Give the best first impression of your school with Slate Portals
Among Slate features that you can implement in your work, Slate Portal is one of the most student-facing ones. While Slate queries, reports, and forms help you to optimize your work, Slate Portal can assist applicants and students in checking their application status and understanding what’s their next steps.
Since Slate Portals need to be configured, it is highly recommended for practitioners who do not have a computer science background to work with the Slate/Technology team to build any portal.
In this light, I will share how I collaborated with the IT department on campus to build the portal that the office needed.
Before we dive in, let’s look at the beauty of Slate Portals first.
Real case scenario- Benefits of using Slate Portals:
*Before the CRM (BC) and after the CRM adoption (AD)
BC: The office followed up with the students individually when they were missing documents to be accepted or to be issued immigration documents.
AD: A visual checklist is available in the portal for applicants to see what they are missing to be issued immigration documents. This visualization is helpful for staff members to check the status of each candidate as well.
What is more, applicants can click each item to complete the form if it is available online. Instead of sharing information on each step, staff can share the link to the portal where students can find the exact steps to complete the application.
- AD: Slate allows staff members to impersonate the view and see what the portal looks like from the student’s view.
This is especially helpful to advise international students as staff can take a screenshot of the portal and share it with them. By doing so, students can clearly understand what they need to look for.
- AD: Just like Slate Mailings or Forms can be personalized based on certain fields, Slate Portals can be personalized based on their majors, home countries, and education level, just to name a few.
For example, students who got admitted into the MBA program can see the MBA advisors’ information only in the portal. In the same light, students from China can see testimonials from Chinese students in the portal.
- BC: A lot of information was sent to accepted students via email.
- AD: Students can take a look at the portal at their own pace and explore campus resources, visit office web pages, and whatever the portal provides.
- BC: There was no single place for internship applicants to check the internship application process and all of the communication was 100% email-based.
- AD: Internship applicants who meet the eligibility can access the Internship Portal where they can check the next step and learn what to expect at each stage of the process. Having a portal makes it easier for staff to follow up with students as well.
In addition to the current Slate Portals that we have, here is the list of portals that I would like to have in the future. Hope this inspires what you can do with Slate Portals!
When it comes to International Education, agents play a critical role. That being said, there’s no centralized platform where they can check each student’s application status. Currently, all of the communication is based on the email.
With Agent Portal, agents may be able to see the update for each applicant in real-time. By doing so, the International Office does not need to perform the repetitive job of providing updates for each international applicant.
Similar to the Agent Portal, a portal for partnered universities can be built for exchange students. From there, each partnered overseas university can nominate students for the upcoming term’s exchange program, check updates on the application process, notify the withdrawal, and download necessary documents including the transcript.
The portal provides a platform for external stakeholders to access real-time data which will increase efficiency and accuracy.
With the Alumni Portal, alumni can sign up for the mentoring program and be connected with current students. They can also be invited to alumni events based on the region which could increase the participation rate.
How to create Slate Portals
Slate Portals require advanced knowledge especially if you are building it from scratch. For administrators who are not in the IT office, the best way to create a customized Portal is to work with the Slate/Technology team on campus.
It is also possible to work with the Slate consulting agency where Slate professionals can work with you to develop whatever you need if this is something your office is interested in investing in.
Luckily, I was able to work with the dedicated and knowledgeable Slate professional on campus. One thing that I learned from the Slate Portal development project is that communication and documentation are the key.
I will share how I led the Slate Portal development project which is rated 4.5 rating from real users (students).
1. Compile anecdotal evidence that shows current issues
The first thing that I did even before start designing the Slate Portal was to share pain points and problems with the Slate team. To do so, I complied with the interaction between the office and students which helped me to find the common theme.
This documentation of complaints from students was very useful in communicating with other offices providing a rationale on why we have to improve the process– because the truth is, changes are not usually welcomed!
2. Propose how Slate Portal can solve or improve the issues
Then, I shared my ideas about how Slate Portal could help make the process better. I also asked them if what I envision is feasible.
