Customer story · Liberty University
Harnessing the power of scheduled reports to meet increased enrollment
With more than 100,000 students on campus and online, Liberty University runs as many as 1,300 scheduled Argos reports daily and weekly to catch problems early and keep the campus informed.
Lynchburg, Virginia
Private, non-profit
Argos
- 1,300 scheduled reportsAs many as 1,300 active scheduled reports run daily and weekly.
- Better campus communicationScheduled reports automate emails to the campus community.
- Data issues caught earlyDaily checks find problems before they become bigger.
Liberty University at a glance
1971
Founded
12,600
Residential students
90,000
Online students
2,500+
Full and part-time faculty
142
Resident undergraduate programs
01
The challenge
Unprecedented growth on a green-screen system
Liberty University had a student information system and a reporting solution that had been working well. In 2005, that began to change: the institution entered a period of growth unprecedented in its history.
In the midst of the inevitable growing pains, the university realized its aging, green-screen student information system was just too old, and it wasn’t going to be able to continue to meet its needs.
Enrollment climbing
The registrar needed a solution that could keep up with growing enrollment.
Communication to improve
The office had to communicate better with students and professors.
More complex reports
The aging system couldn’t generate the reports the office now needed.
When the university decided to switch from its previous system to Banner by Ellucian, staff began looking for a reporting solution to implement alongside Banner.
02
The solution
Eleven products compared. Argos chosen.
The staff tasked with reviewing vendors researched 11 different products. After weighing their options, they chose Argos for its cost, its compatibility with other systems, and its ease of implementation.
“Argos’ cost model is much more attractive. The pricing is good, and it’s an all-in-one package, so we didn’t have to decide how many report writers would be on it in advance. We didn’t know what that number was going to be, especially as we grew.”
Jay Himes · Technical Lead
Liberty implemented Banner and Argos simultaneously in 2006 and has used both ever since. The implementation was large and complex, but Argos’ Library of Objects, which provides templates and building blocks that speed report development, made the transition much smoother. The team moved many reports from the old system to Argos, then used the Library of Objects to quickly set up the rest.
Argos does not limit the number of report writers and users, which has proven very helpful and cost-effective as the university grew rapidly. Today there are about 80 report writers, and as many as 1,300 active scheduled reports run daily and weekly.
The registrar’s daily health check
With more than 100,000 students on campus and online, the registrar’s office relies on scheduled jobs for daily checks on GPAs, withdrawals, and more. It also runs a daily “health check” on the student information system that ensures everything is running as it’s supposed to. The office has also found that Argos works seamlessly with Ellucian Degree Works, despite its complicated table structure.
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| An aging, green-screen student information system | Banner and Argos, implemented together in 2006 |
| A fixed number of report writers to decide in advance | No limit on report writers and users as enrollment grew |
| Physical letters to the campus community | Emails, with scheduled reports automating some of them |
| Withdrawal notices too hard to send daily at scale | Professors emailed automatically when a student withdraws |
“
I need to know if something is failing, like if grades aren’t being calculated or registration is down. Scheduled Argos reports gives us a health check on our student information system on a regular basis.
Luke Gentala · Registrar, Liberty University
03
The results
“Digital duct tape” for a growing university
Staff in the registrar’s office and across campus often refer to Argos as their “digital duct tape,” because it identifies problems before they become bigger and improves communication and reporting across campus.
Liberty has moved away from physical letters toward email. Professors wanted to know when a student withdrew from a class, but with over 100,000 students that was very difficult to do on a daily basis. Now a scheduled report runs a daily check on withdrawals and automatically emails professors the name of the class and the student who withdrew.
1,300 scheduled reports
Active scheduled reports run daily and weekly.
About 80 report writers
No cap on writers or users as the university grew.
A daily health check
Scheduled reports confirm the student information system is running as it should.
Withdrawals, emailed
Professors are told automatically when a student withdraws.
With these scheduled reports, Liberty keeps better track of all of its students, especially as enrollment has skyrocketed. As the university continues to grow online and on campus, Argos will help ease the shifts to come.
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Stop-out students found in seconds, not 20 minutes
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Lehigh University
Advancement staff got 80 percent of their day back
Scheduled reports took over the daily production work the advancement team had been doing by hand. Forty reports now go out by email across campus every week.
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