Implementing a Student Appointment System

1. Implementing a Student Appointment System MAEE Charlie Endicott Salisbury University rcendicott@salisbury.edu http://www.salisbury.edu/careerservices/Facstaff/Presentations /default.htmlGreat to be here and thank you!

2. Why Do You Want An Online Appointment System? • I will give you 5 minutes to come up with your David Letterman’s Top Ten Reasons to Buy An Online Appointment System

3. Why Implement One? Our Top 10! • My boss told me too! • It really got old trying to make an appointment with a student when you had to email them back and forth 4-5 times! • To save staff members time. • We had the money available! • The students wanted it! • To make it easy for the students • To be as advanced technologically as we could be • To cut down on emailing and calling students • To be able to use our time on other projects • To take longer lunches with all that free time!

4. Who Did We Choose and Why? • We elected to go with a company called:Career Dimensions Leonard (Lenny) Harris, Partner lennyh@attglobal.net (919) 876-1623 • We have utilized them for 2 other projects including:-Online Credential File System-First Destination Survey First Destination Table • The product is called OASIS (Online Appointment Scheduling Information System): • These products worked well and the service was outstanding. • By the way he is not paying me anything for this plug and I don’t know why not!

5. Some Of The Schools That Are Using Career Dimension Products Are: • UNC Chapel Hill • UNC Kenan-Flagler • ClemsonWellsley • Florida State • Meredith • University of Wisconsin-Green Bay • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • Tufts • University of Vermont • North Carolina State (MBA school) • University of Maryland • Salisbury • Ft. Hays State • Mt. Olive • Eleads Consortium: (UNC Chapel Hill, South Carolina, Greensboro College, NCSU, UNC Charlotte, • UNC Wilmington, UNC Asheville, University of Georgia, Duke, UNC Greensboro, Clemson, Elon, Wake • Forest, Meredith) • And did we mention SALISBURY UNIVERSITY! • Yea Sammy!!

6. How Did We Finance It and How Much Was the System? • We begged from everyone • We utilized some of our monies from our Job Fairs • The cost of the system was $2900 but we made some customizations such as: -Being able to view all counselors appointments at once -Collecting monthly statistics on usage The total cost was around $3300 for us.

7. How Does This System Work Technically? • Please don’t fall asleep due to this technical stuff-I will go through it fast! • All user access is via browser. System runs entirely on a web server and consists of the following major components: • a) HTML pages • b)Javascript functions • 3)Embedded database scripting language (similar to PHP or ASP) • 4)Database (Access is generally used, but other alternatives (e.g. MYSQL, are also available)

8. How Does It Work Functionally? • From the Student Side: • To make an appointment they simply go to http://www.salisbury.edu/careerservices, and click on “Make an Appointment” • Follow a few very simple instructions • That is all there is to it for them and they love it. • I surveyed 26 students who initially used the system and they all said they preferred this system. • 22 out of the 26 made their appointments after 5 PM.

9. From The Staff Side: • The staff piece allows each career services staff member to easily manage her/his students appointments. The following functions are provided. • View Appointments: This is the most basic function. Via simple menu selections, each counselor can easily review his student-entered appointments. All the information which the student entered when the appointment was scheduled is easily viewable by the counselor.

10. From The (happy) Staff Side: • Set/View Blackout Days: The counselor can black-out days -- days on which, for any reason, she/he does not accept student appointments. Blacked-out days do not appear as possible appointment days when the student is selecting an appointment day. • Set/View Blackout Times: The counselor can black-out times -- times during specific days which, for any reason, he does not accept student appointments. Blacked-out times do not appear as possible appointment times when the student is selecting an appointment time. • General: The prototype is set up for 30 minute appointments. • We will view the staff side later.

11. How Did We Set It Up and Market It? • We spent many anxious hours on the marketing plan. • The Director and I put our creative heads together and came up with a wonderful marketing plan! • We sent out one email to all the students and explained the system! • That is all it took. The students immediately started using the system and phone calls decreased. • Setup consisted of one link to our homepage

12. Benefits • The students love it-they can now make their appointments anytime they want and can do it quickly. • Staff likes it because they are in control of their schedule and it gives 3 levels of access: • 1. - This is the standard password providing the user all normal staff functions but disallowing modification of Dept Blackouts. We give this to our front desk student. • 2.- This is the super password providing all normal staff functions including the modification of Dept Blackouts. • 3. - This is the admin password. It is used only to allow modification of the counselor list.

13. More Benefits • Now we simply direct the student to our website for an appointment. • Easy for our front desk worker to printout the days appointments. • Counselors control their appointment times. • The Director can view all appointments and schedule staff meetings. • No technological skills necessary other than linking it to your website

14. Statistics • APRIL/MAY 2006 • -77 scheduled appointments in April 2006 (prior to the system) and 28 walk-ins for a total of 105 appointments this month. -93 scheduled appointments in May 2006 (after implementing the system) and 19 walk-in appointments for a total of 112 appointments. ►As you can see scheduled appointments were up and our walk ins were down. ►This is for 2 Counselors for the most part. Typically walk-ins consist of 40-50 more students per month.

15. More Stats! • OCTOBER, 2006 (Heavy usage month) • 106 Scheduled Appointments • 26 Walk-In Appointments • OCTOBER, 2005 (Prior to the system) • 81 Scheduled Appointments • 73 Walk In Appointments ►As you can see there are more scheduled appointments now than last year prior to the system and less walk-ins. Overall appointments are down this year but this could be due to various workshops offered and classroom presentations. The appointment opportunities were about the same.

16. Disadvantages/Frustrations • The only disadvantage is the lack of integration with our scheduling system-GroupWise • We have to enter and block out “Student Appointments” from the Online Sign-up system. This is so there is no scheduling of meetings or other appointments at that time. • For example I schedule every M, W, F for student appointments from 9-11:00 AM. I block this out on GroupWise so there is nothing else scheduled. • You must make sure ALL student appointments are made through the online system. • The vendor could integrate but our IT Dept. would not let that happen.

17. Thank You-You Have Been Great! • Charlie Endicott, Associate Director of Career Services, Salisbury University, 410-543-6075, rcendicott@salisbury.edu • Now we can go to the Online appointment System and go through it from both the student and staff views. Click here to go to those links.