Customer story · La Salle University
Argos is “Christmas in July” for the Office of Undergraduate Admission
La Salle University’s Office of Undergraduate Admission traded slow Microsoft Access reports for Argos dashboards, and presentation prep that once meant chasing ad-hoc requests now takes five minutes.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4-year university
Argos
- Presentation prep in minutesLess time preparing data for presentations, down to five minutes.
- See the data fasterInteractive charts show year-over-year and year-to-date trends at a glance.
- Drill into the detailStaff move quickly from the big picture to detailed data.
La Salle University at a glance
1863
Founded
5,000+
Students
800+
Faculty and staff
39
Undergraduate programs
25
Graduate programs
01
The challenge
One person ran the queries. Then that person left.
The Office of Undergraduate Admission at La Salle University needed immediate access to real-time information on applicants, accepted students, and deposits. Instead, it was relying on Microsoft Access for its reporting.
Slow to run
Reports took a while to run and gather, and longer still if adjustments were needed.
No standards
End users could change the reports they downloaded, with no guidelines around the process.
A single point of failure
One Enrollment Services staff member ran the report queries.
The reports were not visually pleasing either. And when the one staff member who ran the queries left, reporting, especially ad-hoc requests, took even longer to put together.
It became clear to the Admission staff that this older way of doing things was out of date and slow, consuming too much time and energy. They began to search for a new solution, one that would quickly provide organized and accurate reports to suit their needs.
02
The solution
Already proven on campus, already reading Banner
Undergraduate Admission learned that the Office of Institutional Effectiveness was using Evisions Argos to meet its reporting needs, and to provide reports to others on campus.
Admission was impressed with its quick view and its ability to provide statistics on demand for multiple end users, and the sharp, organized graphics made the data easier to interpret. Especially attractive was that Argos was completely secure and already set up to look at Banner data. Its ease of use also meant there was no need to replace the position that was lost.
Once the Executive Director realized these capabilities, and its advantages over other products, he said, “It’s like Christmas in July!”
Presentation-ready in five minutes
The main benefit Admission sees from Argos is the time it saves. Before a presentation, the Executive Director used to run multiple MS Access reports and ask for updated information ad hoc, and depending on support staff’s workload, that could take some time.
Now he can pull in trend data, YTD data, demographic, high school, resident vs non-resident, and other data in any format, including graphs and charts, ready to be copied and pasted into a document or presentation. With this dashboard, the Executive Director can prep for a presentation in five minutes.
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| Multiple MS Access reports and ad-hoc requests before every presentation | Trend, YTD and demographic data ready to paste, in five minutes |
| Searching month-old reports for a comparison | Change the YTD dates and compare last month with now instantly |
| Tables, PDF reports and spreadsheets that hid the details | Interactive charts showing year-over-year and year-to-date at a glance |
| Requests for last year’s figures or weeks-old information | Minority trend data in graph form in seconds |
“
Argos is a game changer here in the La Salle University Undergraduate Admission Office. Argos reporting grants each Admission Counselor access to key prospect and applicant data.
Jim Plunkett · Executive Director of Admission, La Salle University
03
The results
Answers in seconds, from big picture to detail
The staff can now answer many questions in a matter of seconds.
They can view a chart, or get raw data in CSV format with the actual applicants from a semester to see if they were admitted and if they enrolled. Instead of searching month-old reports, they change the YTD dates set up in the report and instantly see what was going on a month ago compared to what is happening now.
The interactive charts have been of great value, giving a quick visualization of how Admission is doing year-over-year, year-to-date, or when examining final highlights. And the drill-down follows a logic the staff already knew, moving from summary, big-picture data down to more detailed information.
Five-minute prep
Presentation-ready data for the Executive Director in five minutes.
Interactive charts
Year-over-year and year-to-date performance at a glance.
Drill-down that makes sense
From summary to detail, following a familiar logic.
Secure, on Banner data
Completely secure and already set up to look at Banner data.
“
Argos has been an excellent tool which allows our VP to quickly pull the most current data and transform it easily into a presentation. It has also given us the ability to put this data into easy-to-read dashboards which are utilized by our Board of Trustee Members and the La Salle Community.
Lisa Willie
Executive Coordinator, Office of Enrollment Services
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