In 2018, Information Technology collaborated with multiple departments across campus to implement Slate, an admissions-based constituent relationship management (CRM) system. It has streamlined both the undergraduate and graduate admissions process across campus and has made our internal staff far more efficient and effective.

We are now turning our attention to managing our relationships with current students and, collaborating with Marketing & Communications, we have recently released a Request for Information (RFI) about available CRMs. From the proposals we received, we have invited three vendors to campus over the next few weeks to demonstrate their products and show us how they can help us improve the everyday interactions between students and the university.

In order to keep the initial scope and rollout manageable, Information Technology, Marketing & Communications, Business & Auxiliary Services, the Career Center, and Human Resources will comprise the core team, along with expanded team members from other areas as needed.

While the initial scope is intentionally limited, we know that the long-term use and benefit of the CRM will extend to many units across campus, and we want everyone to have confidence that the solution we select will work for all of us going forward. The system will only be as good as we anticipate if it is jointly supported. As a result, we are opening the demonstrations up to various leadership team members and their representatives, to allow them to see and respond to the various vendor solutions.

We’ll provide more information on the progress of this implementation as it moves forward.