1. Graduation Check-Outs, Degree Works and a Slice of Commencement
Grilling out at Samford University
Jay Flynn, University Registrar
Samford University
Birmingham, Alabama

2. A Case Study in Modernizing Degree Check-Outs At Samford
Your results may vary!

3. Our Agenda I. The way things were
II. Identifying areas for improvement in awarding degrees
III. What resources do we already have
IV. Determining what we should do – make a PLAN!
V. Establishing timelines
VI. How we tie it all together

4. I. The Way Things Were Implemented Banner in 2007 and DW in 2009
One person responsible for scribing, the academic catalog, and Banner creation and maintenance of courses and requisites
2007: Three persons, one part-time, for all grad check- outs
As enrollment increased, it soon became one person responsible for all check-outs around 2008 (4,076 students)
Everything managed on the “Rock” – an Excel spreadsheet
DW not built out because staff resources spread too thin

5. … And Those Grad Check-Outs…
Responsibility of advisors for each graduating student
Registrar staff (one person) checked each one
All done on paper and Excel – tremendous duplication

6. II. Identifying Areas for Improvement
Started an analysis of business processes in 2013
DW was languishing because:
Poor initial launch on campus
Inadequate staffing devoted to DW
A whole lot of basic inefficiencies in business processes
Academic policies were out of kilter because of mistaken belief that Banner couldn’t do some basic stuff
I like to call this the “Bless your heart!” phase

7. III. What Resources do we have?
Data – we live in the shadow of wonky decisions made way back when
Software – Banner, DW, and Argos
People! We have good people who need resources and direction!

8. IV. Determining What to Do
Our goal was simple: Let the software do the work for us
Remove the manual time-consuming steps
Too much redundancy in the schools and our office
Use DW to inform us of who has completed degree requirements
Well, that was easy!

9. Doing the Prep Work Communication, communication, communication!
Many conversations with advisors about what we currently do and how we can make it more efficient
Practice and play and try again!
Lots of experimenting with CPA tables, DW, planner, Banner grad app

10. Investment by Administration
Provost paid for DW training for additional staff
Scribing
SEP
Room scheduling upgrade helped highlight our needs

11. V. Establish Timelines Two years to update DW scribing
One year to train & implement SEP in CHS & Business
One year to get CPA tables & reporting set up
Fall 2017 – our first real DW degree conferral

12. VI. How We Tie It All Together
Banner Grad App
Degree Works
Undergraduate programs built out
Substitutions/Petitions now submitted through DW Petition tab – no more paper!
Process ready now to create batch degree audits for our December grads and send them to BDMS
CPA tables established
Argos Reports tested and ready to run – they hit CPA, DW, and Banner

13. Our Argos Report

14. And Our Results

15. SHADEGR for Walk-Early at Commencement

16. Now how it looks in SHADEGR

17. After the Grad App Used by Student…

18. VII. Commencement Program has Needs, Too
Program must be complete three weeks before ceremonies
Must include pending graduates and walk-earlies
Ta Dah! They’re now in the report used to pull names for program

19. And Something New!
In fiscal year , commencement will now be self- funding
Using the Argos reports, we’re able to guestimate how many graduates we’ll have a year out
Important because of size of venues

20. Extra Benefits
We know a lot more today about DW data and how to report it -- so many benefits to you once you know your data
Less duplication of effort on campus – we’re letting the software do the work for us!

21. Remember this?

22. Now We Have This!

23. Next Steps
Create Argos dashboards for academic advisors to use DW CPA data
Continue to push check-outs to advisors – they know the students better than us
Listen! Listen to what advisors need and provide the tools they require

24. And We’ll Leave You With:
Dr. Andrew Westmoreland, President of Samford University

25. Thank you!