Lean in HE: Improving MBA

student recruiting process through use

of Value Stream

MappingPaulette Alexander, PhD, Associate Dean

Janyce Fadden, MBA, Executive in ResidenceUniversity of North Alabama

Counteracting Forces in the Market2

Fewer students are entering

higher education

Yet, more students go

online to make their college

decision

Building the case for change

Students are applying to more and more institutions

Today’s MBA situation

• Acquisition costs are increasing as schools fight for market share

• Competition will be based on differentiating a program’s value and quality

• Given consumer behavior trends, digital continues to be the present and future of higher education marketing

• Sustained influence and relationships with prospective students are critical for success

4 Source: Collegis

5

The opportunityThe UNA MBA program identified an opportunity to differentiateby improving the recruiting and admissions processThe Goal: Create an efficient, student-centered processinspired by the Amazon customer service model by utilizing data to find opportunity areas for improvement

What Is a Value Stream?

• Defines value from the customer’s perspective

• All of the actions and tasks, both value added and non-value added or waste, required to bring an item (an idea, information, product or service) from its inception through delivery.

• These include actions to process information from the customer and actions to transform the service on its way to the customer.

Value Stream Mapping

• Helps us see where value is created, and where waste exists:

o Shows flow of both material & information

o Helps us see where/how specific Lean tools can be used to improve flow and eliminate waste

o Consists of two types of maps: Present State - as it is Future State - how it should be

VSM First try

MBA Process Map Updated

05/03/2023 10

Orientation phone call

Prospecting Nurturing Application Admission Registration

Zoho CRM Filing Cabinet

College Net:ApplyWeb/

Admin

Info added to CRM

Auto response

email sent

Connect

Make interview

appt.

Phone call

Conduct interview

Determine Readiness to apply

BeginApplyweb Application

Complete File

COB review file

Decision Made

COB phones and emails

periodically

Leave VM 6 days in a row

+ Email

Email alert to Zack

Schedule appt

Orientation

Marketing Campaigns

Incomplete

Connect

VM and email sent

Admissions Prints App/ Creates File

Complete Application

Registration

Delay in start

Enroll

601

Nurture to register

GMAT

Referral

Connect

Email periodically for 2 weeks

Continueto nurture

Organic

Banner Xtender

Create account with CE

Auto Alert sent to applicant/Decision

letter posted to ApplyWeb account

IndexDocuments in

extender

Student emails MBA with prereq

completion

Congratulations Email

Congrats Email from

Dean

Congrats/Prereqs Email from Dean

Does not purchase

prerequisite

MBAEmail/PhoneFollow up

Prerequisites

PurchasePrerequisite

Prerequisites

CE Report of new Students

CE sends Student info email to Ivy

Ivy sends CE confirmation

email

Student receives prereq packet

Phone call to Enroll

Campus CE

Ivy Software

App Manually Entered into

Banner

ApplicationMaterial uploaded to Admit/Banner

App Material prepared for review

Complete/ Upload

OrientationAdvisement

Sheet

Incomplete CollegeNet

AppPopulates into Admit

Auto Confirmationemail sent to student

DecisionMaterial copied

from Admit

Specialty Ad

Connect

Max attemptsMade

Nurture to Complete

App

App Submission Notification sent to COB

COB sends email of

Checklist to student

Application Submissionmessage sent to student

from ApplyWeb

Complete File

Receive App Materials

COB Phone calls and emails to 6+

attempts

COB follows up for missing

items

Max attempts Made

nurturing for Nextsemester email sent

Admissions sendssnail mail letter of

change form

Prospecting Nurturing Application Admission Registration Prerequisites

PPCProactive

Passive

Application Assigned to

COB in Admit

Auto alert sent to Evaluator for "Ready for Review"/ Alert sent

to Amanda.

Manual Email sent to Dean from Evaluator of file

summary/ recommendations

Programrecommendation is made

Admit by Evaluator

Admit alert sent to Admissions that decision

was made

decision letter release date

entered in Admit

Admissions sends manual notification to Amanda that status has

been updated

Update admission status in Banner

05/03/2023 10

Process Cycle Efficiency

Stages-124 Min.

ProspectingNurturingApplicationAdmissionRegistration

Fall-82 Days

Spring-89

Days

Summer-108 Days

0 1 016 33 3844 33 2722 22 43

Student Waiting Time

0.1% 0.09%

• Process Cycle Efficiency= Value-added Time/Cycle Time.

• Typical Process Efficiency is 5-10%. • Through 3 cycles, MBA process is

about .1%.

Value-added Time

Process Cycle Efficiency 0.07%

Value versus Waste• Value is that for the sake of which a

process existso “The customer is interested only in the value

flowing to them.” – James P. Womack

• Waste in a process is anything elseo Waste is anything other than the minimum

amount of equipment, materials, parts, and working time absolutely essential to production.” -Taiichi Ohno

Learning to see waste

From Brad Loetz

Stories from learning to see waste

• “What would it look like if every one of our actions added value to the student?”

• “What could we do?”

