Implementation of an

Electronic Data

Request Form

Presented by:

Leslie Savoie

Dominic Lombardi

Florida Tech background

• Private, nonprofit

• Founded in 1958

• More than 160 degree programs (BS/MS/PhD)

• 130 acre main campus

• 9110 students (as of Fall 2013)

– Melbourne: 4,633

– Extended Studies Department: 1,011

– Online: 3,466

First Generation – How things were

• 2004-2005: 2-person office

• Used individual emails to receive requests

• Kept log – multiple line spreadsheet

• Scanned in final emails/data to archive

25. 7/22/2003 Brevard EDC wanted # or % of graduates who stay 7/22/2003 xx

FOLDER in Brevard county ( Not Available) Phone

26. 7/22/2003 Embry-Riddle - $ for 1 yr. Flight is appr.$7,500 7/22/2003 xx

FOLDER Phone

27. 7/22/2003 EWC Degree Survey 10/1/2003 8/19/2003

FILE CC Locked Online

28. 7/29/2003 U.S. News & World Reports Graduate Engineering 8/27/2003 Not Done

Recruiter Website sent to Ron Bailey 7/29 not completed 9/5/03

29. 8/1/2003 U.S. News 2003 - Online Graduate Degree Programs 8/1/2003 8/1/2003

FOLDER Sign Off P.K. Online

30. 8/1/2003 U.S. News 2003- Online Graduate - 8/29/2003 8/18/2003

FILE Sent to Mary Bonhomme - Locked PK Online

31. 8/5/2003 IPEDS Fall Collection-Inst. Characteristics - Completion 10/22/2003 10/8/2003

12/3/2003 IPEDS Winter Collection opened 1/28/2003

IPEDS Spring Collection 4/21/2003

32. 8/14/2003 Diana Marie F. Martin - NACA - information FIT enrollment 8/14/2003 8/14/2003

FOLDER PK Emailed

33. 8/22/2003 Economic Development Commission 9/5/2003 9/5/2003

FILE CC PK Faxed 9/5/03

First Generation Issues

• Problems

– Redundancy

– Out of office

– Search for past requests/data

– Manual scanning & archiving

– Manual feedback request /Scheduling

Second Generation – Improvement

• Added another employee

• Single-line spreadsheet

• Alias email account – distributed to all staff

• Still scanned in final emails/data to archive

#

Date Received

External/Internal Request Description

Special Info. /Contact Due Date

OIR Respond Date

distributed to:

Initials of Respondent

Method of Response File System

23 2/26/2007 EXT

Follow Up regarding Sunshine State Conference Institutional Data 3/3/2008 3/3/2008 LS LS Emailed Binder

1 3/18/2007 EXT NCAA Graduate Rate 6/1/2007 5/31/2007 LS LS Online Folder

3 5/8/2007 EXT ICUF Accountability Report 6/22/2007 6/25/2007 LS LS Email Folder

5 5/11/2007 EXT

Melanie Hicks - Fall 2006 High School GPA 5/14/2007 5/14/2007 LS LS Email Binder

12 5/29/2007 EXT

ICUF- Directory Update - Melanie Hicks

Has to be scanned. Kept on Binder 6/4/2007 5/31/2007 LS LS Email Binder

21 6/6/2007 EXT

Higher Education Directory 2008 = Group Ordering 8/30/2007 11/7/2007 CC CC

Campus Mail Folder

26 6/6/2007 EXT

2007 Annual National College Survey - Institutional Research & Evaluation, INC

Forward from Undergrad Admissions 6/11/2007 6/11/2007 LS, CJ, CC LS Fax Binder

Second Generation Issues

• Problems

– Redundancy

– Search for past requests/data

– Manual scanning & archiving

– Manual feedback request – quarterly

• All of the above amplified by growth in number of requests

Number of Requests

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

2003-2004 2007-2008 2010-2011 2012-2013

External

Internal

Third Generation – Getting there

• What can we do to improve these issues?

• How do we archive/store requests/data?

• Retrieval of archives by any staff?

• What is already available to us?

• Automatic feedback request?

• Financial constraints?

Alternatives investigated

• Two-pronged approach

– Form on website

• SurveyGizmo form

• Custom form created by IT

– Project tracking

• Microsoft Project through site wide license.

• Freeware project management programs (e.g. Freedcamp) – Hosted externally vs. internally; security issues

Footprints

• Product of BMC Software

• Service request system

– Incident and problem management

• Geared toward IT organizations

– Including our own

Advantages of Footprints

• Currently supported by University’s IT department

• Ability to use LDAP to pull user contact information in from web directory

• Built-in reporting and analytics

– Used for several office assessment items

Advantages of Footprints

• Better situational awareness among staff members

– At-a-glance progress tracking of multiple tickets/requests

• Centralized repository with detailed descriptions and file management

– Allows other staff members to pick up where others left off

Advantages of Footprints

• Automated escalation rules

– Can submit feedback surveys with certain conditions met

• Enhanced workload management

– Workload balancing between staff members

• Used by other departments

– Most users already have exposure = less required training

How do we implement this?

• Entry point for requesters

– Accessible by all user types

• Develop request form

– Internal users vs. External users

• Create workflow procedures for staff

Entry point

• Based off of existing entry for IT service request system

• Worked with web services

– Main page where users can login through University account or use External Form

Demonstration

Form development

• What kind of fields should we have on the first page of the form?

– Title

– Due date

– Internal/External requester

• Internal evolved into three subgroups: Florida Tech Faculty, Staff and Students

– Data type

Form development

• Data type categories were created based on most common request types

– Degrees awarded

– Enrollment

– Faculty/Staff counts/Org Charts

– Persistence or Graduation Rates

– Questionnaire/Publication

– Other

Form development

• Description page

– Requesters only see a description field, where they can type in a detailed request

– Internal fields for the office

• Internal notes

• Dual control requirement selection

• Questionnaire or Publication drop down selections

• Student employee field added

Form development

• Service level tab (internal use only)

– Did we successfully complete the request?

• Yes, No, or Referred to other department

– Automated escalation rule altered to filter on this field

• Email sent to requestor contains link with ticket ID that is pushed to SurveyGizmo

Workflow

• Ticket goes through four status levels

– Request: User’s initial submission

– Assigned: Request is assigned to staff member(s)

– Completed: Request is completed by staff and send to customer.

– Closed: Requester has no further response.

Workflow

• After request is completed, staff wait a minimum of two days to see if the requester follows up.

• During the closing process, the status is set is closed and the appropriate service level is selected

– When the request is successfully completed the requester gets a feedback survey.

System transition

• Soft launch at beginning of new fiscal year

– Continue to accept phone/e-mail requests, but gently guide users to website for future requests.

• Hard launch at beginning of new academic year

– Discontinue all phone/e-mail requests, redirect users to webpage to use Footprints.

Future Applications of Footprints

• CIP Classifications for new majors

• Custom survey creation requests

• Internal service tickets for third-party applications our office administers

Lessons Learned

• Training of requesters

• Changes to form fields have far reaching effects

• IT centric solutions increase dependency on other departments

Questions/Comments?

Leslie Savoie

Director,

Institutional Research

lsavoie@fit.edu

Dominic Lombardi

Associate Director,

Institutional Research

dlombard@fit.edu