Vanguard University
Laserfiche Process Automation Improves Student Life on Campus
Vanguard University is a private, non-profit university founded in 1920, it currently serves over 2,300 students and 33,000 alumni around the world with a staff of more than 100 full-time faculty on a single campus providing over 30 undergraduate programs and seven graduate degree programs.
The University came to ECS Imaging looking to improve their overall Laserfiche support in 2021. Their Laserfiche system had many forms and workflow processes.
The University wanted to migrate their On-premises Laserfiche to the Cloud and sought a Solution Provider who had the experience and knowledge to support the transition. The Cloud system now includes 40 Full Users and 5,000 Education Participant Users with read-only repository access and the ability to participate in forms processes such as review and approve. The Laserfiche Cloud Business Tier also includes Direct Share, Import Agent with Email Archive, Starter Audit Trail, Workflow and Forms Process Automation, Connector, Surveys, 1 Workflow Bot, 10 instances of Quick Fields Complete with Agent. Integrations with MS Office, SharePoint, Teams, MS Dynamics 365 and Redtail, 50,000 RESTful web API calls/month, and 300 Audio/Video Transcription hours/year.
Many of the challenges the University overcame using Laserfiche were time-consuming, manual processes that included hard-copy paper approvals, staffing and budget constraints with limited tracking and little visibility into these processes at a time when they needed transparency. The information they worked with was not secure when transferred from student to staff and there was a tendency towards slowness to change.
With the continued and increased use of Laserfiche across 15 departments throughout the University, there has been an increase in efficiencies within departments which has given them more capacity to focus on other tasks or projects.
It has also provided greater transparency and streamlined the approval processes for many departments and the forms used in those processes. Additionally, students have high expectations when it comes to technology – they expect resources to be equal in value to the cost of their tuition.
According to Krystal Gowens and Michael Schreck, IT professionals with the University, “Laserfiche has moved our institution in the right direction, providing students with more accessibility and transparency. We now have digital forms, secure and timely transfer of information, and the ability to monitor the progress of each submission.”
Some of the areas improved using Laserfiche Process Automation include Faculty Progress Report, Residence Life Check-Out/Damages Assessment, and Graduate Education Individual Development Plan (IDP).
1. The Faculty Progress Report Form
Allows instructors to evaluate their students’ progress using a secure online form that provides the following features:
- Easy to use, branded form.
- Queried data populated from Student Information System (SIS).
- Filtered based on selections.
- Hidden fields/variables used for automation.
- No manual entry!
- Everyone is a licensed user; forms are private.
2. Residence Life Check-Out Form
- Student workers complete form using mobile devices.
- Review/Approval by Staff.
- Data populated from SIS.
- Based on roommate count, damage calculations are automated.
- Export of Excel report for analysis and billing (i.e. damage assessments).
3. Graduate Education Individual Development Plan (IDP) and integration with DocuSign
- Hybrid signatures
- Laserfiche and DocuSign signatures are used.
- Watermark variables are used to identify where the DocuSign signature(s) go.
- Form variables interact with the DocuSign workflow.
- No manual interaction!
- Used script rules and on-site DLL (dynamic link library) files.
- Signed forms return from DocuSign and replace the original form in repository.
- Document link is generated and passed back to the form/process for future reviewers to view signed document.
The use of Laserfiche has grown throughout the University due to hosting discovery sessions with departments prior to beginning any new projects. By demonstrating similar projects, the team can see first-hand what they can expect. They also leverage the power of auto-populated forms with data from the SIS and the ability to provide “checkpoints” throughout the process – these types of efficiencies tend to be real game changers!! Most of the forms and processes are built and managed by IT, so their end-users can focus on learning basic functionality then grow and expand their product once they feel comfortable. University IT also provides 1-on-1 training for departments who will be “owning” the process or managing the repository. Lastly, IT constantly discusses the progress and benefits of Laserfiche with the university’s executive team to foster buy-in and continued success with Laserfiche in the future.
Other Projects the University is planning include:
| Event Inquiry Request Audio/Visual Request Housing/Meal Accommodations Emotional Support Animal Request Office Relocation Request Delta Kappa Nominations/Application Process Request for Hire (Staff/Temp/Student Worker) Performance Evaluations (Self Eval / Staff Eval) Payroll/Position Change Request IT On-boarding / Supplemental Access Classroom Issue Request | Living Well Resource Request Music Dept Audition Request Adjunct Hire/Contract Process Housing Cancellation Request Student Care & Conduct Release Change of Address / Grade / Name Leave of Absence Request Withdrawal Request And More!! |
“ECS should win a NOBLE prize in CUSTOMER SERVICE”, said University IT staff, Krystal, and Michael. “From 1st, 2nd level helpdesk support (Frank, Kyle, etc..), to project support (Toni, Gilbert, Michelle), our account Rep. Laura Wayman and all the development folks. Everyone we have interacted with is highly professional, knowledgeable, and is eager to fix, help, or create. We are so impressed with the amount of service ECS management has provided. This really makes them stand out amongst their peers. Excellent job ECS.”