• “Why do we do it that way now? Questioning the status quo?”o Peeling the onion- • GPA calculation• Prerequisites

GPA Calculations For Admissions

• Present state: All GPA for all institutions taken into account and recalculate GPA if there was o a different grade point scale (4 point vs. 3 point scale).o a different credit hour basis (semester vs. quarter).o a repeat/recompute or other forgiveness option for grades.o a +/- grading system impacting GPA.

• Issues seen:o The amount of time spent on some of these GPA calculations was an

hour per application.o Lack of consistency in identifying potential need for recalculation.o Many opportunities for calculation errors.o Many opportunities for interpretation errors.

GPA Calculations For Admissions

• Future state: Accept the GPA calculated and presented on the transcript of the degree granting institution as the basis for graduation.o Convert that GPA to a 4. scale if necessary.o Recalculate only if there is no GPA for graduation presented on the

transcript from the institution.• Result: More efficient and effective process

for determining admission eligibility based on GPAo Time not wasted on manual calculations of GPA from a variety of

institutionso Errors not likely because manual calculations and interpretations are

eliminated.

Prerequisites• Present state:

o Students must demonstrate a satisfactory background in the following topics: accounting principles; economic principles; statistics; financial management; management principles and marketing principles.

o UNA has a variety of ways that these prerequisites can be met, including non-credit competency courses and challenge exams. These options allow students to complete the required prerequisites more quickly and economically.

Typically if you did not graduate with a BBA you will need to take prerequisites.

Differing results comparing BBA vs non-BBA

05/03/2023 17

Fall 2015

Summer 2015

Spring 2015

400 300 200 100 0 100 200 300 400 500

165

83

51

142

72

51

94

38

51

80

39

49

63

32

38

47

36

36

54

22

28

22

12

16

Non BBA Application (non BBA)Admission Registration

Sem

este

r

Non BBA

BBA

05/03/2023 18

Prerequisite Requirements & PercentagesTotal of 94 Students from Fall 2014 - Now

*Out of the 7 students required to take 3 courses, 5 registered for 601 in the summer.

05/03/2023 19

Variance Analysis of Prerequisite Students94 students in prerequisites from Fall 14 until Fall 15

28 enrolled in a prereqs course currently 8 are already registered for 601 and purchased a prereqs (10

more are registered but not enrolled in a prerequisite) 4 postponing another year 5 Chose another School 5 taking undergrad course(1 at another university) 52 students not working on anything that we know of.

Prerequisite Requirements & Percentages

05/03/2023 20

Prerequisites

• Assessed the landscape for best practices: o Benchmarked peer collegeso Met with facultyo Talked with AACSB Business Deans

• Designing future stateo Incorporating into first classeso Qualifies for tuition reimbursement and loanso Eliminates waste from the value stream

Actions and DisciplineDrive our Results

• Implementation of a CRM tool and sales stages• Deeper level of data and insights• Development of clear and effective program value

proposition • Ongoing conversion gains from testing advertising

copy and landing page • Weekly meetings focused on capacity• Monthly meeting focused on results• VSM meetings focused on process changes and

achieving future state map

22

Success defined by new enrollment growth

23

Semester 2012 2015 % Change from Prior Term

Spring 55 41 -25%

Summer 17 33 +94%

Fall 58 76 +31%

Total 130 150 +15%

A snapshot in time of paid search enrollment

funnel

50 registered (31% application to start)

160 applied (24% application rate)

680 engaged with UNA (85% contact rate)

801 requested more information through the online form or by calling directly (5.34% conversion rate)

14,980 clicked the advertisement and visited the UNA MBA landing page(1.04% click through rate)

05/03/2023 25

MBA Executive Summary Chart Example

Weekly monitoring of semester attainment to goals

Samples of data analysis

59%32%

3% 2%2% 3%

Domestic MBA Prospects by Source Percentage

Total Prospects: 1783PPC OrganicReferralGMATCollege Net AppsOther

June 2014- August 2015

Other- anyone who applies and did not speak with Zack. They do not fit in any other field.

UNA Vs. Non UNA Students

05/03/2023 27

Fall 2015

Summer 2015

Spring 2015

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 100 200 300

55

20

57

247

127

79

35

11

61

138

71

75

25

8

20

85

60

55

21

4

12

55

30

32

Application Series4 Series6 Series8

Sem

este

rs

UNANon UNA

Now we see and take action• Creating a pull system

o Improved use of CollegeNeto Tracking each prospect through CRMo Building relationships based on prospect needo Staying connected to student through email, voice, and text

• Using Data to make changeso Prerequisiteso GPAo GMAT and GRE scores

• Improving academic successeso Relationship buildingo Real time feedback

Small changes lead to significant improvements

o MBA new enrollments above prior year over the past three semesters

o Incremental gains in process efficiency timeso Pipeline analysis determines historical yield and

allows for more accurate forecasting and planningo Clear visibility to the MBA enrollment process and

the ability to use to data to pinpoint future opportunities for improvement

How to connect to our story

• How can we help you?

• How can you help us?

Paulette Alexander psalexander@una.edu

256.765.4409

Janyce Fadden, jfadden@una.edu

256.765.4261