100,000 Documents – Best Practices in Admissions Processing Presented by: Sheila Gray Texas Tech University Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions

Landscape University’s Growth Initiative 40,000 students by 2020 (2.7% increase yearly) Emerging Research Institution Increase quality of freshman class New Administration

Processing Unit All Undergraduate applications into University Undergraduate Admissions call center Management System responses Residency Determination File management & Data clean-up

Additional 2500 apps annually for Second degree, Non degree & former Tech students 80,546 documents counted as received in management system responses vary from 350 – 1,000 monthly Production Volume

Challenges Long wait times for documents to be processed Dropped calls : 20%-40% Customer service issues Culture

Where in the world do you begin…. Auditing processes & Identifying needs Knowledge & Training Gaps Customer Service Issues Operational Changes Personnel

Knowledge/Training Gaps Walk through all processes Create process documentation Cross train staff Accountability: TOGAK Increase communications Weekly staff meetings Training opportunities

Customer Service Initiative Determine peak call times & revamp scheduling Utilize all staff in department Website changes Create Major Change & Withdraw options on website Marketing campaigns Review student portal/clarify Provide documentation/information to everyone taking calls

Grab a partner… Partnership with Industrial Engineering Reorganization of document storage Revised date stamp Streamlined process Partnership with IT Creation of Audit & Clean up reports (Quality Control) Reformulated high school transcript Quality control

Personnel Update position description Revise expectations Increase 1-on-1 communications Restructure responsibilities Address concerns

Culture Revisions to… hiring process dress code expectations & responsibilities Career goals Need to be open to change

Initial Results 75% reduction in document wait time 25% reduction in staff 95% success rate on incoming calls

déjà vu Recruiter Implementation & changing state educational requirements Processes changing…again! Shifting responsibilities and priorities Different personnel concerns

Thank you! Sheila Gray