As the Slate team could see the anecdotal evidence, they were willing to use their Slate magic to solve the problem.
3. Create the flow
Once I got verbal and written approval from the Slate team that they were willing and available for this project, I started creating the flow.
There are many flowchart makers out there that you can take advantage of. As my office uses Google Drive and Google Suites, I went with Google Flowchart Maker. I found the flowchart handy as I could not only refer to it when I was confused with the new process but also print this out and share it with colleagues until they were familiarized with the new process.
4. Provide content to the IT department
When the flow is finalized, you will have a better sense of what needs to be created to launch the portal. For example, you will need Slate Mailings to be set up which will help users to know what to expect next.
If you haven’t, check out the article titled Slate CRM Mailings Best Practices to learn step-by-step how to create Slate Mailings.
Similarly, Slate Forms (or Applications) are necessary to give users (students) access to the portal. Since the office used PDF files before the Slate Portal, we worked on creating Slate Forms to transition from PDF files to Slate forms.
To learn more about Slate Forms, go to the article, Slate CRM Forms Best Practices.
In addition to the Slate components, you would need content for the portal– remember that Technology professionals assist you with computer skills and practitioners have working knowledge of the process. In this sense, the wording should be provided to the IT department to build a portal that can actually solve the problem.
After you provide materials and contents, it’s time to wait for the Slate/Technology team to work on it. Throughout the process, be sure to make yourself available to answer inquiries that may arise.
When the Slate Portal was ready to be launched, I was excited to see the outcome but at the same time, I got nervous. It is because now it was my job to persuade colleagues on campus to be on board and see the benefits of Slate Portals!
1. Start with the observed issues
At the meeting, I started by showing my gratitude for their time and willingness to meet with me. Then, I showed the document that I complied with what students had to say about the before-Slate Portal process. I also did a quick math and shared the percentage of students who had a hard time going through the process.
2. Share the flowchart
Then, I shared the flowchart which visually helped my colleagues to understand the new process. I made it clear that there will be no change on their part since (again) not everyone loves to change the process!
Thankfully, my colleagues in different offices agreed with the common issues with the process and were willing to transition from email-based communications to a Slate-based process.
It is important to have everyone on the same page by saying that having the portal itself is not a done deal and it will be improved based on the user feedback.
3. Communicate the change
After my office got a green light from other offices as well, my office updated the official web pages and communicated with students regarding the updated process.
I personally think Spring terms are a great time to experiment with new processes compared to Fall terms.
The process of examining the current issues and solving the issues continues even after the launch.
1. Identify the gap
As the Slate Portal goes live, you will find the need to create more reports and queries based on the form submissions that are tied to the portal.
In this stage, you may need to work with the Slate/Technology team again to add or update the fields.
One of the great examples is creating Slate Queries and Reports to investigate where the lag time happens along the process and setting up reminder mailings.
To learn how to create Slate Queries and Reports based on the forms, please go to the Slate CRM Queries Best Practices and Slate CRM Reports Best Practices respectively.
2. Follow-up meetings with the Slate team
By having follow-up meetings with the Slate/Technology team, I could share user behavior and what is less clear for users and update the wording or process.
Additionally, it is a good practice to include the evaluation form in the portal to get the quantitative measures on how Slate Portal implementation helped students and staff to have a positive experience.
3. Follow-up with colleagues
The percentage or numbers are also useful in following up with colleagues and ensuring continued collaboration.
It’s not realistic to assume that your colleagues will follow the new process from day 1. Be patient and continue to work with them until the Portal serves the needs and meets its goal.
Working on Slate Portal is an opportunity to put your knowledge of Slate features- Mailings, Forms, Queries, and Reports- together.
Whether your institution just started using Slate or you are a seasoned professional, hope the How to Automate Repetitive Tasks with Slate CRM series helped you to envision what Slate CRM can offer for your office and students.
If you found this series informative, check out other series on the Professional page!
Did you find it helpful?
Click the button below to check out all the Professional series!
© copyright SEVIS SAVVY 2024