Professional Services
The backlog cleared by people who used to do your job
Migrations planned, objects built, permissions tightened, and the knowledge handed to the person who will own it afterwards. Most of the team came from campus IT, with time in institutional research, before they came here.
Running Argos at public universities, community colleges, private institutions, and systems
The situation
The work is understood. It is just not staffed.
Higher education technology teams have absorbed more scope without absorbing more people. The projects that get done are the ones with a deadline attached, and reporting rarely has one until it suddenly does.
EDUCAUSE ranks measured technology investment sixth on its Top 10, describing an environment of tighter budgets, understaffed technology teams, and overflowing workloads. Capacity is the constraint, and buying more software does not add any.
01
The person who knew how it worked has left
Their objects still run. Nobody can safely change them, and nobody wrote down why the join is shaped that way.
02
The migration has a date and the reporting does not have an owner
The ERP project plan lists the systems. It rarely lists the several hundred reports hanging off them.
03
There is a list, and it has been the same list for two years
Every item on it is achievable in a week. None of them has ever been the most urgent thing.
04
The tool is doing a fraction of what it can
Features nobody had time to learn become features nobody knows exist, and the license keeps paying for them either way.
What we get called in for
What is going on, and what we do about it
Seven situations account for most of our engagements. Institutions describe them to us in roughly these words.
We need to migrate data and convert reports from an old system
We migrate the data, stand up the new connections, and rebuild the reports. We also condense as we go, because a library carried over intact usually contains far fewer distinct definitions than it does reports.
We cannot easily find, present, or interpret our department's data
We know the key metrics each office runs on. We make sure you can connect to them, display them, and read them without an interpreter.
Too many of our processes are manual
We automate what can be automated and hand back the tips and shortcuts for the rest, so the saving continues after we leave.
Staff departures took the knowledge with them
Two ways to fix that. We can advise, restoring what was lost as knowledge your team keeps. Or we can do the work, functioning as staff you do not have.
We are moving to SaaS and nobody knows what it means for us
Thinking about it, planning it, or mid-move, we help with prioritization, process and report cataloging, migration, and conversion.
We cannot customize our transcripts, purchase orders, or aid letters
We start from what the document has to accomplish and build it, including the layout, the data, and the delivery.
Who does the work
Built by people who ran campus IT
Our consultants did not learn higher education from a product manual. They ran enterprise systems and reporting in campus IT, with time in institutional research, before they worked here.
That changes the first conversation. You do not spend it explaining what Banner holds where, why the census job runs when it does, or what the state file has to look like.
- Consultants who ran the ERP and the reporting layer at institutions like yours
- Familiarity with the reporting areas and the systems, not just our software
- No translation layer between what you describe and what gets built
- Advice that accounts for what your auditors and your state agency will ask
Development
Objects, reports, and dashboards built to be maintained
We build DataBlocks, reports, dashboards, schedules, and APIs, either on our own or beside your team depending on how much you want to learn along the way.
Documentation comes with it, so somebody at your institution can change the report in a year without calling us.
- DataBlock and report development, alone or alongside your staff
- Dashboards, scheduled delivery, and API endpoints
- Documentation of the object, so the logic outlives the engagement
- New data connections and data verification
- Old reports converted rather than recreated from scratch
“Prior to Argos, reports and data were scattered across different tools on employee desks in various formats. Through Argos, reports are sustainable and manageable.”
Jeff Cantwell · Director of Application Services · Imperial Valley College
Migration
The reporting half of the SaaS project
A SaaS migration plan is built around the systems being moved. What reads from them, the reports, the scheduled jobs, the documents, tends to get discovered late, by the office that needs a report that no longer runs.
We inventory what you have, work out what is distinct, prioritize it against your cutover date, and convert it. Where an office depends on a write-back process, we scope what is possible in your target environment before the date is set rather than during the week it breaks.
