Customer story · University of Idaho
Turning manual mayhem into measurable impact in financial aid
The University of Idaho’s Financial Aid Services team replaced 40+ Banner jobs and weekend spreadsheet work with Argos dashboards, turning a week-long Pell Grant process into one that takes under an hour.
Moscow, Idaho
Public four-year and graduate university
Argos
- Up to 10 hours a week backPell Grant processing went from a week-long effort to under an hour.
- Dashboards staff ownFinancial aid staff build and manage their own dashboards, with less reliance on IT.
- Award news, soonerStudents get award information as early as possible, before enrollment.
University of Idaho at a glance
1889
Founded
~11,500
Students
~2,300
Faculty and staff
90+
Undergraduate programs
80+
Graduate programs
01
The challenge
Forty Banner jobs and a weekend in Excel
At the University of Idaho, the Financial Aid Services team was buried under manual processes and legacy reporting tools that no longer served a modern, data-driven institution.
Core operations like Pell Grant reporting were painfully manual, requiring more than 40 individual Banner jobs, complex spreadsheets, and staff working over the weekend just to stay compliant.
“Before Argos, we were running jobs one at a time and highlighting mismatches in Excel. It was slow, frustrating, and easy to get wrong.”
Brady Nelsen · Information Reporting Analyst
40+ Banner jobs
Run one at a time for Pell Grant reporting.
Spreadsheets by hand
Exports compared manually, mismatches highlighted, data stitched together for federal deadlines.
Every change through IT
Updates waited on IT, creating bottlenecks across compliance, enrollment, and communication.
Reporting relied on outdated tools, including reports built over 20 years ago and maintained purely by habit. Staff manually exported and compared spreadsheets, highlighted mismatches, and stitched data together to meet federal deadlines. Key team members regularly worked late or over weekends, and when changes were needed, updates had to go through IT, adding delays and creating bottlenecks.
02
The solution
One button instead of forty jobs
The university had long owned Evisions Argos, but it hadn’t been fully leveraged. That changed when Financial Aid Services partnered with IT and Evisions to expand access, bring report design in-house, and modernize the team’s approach.
The transformation started with the Pell Grant process, which went from a week-long, multi-person effort to an automated dashboard completed in under an hour. More than 40 Banner jobs were consolidated and simplified. Instead of sorting Excel files and hunting for discrepancies, staff now click one button and view clean, validated data instantly.
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| 40+ Banner jobs run one at a time | One automated dashboard, done in under an hour |
| Mismatches highlighted by hand in Excel | Clean, validated data with one click |
| Reports built over 20 years ago, kept by habit | Report design brought in-house |
| Weekend work to stay compliant | Award communications without weekend staff |
The team also created dashboards to support ISIR tracking, Pell recalculations, and student outreach. Argos lets the Financial Aid Office design, edit, and track award letters and other communications, delivering important information to students and families as early as possible.
“We wouldn’t have reached half the students we did without Argos. The precision it gives us is unmatched.”
Kendra Rathbone · Financial Aid Counselor
“
Argos didn’t just save time, it gave us confidence in our data, and the ability to act faster and smarter.
Brady Nelsen · Information Reporting Analyst, University of Idaho
03
The results
A data-prep job became a strategy role
The shift to Argos didn’t just eliminate manual steps; it triggered a complete rethinking of how the Financial Aid Services team operates. The Pell process alone now saves up to 10 hours per week, and award communications no longer require weekend staff or spreadsheet gymnastics.
Time savings translated into role evolution. One operations position, previously focused almost entirely on prepping and fixing data, was reshaped into a broader, strategy-focused role, letting the team invest time in higher-impact work.
Functional users now build and manage their own dashboards, reducing reliance on IT and increasing cross-departmental agility. Argos is fully integrated into the university’s agile sprint process, helping teams collaborate, iterate, and deliver faster than ever before.
Up to 10 hours a week
Saved on the Pell process alone.
A role, reshaped
One operations position moved from fixing data to strategy.
Self-built dashboards
Functional users build and manage their own, reducing reliance on IT.
Part of every sprint
Argos is fully integrated into the university’s agile sprint process.
04
The future
From reactive troubleshooting to proactive insight
With Argos in place, the university is laying the foundation for dashboards that support retention, forecasting, audit readiness, and more.
Reporting is no longer a burden; it’s a strategic asset, and the culture around data has shifted from reactive troubleshooting to proactive insight.
“Argos helped turn all our ‘someday’ projects into real, doable tasks.”
Kendra Rathbone · Financial Aid Counselor
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