Like many other institutions, HJC’s operation and technology has evolved significantly since it adopted the CampusVue administrative solution in 2003. Since then, a new learning management system and the introduction of online courses led to its implementation of CampusPortal in 2005.

Online courses became popular immediately, enabling HJC’s many non-traditional students to balance their educational goals with jobs and family. The success of online courses quickly tapped a vein with HJC’s tech-savvy student population. In 2004, selected Campus Management’s CampusPortal as its Web solution.

According to Cathy Snoddy, Assistant Director, “The leadership at HJC realized that the CampusPortal product could help the college recognize three strategic goals. First, we could provide a gateway for all students to have 24/7 access to the college and online resources. Second, dynamic functionality could increase enrollments in our distance education initiative, appealing to a nationwide population. Lastly, CampusPortal could help us scale to serve an increased student population while maintaining staff overhead and, most importantly, without compromising the level of service provided to the individual applicant or student.”

As the portal was implemented, all processes were evaluated for impact. HJC implemented features which empowered students and staff, and therefore ensured that the supporting processes were defined to accommodate a self service environment. CampusPortal’s integration with CampusVue, the student information system, allowed staff members to adapt to the new service channel without significant additional training.

“The portal’s interface with CampusVue allows for effective communication between the HJC staff and students, all which is captured and tracked for audit and compliance purposes.”

Aesthetically, the Campus Portal solution was branded to look and feel like the school’s existing marketing site. This facilitated a smooth transition for applicants and students to relevant actions and content on the portal. In fact, CampusPortal accommodated the college’s rules which determined allowable actions and content specific to the student’s progress in their lifecycle.

Benefits were almost immediately realized. HJC was able to use CampusPortal’s online application to streamline applications via the web. All applicants were automatically validated for uniqueness, and processed in real time to the student information system. The college was also able to define workflow which allowed its admissions staff to process online applicants with little or no additional training.

The portal also provided immediate benefit to existing students, who were able to complete online course selection and advising during the registration period.

“The ability for students to meet many reoccurring needs such as scheduling, paying bills, and verifying attendance without the assistance of an employee has increased staff efficiency. Within the first week of introducing online registration approximately 25% of the student population utilized the portal to schedule classes. This reduced the amount of time HJC’s academic staff allocated on scheduling by 11.5 hours in one week.” – Cathy Snoddy.

The portal was rapidly adopted by the student body. As students moved to the web to view their degree progress, validate finances and financial aid and perform other actions, the volume of students requesting assistance in-person declined. Staff members were able to direct students to the portal for simple requests, and focus their efforts on students with complex issues. Ultimately, the quality of service delivered to students increased.

The portal also provided students with a single access point to all online resources. Ground, online and hybrid students all used the portal to launch to relevant applications.
The portal also provided the school with a powerful communications tool. Students could be targeted individually or by group and receive communication via web alerts or e-mail. The portal also allows to school to track whether students choose to acknowledge the message sent to them.

Communications, centralized application access and comprehensive self-service provided in a secure environment, met the needs of a tech savvy student population and also resulted in campus-wide improvements.