Florida International University in Miami has a robust and fast-growing transfer program -- which means they needed to find a way to process students faster.
Toward that end, they found a way to automate two of their process, substantially decreasing the actual time it takes to process a student’s file -- from as long as two months down to under two weeks. In some cases, files only take 24-48 hours to
turn around.
“Automation has removed some of the tedious tasks that machines are good for, and we can spend out time doing the more difficult analysis,” said David Granda, Senior Applications Business Analyst, Transfer and Transition Services.
The robots are coming!
“Automation isn’t as scary as people think -- it’s not ‘the robots are coming to take your jobs,’” Granda said. “It’s actually freeing you up to put resources into researching hard cases, which is what we
need to be working on, something a computer can’t do.”
At FIU, automating manual data entry has sped up processing time, reduced redundant and repetitive work, and eliminated paper.
They’ve automated two processes -- one regarding the generic rule and another regarding the equivalency process. As soon as students’ credits are accepted, the automation creates a rule not only for that student but for all future students
from that institution. All equivalency is built in PeopleSoft as part of the rule database. Now a list that once took a up to a month is done overnight and generic credit is added to the student’s account.
Additionally, as soon as evaluations are approved, the system automatically posts it to the student record. If specific credit posting is needed, people can work on that rather than doing repetitive credit posting , saving three or four days’ of
work.
“The most important thing for successful implementation is agreement,” Granda said. “The division, the administration, and the actual office all need to be on the same page about automation.”
What can you automate?
Learn more about FIU’s process and discover how to make your transfer processes more efficient. Don’t miss Granda’s Sunday afternoon session “Hitting the Jackpot with Automation” at the AACRAO Technology and Transfer Conference, July 14-16, 2019, in Las Vegas.