The promise of a new system is immense. New features and functions inspire fresh ideas and processes. Access to more data drives novel reporting desires. New communication tools create dreams of heretofore unimaginable uber-engaging marketing plans. There’s an expectation that more applications will be received, more donations collected, and more students retained.
But what happens when that’s not the case? Maybe you haven’t been successful in implementing Slate to take advantage of its many features. Or maybe you’ve achieved heightened levels of success, but the work required to manage the system and maintain those results feels unsustainable.
If these thoughts resonate with you, you’re not alone.
What You Need to Do vs. What Can You Do
Slate offers the functionality and flexibility to be configured to do almost anything relevant to an audience served by higher education. But new systems can’t be retrofitted to an old process. Figuring out exactly what you need to do versus what you can do isn’t easy. And when you do home in on what needs to be done, becoming proficient enough in Slate to execute it all, or resourcing a team to configure complementary processes without stepping on each other’s toes, is challenging in any context.
To complicate things further, the work of implementation is never finished. Slate continues to offer new features and enhancements that may have implications for the configurations you’ve established. Which features do you need to begin using? What parts of your process need to be refreshed? When is the right time to make these changes?
Questions like these often lack clear right and wrong answers, and that’s why it can be advantageous to secure the expertise of a Slate Preferred Partner like SIG to evaluate your needs and provide direction on the solutions that make the most sense for your institution both now and in the future.
Diagnostic
One of our primary tools for such evaluations is a Slate diagnostic.
A diagnostic is a holistic evaluation of your Slate database that dives into specific configurations of fields, prompts, forms, checklist items, rules, and more, while also assessing processes and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, and leverage new and under-utilized features. Especially if your institution has used Slate for a few years or longer, it’s an ideal starting point to determine what you need to do, what you can do, and why.
Stacking more processes on top of each other often leads to fewer gains, and less time. A diagnostic may be the intervention you need to determine how to right the ship and ensure you’re making the most of your Slate database.
Training
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you may have Slate but feel that you’ve never taken advantage of its capabilities. Or you have new users who need to learn the system, fast, to manage your processes. These needs speak to training.
Slate is an intuitive system when you understand the basic functions of mapping data and querying. SIG offers training programs to help you do just that, focused on the foundational skills needed to be successful in Slate, as well as the features specific to your lifecycle.
Spending one or two days in person or a handful of sessions virtually with an expert can pay dividends through multiple cycles. It’s not about learning how to do everything in a compressed period of time; that’s impossible. But working through activities such as application building and workflow design help trainees learn what to do, and how to conceive their use of Slate. Developing that underlying understanding of the system is what unlocks its full potential, and yours as a Slate user.
Support
At the intersection of diagnostics and training lies support. You may know what you need or conceptually how to configure it but turning your vision into a functional process in Slate remains a difficult endeavor. That’s where our experts can help. We’ve been in your position before, working as directors and operations managers, and we know how to help you navigate the often less-than-straight path between where you are and where you’re going.
Support may take the form of strategic counsel, which helps you chart the path forward through focused consulting calls. Or maybe you need assistance with technical troubleshooting and guidance on specific Slate configurations offered via . Pair these together and know that you have a partner in your Slate work who can help you execute successfully while you learn, grow, and continue to optimize your Slate database.
The End Goal: Make Slate Work for You
Evaluating your challenges and opportunities, acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to address them, and locating resources to help you along the journey are essential steps to managing any system or process. They’re also difficult objectives to accomplish while facing the day-to-day demands of work in enrollment management, donor engagement, and student support.
Your end goal is to leverage your Slate database and make it work for you, rather than you working for your database. That requires investment. It requires analyzing your processes in Slate, both quantitatively and qualitatively. It requires adding new skills to your Slate repertoire. And it requires engaging with fellow users and experts in the Slate community.
Let us know if we can help. You can find me in the community forums or in the Slate Slack community. Feel free to reach out, connect, and let us know what challenges you’re facing. We can help make the solutions you need a reality.
Josh Henry
Director of Technology and Support Training