- Report and process cataloging, so the true scope is known early
- Connectivity options for Banner SaaS and Colleague SaaS, explained against your environment
- Prioritization against your cutover, so the critical output moves first
- Existing write-back processes scoped against the target environment during planning
- The tools inside MAPS and Argos that already hold the information the plan needs
“Now that people are trained and engaged, they're finally saying, 'We don't need everything, we just need the right things.'”
Maura Woods · AVP of Information Technology · St. John's University
Training
Training aimed at the person who will own it afterwards
Training that covers the interface teaches people what the buttons do. Training that covers the institution's own reporting teaches them why the object is built that way and what happens if they change it.
We train the people who configure MAPS, the people who build DataBlocks and reports, and the people who run them, separately, because they need different things and combining them wastes everybody's afternoon.
- Configure: MAPS administration, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting
- Build: DataBlock designer and report writer training on the features your team is not using yet
- Run: functional staff training on running, filtering, scheduling, and exporting
- Sessions built around your objects instead of a demonstration environment
Popular service offerings
Packages built from what institutions keep asking for
Not every engagement needs a scoping call. These five are pre-defined because enough institutions needed exactly them.
Consulting
Argos and Banner SaaS Migration
A guided discussion of what to consider in Argos when moving from on-premises Banner to SaaS, covering connectivity differences and DataBlock and report inventory and prioritization.
- Your data connectivity options, and the real scale of updating Argos reports
- The tools inside MAPS and Argos that already hold what your migration plan needs
- The technical obstacles that show up during migration, and how to prepare for them
Consulting
REST Connector Configuration
We set up at least one RESTful API data source in your MAPS environment, review the configuration options, and cover best practices. Most often used with Argos, and available to FormFusion as well.
- Hands-on guidance configuring a REST Connector connection in MAPS
- A working RESTful API data source with several endpoints, configured to your environment
- Suggested uses inside Argos or FormFusion, plus basic troubleshooting
Training
MAPS Administrator
For new MAPS administrators or anyone needing a refresher. Covers the options in the MAPS Configuration tool, best practices for managing the environment, and how to troubleshoot errors, including product-specific administration where it applies.
- What each tool and option in the Configuration application does, and when you use it
- Best practices for maintaining and improving your MAPS environment
- Troubleshooting processes and the resources available when something breaks
Training
Data Dictionary and Library of Objects
Two of the most under-used features in Argos. We review both with your team so they know how and when to use them.
- How both improve efficiency and consistency in report building
- How they strengthen data integrity, and confidence in what gets reported
- Better SQL and better-looking dashboards and reports as a result
Training
Argos Letter Generation
How to create letters as banded reports in Argos, including mailing labels, letterheads, and templates, plus hyperlinks, conditional band printing, and scheduling and sending.
- More value out of the Argos license you already hold
- Professional letters and emails carrying your branding and only the fields you want
- Templates you can reuse for other communications and other departments
Tell us the one that has been on the list longest
Describe it and we will scope it against your environment.
In their words
What institutions say about working with our team
Each brought us in for a defined piece of work and kept the result, maintained by their own staff afterwards.
“
The knowledge from Evisions Professional Services was obvious because they would always ask the right questions. That made the process smoother and easier for us.
Eduardo Leon Garcia, Associate Registrar, Transfer and Articulation
Loyola Marymount University
Registrar
Professional Services built the NCAA certification reporting; the calculations now take less than half the time.
“
They gave our statistical office some direction and from there on, we were self-sufficient.
Luis E. González, Associate Vice President of Information Systems
Ana G. Mendez University System
System Office
A system-wide dashboard across three universities and 17 locations, built by the system's own staff.
Outcome
State-mandated reporting changes had a deadline the institute could not meet alone. Professional Services evaluated its DataBlocks and reports, made the changes, and the deadlines were met.
Outcome
A Professional Services engineer built the district a custom FormFusion purchase order that Banner could not produce without modifying baseline code. It became the FormFusion Purchasing Solution other institutions use.
