Driven by the university's strategic enrollment and retention initiatives, new Constituent Relationship Management technologies are being employed across the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The new CRM technologies – Salesforce and Target X — are much more powerful and sophisticated than previous solutions and a new Office of Enterprise CRM has been created to leverage existing expertise and enhance the collaboration necessary to achieve campus- and college-level goals.
Salesforce and Target X, the systems that support recruitment, were implemented in May 2022, replacing legacy solution Talisma. Salesforce’s Student Success Hub will support retention and is scheduled to go live in January 2023, replacing legacy solution Starfish.
Student Success Hub will give advisors and other student success professionals ways to more easily communicate with their caseloads and to prioritize students in need of support through a more robust data platform. Being a Salesforce solution, Student Success Hub will provide more continuity in communication with students from matriculation through graduation.
The Office of Enterprise CRM is a new, administrative unit within the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor that has been created to help support the expanded role of the university’s CRM technology across campus for student recruitment, retention, and communications. Comprised of existing staff and operating budget from Academic Services and Enrollment Management, the team will be expanded with four new staff through a reorganization of resources within Undergraduate Education and Student Success, Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics, and the Office of Graduate Studies, along with support provided through external grant funds. As a more centralized unit, the Office of Enterprise CRM will be better positioned to support the entire campus’ current and future needs.
“Large universities like UNL need highly specialized data and communication systems to ensure that we are meeting students' needs,” said Executive Vice Chancellor Katherine Ankerson. “Enrollment and retention are among our highest priorities, and I am pleased with the partnership and resourcefulness of these teams coming together to work toward achieving our big goals."
The new office will report to James Volkmer, assistant vice chancellor for budget, planning, and analytics, aligning it with Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics to leverage existing data management infrastructure and resources for holistic analytics. A CRM Governance Team, made up of a user council, operational leads, and steering committee will be created to ensure effective management and use of CRM processes, systems, and data. They will be advisory to the CRM executive sponsor, the Executive Vice Chancellor.
Learn more at crm.unl.edu or contact Kelly Caldwell, director of Enterprise CRM.
