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FLORIDA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

Laying the Foundation for SaaS Success with Strategic Business Process Redesign and True Partnership

institutional profile

Florida Polytechnic University, established in 2012 in Lakeland, Florida, is the state’s only public institution exclusively dedicated to STEM education. With over 1,700 students, Florida Poly offers 12 undergraduate and 5 graduate programs, emphasizing hands-on, project-based learning. The university boasts a 17:1 student-to-faculty ratio and is accredited by SACSCOC, with several programs also accredited by ABET.

Challenge

Florida Polytechnic University faced a familiar yet critical challenge in higher education: preparing for a cloud-based ERP migration without full visibility into its existing business processes.

Early in their implementation of Ellucian Student powered by Banner, it became evident that without a clear understanding of current workflows, the university risked replicating outdated and inefficient practices in the new system — a costly and avoidable mistake. Florida Poly also recognized that a Ellucian Student implementation was far more than a technical upgrade.

Success required cross- campus collaboration, active stakeholder engagement, and thoughtful change management — all while keeping day-to- day operations running smoothly.

SOLUTIONS

Florida Poly brought in SIG to help establish the foundational work necessary for success. Together, they focused on:

  • Business Process Analysis (BPA): SIG led a comprehensive exercise to uncover the university’s true “current state” processes. They identified hidden “shadow systems” (e.g., undocumented sticky-note tracking) that created invisible inefficiencies.
  • Customer Architecture Reference Model (CARM): With Ellucian, Florida Poly mapped its future state, aligning technology with strategic goals and highlighting gaps that needed to be addressed before going live.
  • Collaboration Crews: Florida Poly established stakeholder groups across functional areas — including critical partners like the Registrar — to ensure shared ownership of the project.
  • Change Management: Early and continuous communication emphasized the “why” behind every change. Florida Poly fostered open conversations about challenges, set realistic expectations, and tackled resistance proactively.

RESULTS & IMPACT

Laying the Foundation for SaaS Success

  • Clear Process Understanding: Established a detailed inventory of current processes, highlighting critical gaps and inefficiencies with strategic business process redesign and true partnership.
  • Actionable Roadmap: Provided documentation that directly informed Ellucian Student configurations and governance planning.
  • Cultural Shift: Fostered collaboration across departments through Florida Poly’s “Collaboration Crews” approach.
  • Change Management Success: Helped institutional leaders recognize that SaaS implementation is a university-wide initiative, not just a technology upgrade.
  • Built Institutional Trust: Through flexibility, honesty, and embedded partnership, SIG became a trusted extension of Florida Poly’s team.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

Looking ahead, Florida Polytechnic University sees long-term value in SIG’s methodology and plans to apply the same business process mapping and cross-functional collaboration techniques to future SaaS and ERP initiatives. The structured, stakeholder-driven approach has proven so effective that SIG’s framework is now considered a best-practice model for scalable, sustainable technology transformation — not only within Florida Poly, but also as a standard the university is proud to share with peer institutions navigating similar modernization efforts.

  • Collaboration Crews: Florida Poly established stakeholder groups across functional areas — including critical partners like the Registrar — to ensure shared ownership of the project.
  • Change Management: Early and continuous communication emphasized the “why” behind every change. Florida Poly fostered open conversations about challenges, set realistic expectations, and tackled resistance proactively.

“SIG’s consultants didn’t feel like external contractors — they were embedded in our team, responsive to our needs, and committed to our success. Their flexibility during a hurricane and thoughtful approach to project documentation made a major impact. We’re excited to continue this partnership.”

— Laura Marrone, Florida Polytechnic University
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