Related
Depending on why you are here
You are mid-migration
Connectivity, report inventory, and scoping what has to move.
You own the environment
Deployment, permissions, and what a second product adds to your administration load.
You are trying to get more out of Argos
What the platform does beyond the reports you are already running.
Your reporting calendar is the pressure
IPEDS, state, and federal submissions, and what has to be reproducible.
How it fits
Three ways institutions use us
Advise
You have the people, they just need someone who has done it before. We consult, review, and recommend, and your team executes.
Build
You do not have the people for this piece. We develop the objects, reports, dashboards, and connections, and document them so they can be maintained.
Sustain
The work needs to keep running after the project ends. Knowledge transfer is the deliverable, and follow-on engagements are scoped the same way the first one was.
Trust and security
What your team will want to know before we start
The Trust Center is published and the HECVAT is available on request, so a reviewer can start before anyone schedules a call.
We work inside your permission model
Engagements run within MAPS permissions rather than around them. Our access is scoped and auditable like anyone else's.
Your definitions stay yours
We build to the institution's definitions, and we document them. Nothing depends on us remembering how it works.
Knowledge transfer is the deliverable
Documentation and training are included in the engagement.
How consultants work in your environment
Through accounts you create, under your permission model, and remove when the engagement ends. The work happens in your environment; nothing is copied off your systems to do it, and FERPA-aligned practices apply to everything a consultant can see.
Scoped before it starts
You get a defined scope of work before anyone begins, so the engagement has an end rather than a run rate.
Documentation
HECVAT on request and a Trust Center, so procurement can start before anyone schedules a call.
Frequently asked questions
Questions we get asked first
How does an engagement start?
With a conversation about what you are trying to accomplish, then a defined scope of work. You see the scope before the work begins.
Can you just advise rather than build?
Yes. A good number of engagements are consultative, where your team does the work and we make sure it is the right work done the right way.
Can you act as staff we do not have?
Also yes. Where a departure has left a gap, we can step in and do the work as though we were part of your team.
Do you only work on Evisions products?
Our depth is in Argos, FormFusion, IntelleCheck, and MAPS, and in the higher education systems they connect to. Tell us what else is in scope and we will be direct about where we can help and where we cannot.
What happens to what you build when the engagement ends?
It is yours, documented, and built on your definitions.
Can you help with a SaaS migration that is already underway?
Yes, and mid-migration is common. Prioritization and cataloging are usually where we add the most value at that stage.
How long does an engagement take?
It depends entirely on scope, so it varies considerably from one institution to the next. Professional Services scopes it with you.
Who will we be working with?
People who have done your job. Our consultants and support staff came from campus IT and institutional reporting before they worked here, because higher education is the only sector we build for. Support is in-house, with no outsourced agents, and it is the thing customers raise unprompted more than anything else about us.
What does it cost?
Professional Services is quoted per engagement against a defined scope, separately from your product license. The pre-defined packages are fixed scope and fixed price, so the quote for one is the price.
Do the pre-defined packages get customized?
They are deliberately fixed so they stay quick to buy and quick to deliver. If what you need sits outside one, we scope it as a custom engagement instead.
Can you train our staff rather than do the work?
Yes, and for many institutions that is the better purchase. We train administrators, report writers, and functional staff separately because they need different things.
Will you document what you build?
Always. Documentation of the object is part of the deliverable, because the alternative is another knowledge gap in three years.
Can we talk to an institution that has used you?
Yes. Tell us the kind of work you are considering and we will introduce you to someone who bought the same thing.
Next step
Bring us the item that never makes it to the top of the list
Tell us what it is, what it is blocking, and what your team looks like. We will tell you whether it is a consultation, a build, or something you should do yourselves.
Ellucian Partner Award
2025: Customer First
Ethos Connected
since 2020
Ellucian partner
22 years