document management system.

Part of the Steering Group's remit will also be looking at ways of improving the way prospective student enquiries are actually handled - guidelines have already been produced, and we've been running some training session on how to get the best out of our phone system - (how many people for example haven't set a personal voice mail message?)

Mystery shopping is being carried out - not just on academic departments, but on professional service departments as well - to see how calls are handled. We all have to realise that anyone who deals with an incoming phone call, or an email, or speaks to a visitor, is acting as an ambassador for the University and should deal with the enquiry professionally.

This is an exciting project, with implications for all of us - I'll keep you posted on developments.