Clearer, timelier student communications with Argos and HTML email

With these systems in place, the process for students to apply to Holmesglen programs went through a few iterations. Having learned from each one, Holmesglen eventually found a process that worked.

Once a student was accepted, Admissions would enter the data into Banner, either by downloading it from CRM Recruit or by bulk admission using a modified tape load action. The student then had a Banner account and had to log into SSB to register and pay.

The challenge was to communicate this process clearly and concisely. Registration would be the student’s first interaction with SSB. Holmesglen needed to let them know what to do, and how to do it, in a way that was timely, wouldn’t cause confusion, and would elicit prompt action.

Initially, Holmesglen sent these communications as text emails with PDF attachments. As it became necessary to provide more and more information, the number of attachments increased, and the likelihood of a student reading them all decreased.

Holmesglen implemented Evisions Argos around the same time as Banner. Having found Argos helpful in automating other processes and communications, the IS manager turned to it once again.

IST staff set up the template in tables in Adobe Dreamweaver, then transferred the tables back to Argos to insert the data tags. The email automation was set up in Argos to go out daily, triggered by admissions throughout the workday.

The automation runs on an extracted data set, so IST can resend from the extract if required, or if the MAPS server has a connection problem to the SMTP server.

The end result is daily automation of the Letter of Offer (aka Admission letter), a comprehensive instructional report to newly admitted students. It instructs them how to access the SSB portal, provides required statistical and loan information, tells them how to register, and reviews key student amenities and processes.

On the back end, the procedure that does the data extract also logs a comment against the student regarding the letter. While called an offer, this logged communication is post-admission and pre-registration.

Holmesglen was already using Argos automation for other communications. Commonwealth Assistance Notices (CAN), required to notify students of debt they have acquired, were once printed reports mailed to students. The ever-increasing costs of postage and paper, and the staff time to print, stuff, and mail them, made it clear this was not a long-term solution.

With Argos, these notices are now sent via automated email. With classes starting and ending on various dates, the automation runs monthly and picks up all registrations with specific rate codes whose census date falls in the month.

Holmesglen also used to mail invitations to graduation ceremonies, which was neither cheap nor efficient. Nightly automated emails replaced them, built on an HTML template that references images from the institute’s website and carries embedded Argos tags.