Higher education faces record numbers of enrollments
With more students comes more data management demand. Yet, most colleges and universities still proceed with pen and paper. Resources are poured into completing the manual processes of form approvals and notifications rather than finding technological enhancements for the workflow in an academic enrollment or advising office.
Hyland offers a solution: OnBase
Hyland offers its Enterprise Content Management software, OnBase, as a solution to higher education data management demands. It claims to "eliminate the manual, paper-based processes that bog down staff" and "speeds turnaround times while providing a view into how well the applicant pool is aligning with [the university's] target populations.
Quick Look: Features
OnBase has many functionalities, but its main ones are worthy of purchase. Users can quickly sort their files into the digital database and search for documents based on keywords. Documents can be scanned in and image processing allows users to search for keywords. This makes the transfer process from paper to digital much easier because the admissions office can speed scan their documents into the database and have the software sort the documents with little to no user interaction once the software is implemented based on user stories.
Security
Hyland boasts about its "secure data centers, encrypted in-transit connections, built-in redundancy and data replication," but we all know that nothing is 100% secure on the site. Nevertheless, something worthy to note is that they will tailor to their client's security and compliance needs.
Usability in Advising Context
OnBase has a very interesting functionality where it will match advisors with their advisees. They will route student files to the appropriate advisor in advance of an intial advising session. Since OnBase seems to have notification system, we could enhance this feature to send notifications to the approvers on a daily, weekly, or bi-monthly basis.
A final word of opinion
I think this product has great potential. I have only seen a very short demo on the product's user interface, but it seems like a great product if the client learns how to use it. It would be better if this could be web-based. From what I can see, it seems the program must be downloaded. Not all faculty are keen on installing software especially the non-tech savvy ones.I think Hyland is doing a great job with customer service. From the reviews, the company is willing to work around software design for its clients. Perhaps there will be a way for us to embed these documents in a web application for our project.
Bibliography
Fingertip access to current student information improves advising, student satisfaction. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2015, from https://www.onbase.com/en/solutions/higher-education/enrollment-management/student-advising#.VgojDstVhBc
Solutions for Higher Education Enrollment Management. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2015, from https://www.onbase.com/en/solutions/higher-education/enrollment-management
