2. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Put Everything at Your E-Fingertips: Practical ideas for creating a comprehensive electronic student financial aid record Presented by: Vickie Crupper & Doug Levy University of Michigan

3. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Agenda University of Michigan Financial Aid Office Volumes Service Model Service Challenges Components of a Comprehensive Electronic Student FA Record UM Electronic Student FA Record A Few Cool (and cheap) Tools Questions, Wrap-Up

4. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS UM-OFA Annual Volumes 20,000 students applied for aid 60,000 phone calls were received 15,000 walk-in visits occurred 250,000+ document pages were received 500,000+ e-mails and/or letters were sent 650,000+ hits were made by students on financial aid self-serve web transactions 50,000+ view-only hits were made by parents on financial aid self-serve web transactions

5. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS UM-OFA Service Model Professional staff speak directly with all visitors. Staff are assigned on a rotating basis to walk-in advising, answering phones and responding to emails Satellite office is staffed part-time E-mail is preferred form of communications Proactively provide students with information and encourage them to utilize self-service transactions/ other resources

6. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Service Challenges Managing Information and Data Achieving More with Less Meeting Student Expectations for Immediate Response Meeting Parent Expectations for Information/ FERPA Conflicts Archiving Documentation for Audit Trail Validating what students verbally say/claim

7. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Comprehensive Electronic Student FA Record Financial Aid Data Documents/E-Mails Received In-Person Visits Comments E-Mails Sent Letters Sent Self-Serve Activity by Student Phone Calls Received Self-Serve Viewing by Parent Miscellaneous Documentation

8. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS University of Michigan Electronic Student FA Record

9. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Introducing ELVIS ELectronic Visitor Information System

10. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS What is ELVIS? An automated student sign-in, queue management and reporting system Replaces old paper sign-in approach OFA-developed MS Access database application Data is integrated with PeopleSoft, both on the front end and the back-end Also used for student phone traffic in OFA

11. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 1. The student’s M-Card is swiped. A name lookup is automatically performed. The ELVIS Process

12. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 2. A desktop dashboard notifies counselors assigned to walk-in traffic of visitors. The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

13. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 3. An available counselor checks a box on the dashboard which assigns to him/her the next visitor waiting. The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

14. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 4. The counselor clicks the “Show Previous Visits” button and then cut-and-pastes the ID from ELVIS into PeopleSoft to bring up the student’s FA Status screen The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

15. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 5. The counselor goes from his/her office to the lobby and greets the student by first name. (This impresses the student who did not initially give his/her name to the receptionist). The student then follows the counselor to the counselor's office. The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

16. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 6. After the counseling session is finished, the counselor clicks the “Visit Completed” button on the dashboard. The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

17. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS 7. A communications record is automatically posted to the student’s PeopleSoft record, showing the date of the visit and the counselor’s name The ELVIS Process (cont’d)

18. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS ELVIS Benefits Increased privacy for students More productive advising sessions with the student Proactive staff resource management More effective peak-load management Data-driven evaluation of service Data-driven training of staff More flexibility in the physical layout of the office More professional, satisfying and efficient sign-in and waiting-room experience for visitors

19. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Keyboard Record/Playback Software

20. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Keystroke Record/Playback Many tasks in financial aid require repetitive keystroke data entry post receipt of student/parent tax returns acceptance/declination of awards aid year setup etc. Record/playback software can help save time, effort and minimize data entry errors It also can be used to post items such as e-mails sent, survey results, etc. to a student’s comprehensive electronic FA record

21. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS How it works Click the ‘Record’ button Type in a set of repetitive keystrokes Assign a hot-key (i.e. alt-p) to the keystrokes Type only the hot-key each subsequent time you want the repetitive keystrokes to appear. Inexpensive – usually under $100.00 Search web for “keyboard macro” Keyboard Express, Journal Macro, iMacros Some work with web, some not Keystroke Record/Playback (cont’d)

22. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Bulk E-Mail Software

23. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Bulk E-Mail Software Process Bulk E-Mail Software Process 1. 1. Identify students (ad hoc query, etc.) 2. 2. Create message text including merge fields 3. 3. Import student list and message text into bulk e-mail software (MS Outlook, WorldCast, etc.) 4. 4. Send personalized messages to all students with one mouse-click 5. 5. Student receives the message, and immediately does what s/he needs to do (yeah, right…..) 6. 6. Record the sending of e-mail on student’s electronic record (batch upload, keystroke playback, etc)

24. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Bulk E-Mail Software Process Step 6 – E-Mail recorded on student’s record

25. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS On-Line Survey Tools

26. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Many survey uses in a financial aid office customer service/satisfaction student budget (housing, books, etc) loan counseling scholarship effectiveness health care coverage etc. Inexpensive (less than $100 for 1-year, unlimited use) and easy to use for all steps in the process (survey setup, sending survey, tracking respondents, tabulating/analyzing results) Popular ones: SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, Surveygizmo (google “survey tools” for comprehensive list) Where appropriate, record the responses on student’s electronic FA record (batch upload, keystroke playback, etc) On-Line Survey Tools

27. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS

28. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Document Imaging Software

29. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Imaged Student Documents 2. Data entry staff access each scanned student document image, post the document as received on the financial aid system tracking module and index the document to the imaging system 1.b. Student Documents faxed are received by Fax Server (no paper). 1.a. Student Documents received on paper are scanned. 3. Student documents are accessed directly from the imaging system for ad hoc inquiries. Students Ready for Verifi- cation 4. Documents for students ready for verification are auto- routed to a work queue. 5. Counselors access the imaged documents for students ready for verification, along with the corresponding screens from the financial aid system. 6. Student documents are stored on the imaging system for as long as they are needed to meet regulatory and other requirements Example of Imaging in a Financial Aid Office

30. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Questions & Wrap-Up

31. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS Contact Information Vickie Crupper vcrupper@umich.edu Doug Levy douglevy@umich.edu Office of Financial Aid University of Michigan 2500 Student Activities Bldg. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316 Phone: (734) 763-4119 FAX:(734) 615-2641

32. MINNEAPOLIS, MN OCTOBER 18-21 MASFAA: TIME TO REFOCUS The Big Finish Drum Roll, please…...