Staff News from DES
NEW STAFF
Kimberly Huckaby Kiernan - Blanton Building Manager
Jessica Dixon - Information Systems
STAFF LEAVING
Kelly Milazzo - Registrar's Office
Jorge Guerra - Information Processing
Birthdays
Greg Pulte - March 26th
Anniversaries
Epi Ramirez - 17 years!
Summer Kokic - 5 years
Deveron Ellison - 5 years
Gordon Brannon - 1 year
Hilary Bowman - 1 year
Document Management and Imaging System Implementation Update
Over the past few weeks we have been working with Perceptive Software, Inc. (PSI), the ImageNow vendor on planning our implementation. Over the next few weeks we will continue to refine and detail out the implementation plan and firm up the go live date for phase I and phase II.
The implementation team has accomplished the following tasks over the past few weeks:
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Have been analyzing the EC-Imaging system to identify the data stucture.
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Provided PSI with a list of databases, tables, index fields, page counts and sample data.
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Analyzed server hardware requirements for both test and production servers.
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Have ordered hardware for production server.
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Decided to setup and use existing hardware for test server.
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Have posted two positions in ITS to support the imaging server and system administration.
Over the next week we will add a FAQ page to the Imaging website http://www.smu.edu/intranet/des/Imaging/Default.asp to help answer questions.
For your reference, Phase I includes ImageNow installation and conversion of existing images on EC-Imaging to ImageNow. And Phase II includes workflow implementation for routing and approval of purchase orders and the data capture process for transcripts.
Once ImageNow is installed and the existing data converted, a plan will be developed for establishing new departments and users on the system as well as processing additional requests for the development of workflow processes. Additional information regarding the implementation and project status will be provided throughout the year.
If you have any questions, please contact Joe Papari at 8-2056 or jpapari@smu.edu.
VIPs -
Very Important Ponies
Some of our VIPs this month are:
Our own
Marcia Miller -
Round
Rock, Texas - Fifteen student financial aid administrators from three states
participated in a week-long leadership symposium in which TG provided training
on leadership skills within the context of a campus financial aid office.
The
15-person class completed the second annual Financial Aid Leadership Symposium
Feb. 5-9 at TG's campus. The training focused on core leadership competencies
such as vision, building trust, communication, team building and coaching
skills.
Tom
Rebstock, a TG senior trainer and coordinator of the symposium, said that the
program is tailored specifically for managers in college financial aid
operations who seek leading-edge professional development opportunities.
"These
are people who have been identified as high performers in their financial aid
offices," Rebstock said. "This symposium allows them the opportunity to further
develop their sphere of influence in their organization and within the student
financial aid industry."
Monday Morning Customer Service
The ER staff is
currently reading the book Monday Morning Customer Service by David
Reed and David Cottrell. We have summarized the key points and also shared
the ways we are presently applying the basic principles in our everyday
work.
Chapter 1 –
Listen UP!
You want to keep your existing
customers.
It takes six times the effort to get new customers. Treat current students
and parents well, so they will recommend SMU to other families.
Customer Service is critical to a
successful operation.
We use
instant messaging and email to get the appropriate answer and continually
seek training opportunities within the Division. We
visit
the websites that we often refer students to such as the National Student
Clearinghouse transcript ordering site to make sure that we give them
accurate instruction and to check to see if there have been any changes that
we should know about since the last time we visited the site.
Customer service
can differentiate and set you apart.
If universities offer mostly identical services, recognize that
the
expectations are greater because we are SMU and there are cost and prestige
factors that come with that. We strive to make the families experience with
us enjoyable and educational.
Feedback is needed to gauge
customers to see how they feel.
ER receives many calls and e-mails from students and parents. We share
concerns with individual departments so they can review if a new procedure
or idea needs some fine tuning. Our ER meetings also give us the opportunity
to hear from others within the Division about issues and concerns with which
they are dealing
If you’re going to get feedback from
customers, you better be willing to use it.
Many parents called concerning the Net Pay system not updating to show
tuition has been paid. Student Financials took this feedback and there is
now a line included on the SF eSpace page that indicates the balance shown
might not be current if the payment was made through another payment
method.
Chapter 2 - Scout the Competition
When using outsourcing, you need to hold your partner companies to your
own service standards. Sallie Mae is our new online/billing provider for the university
and we continually share what is working and what is “broken” with the
appropriate people.
Everyone is busy and wants immediate attention
so long lines or holding on a phone line are the number one customer
turn off. We continually look for ways to give a concise but complete answer
to their question striving for a 2-3 minute call but taking longer when
necessary.
Always give the customer a little something extra to show your
appreciation…in French, Lagniappe.
We explain processes and procedures so students and parents can
understand how to avoid a problem in the future.
Look at what the competition is doing. A few years ago the
Executive Directors went on a tour of various universities to see how
their enrollment services offices operated. Among other things, this
resulted in a new and improved way to utilize the ER team.
Take advantage of conferences and conventions to share ideas, learn from
others, and develop new beneficial relationships. Professional
development conferences offer a view of what other universities are
doing, how programs can be improved upon, and how to build relationships
with other colleagues in the industry. Conferences are also great to
hear about new innovations at other universities. This helps us to
examine and identify our own strengths and weaknesses.
Financial Aid Professionals Participate In TG Leadership Symposium
Important Dates
March 26 - Beginning of Enrollment for Summer and Fall '07
April 4 - Last
Day to Drop a Class
April 6 - Good
Friday Holiday
April 23 - Last day to Withdraw from University
May 1 - Last day
of Instruction
May 2-3 - Reading Days
May 4-10 - Final
Examinations
May 19 - Commencement
Quotation of the Month Live and
work to make a difference, to make things better, even the smallest things.
Give full consideration to the rights and interests of others. No business
is successful, even if it flourishes, in a society that does not care for or
about its people.
SMU Trivia
Question
Answer
Division Meeting
March 7
March 12-17 -
Spring Break
Eugene C. Dorsey
The first African American students to be
admitted to degree programs at SMU were five men who enrolled at Perkins in the
fall of 1952. My understanding is that—although a few African Americans had
taken classes at SMU prior to that time—no black persons were allowed at the
University to pursue degrees in any school before the fall of 1952. What
occurred much earlier, however, was the enrollment of Hispanic students.
According to the volume by Howard Grimes (A
History of the Perkins School of Theology [Dallas: SMU Press, 1993] p. 155) an
otherwise unknown man named Santiago Gomez earned his Bachelor of Divinity
degree from the School of Theology in 1919. In 1926 Eleazar Guerra earned his
degree and later became a Bishop in Mexico. The person usually identified as the
earliest Hispanic graduate is Alfredo Nañez, who earned
his B. D. in 1932. He had a long association with SMU and served for a time on
the Perkins faculty.