We’re excited to involve you in shaping the future of Vassar’s student information system (SIS)! The SIS Enhancement Initiative focuses on improving how we manage and support student academic records. To ensure the new system meets our community’s needs, we’re conducting capability reviews and need your expertise.

We are currently planning a multi-day capability review workshop with Ellucian, our Banner software vendor and SIS Enhancement Initiative implementation partner. Our goal is to schedule the workshop as early in the semester as possible. We will notify you once the final dates and times are confirmed. At that time, we will also provide a detailed schedule, including specific sessions for each SIS key process and system, so you can plan your attendance accordingly.

Many representatives across the College have already provided input on our current processes and shared ideas for the future. We will continuously gather input from our community to ensure that an improved student experience remains core to our efforts. You can learn more about our commitment to community participation and guidance at go.vassar.edu/sisproject/communityguidance.

What should I expect from the capability review workshop?
At this multi-day interactive workshop, we will work together to review key processes and systems that you use to manage student records and achieve specific goals.

• What is the format? Over multiple days, there will be hybrid in-person and Zoom sessions (which will be recorded if you cannot attend). We will share a detailed schedule, including specific sessions for each SIS key process and system, so you can plan your attendance accordingly.
• How long will the individual workshop sessions be? Each session will be approximately 2 hours long and focus on 3-4 key processes and systems.
• Who is invited to participate? Ellucian and Vassar project managers, Ellucian solutions architects, Ellucian consultants, Vassar SIS users, and you!

Why are we doing this?
In these sessions, we’ll focus on current challenges, the tools you use, and your goals. Together, we’ll identify the processes causing problems and discuss the best ways to reach the desired results.

What do I need to do to prepare?
Please come ready to review your current business processes and procedures. We’ll provide a list of key processes along with some questions to help guide your thoughts.

What’s in it for me?
We encourage participants to take advantage of the time with Ellucian to share what they would like to see in the SIS environment and what challenges they face with their current processes. Your input will directly influence the SIS design and ensure it best serves the needs of the Vassar community!

How else can I get involved?
There are various ways to get involved with the SIS Enhancement Initiative, each with different time commitments, so please consider joining us in any way you can at go.vassar.edu/sisproject/getinvolved

This message was originally sent as a visual newsletter from Angela Anderson, Registrar to members of the [All] mailing list. You can view a copy of that email in its original format here.