What’s new at OCASIAAO Conference 2014

Berlin, Germany

Electronic Transcripts for non-college applicants

• Working closely with the OUAC we implemented an electronic transcript exchange for Ontario University applicants, who are not currently attending high school to request high school transcripts.

• Number of requests completed to date: over 4,500

Student Level Reporting Harmonization

• New initiative by the Ministry, Training, Colleges and universities to collect college student enrolment data.

• Previously MTCU only collected aggregate student data; totals at the college/program level.

• OCAS was already collecting student level data.• Initiative was to support colleges and MTCU in the

collection and ensure no duplication of effort by colleges in providing data to MTCU and to continue the OCAS collection.

College Branded User Interface

• Working with 4 pilot colleges we are building a generic application taking system that will allow colleges to add their own branding and include on their website directly.

• Goals:– Focus on the needs of the college marketing teams who

wish to protect their brand investment with local applicants– Create a working prototype for domestic (direct and non-

direct) applications, focusing on the scenario when an applicant starts on a college site

– Targeting applicants who know which college and programs are of interest

Re-Organization

• With Greg’s retirement Karen Creditor joined as CEO in August 2013.

• As the needs of our stakeholders and our agency evolve, we have renewed our focus on our core business model and will build on our commitment to quality service and drive forward in new strategic technologies.

Re-Organization

• New structure for the Executive Team:– Director, Technology Systems & Infrastructure – Marc Provencher

Marc leads the IT Services and Project Management teams in enhancing our application-to-college system and our delivery of technology services.

– Director, Service Delivery – Paul WemyssService Delivery has been created to align our three lines of business; Client Support Services, Decision Support Services, and Marketing & Communications – in providing a more connected, more engaged service delivery and support model to our stakeholders.

– Director, Strategic Innovation – VacantThis new focus area marks an exciting step forward for OCAS, as the team will dedicate itself to building new partnerships and exploring new opportunities to capitalize on emerging technologies in the education industry.

Network Services and Infrastructure Relocation

• Changed our network services and infrastructure hosting provider

• Goal was to save about $1M CDN and improve responsiveness and stability

• Project took 9 months to complete and involved 8 separate “system” moves (e.g. Application-to-College system, main website, data warehouse, corporate systems, etc.)

• Project cost was $150,000 CDN

International Applicant Information Page

• Working with a committee international advisors of the colleges, a new web page was created to provide information to international applicants.

• www.ontariocolleges.ca/inter

International Applicant Information Page

Memes

• Some of our more creative people have been creating “memes” to post on our Facebook page and other social media and web assets.

• Following are a few samples.