Sunapsis

Implementation at

the University of

North Texas

Tracy Kaan,

Assistant Director of Technology & Processes-

International Student & Scholar Services

UNT System

UNT (Denton)

UNT Dallas

UNT Health Science Center

(HSC)

UNT Dallas College of Law

(future)

University of North Texas

Over 36,000 students

As of Fall I term 2,983 international

students (UNT & HSC) 1140 GRAD, 777 UGRAD

373 IELI

121 countries represented China, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia

Top Programs: Engineering, Business

Administration, Arts & Science,

Music.

International Student &

Scholar Services (ISSS)

8 full-time staff members: 2 for F-1 advising

2 for initial attendance I-20s

1 for H1Bs (& assists with Js)

1 for Js & 1 assistant

1 for technology coordination

1 part-time receptionist

1 intern/student assistant

7 student assistants

1 full-time HSC staff member

PeopleSoft All document intake now done by Graduate

School & Undergraduate Admissions.

Checklists updated & docs scanned into

ImageNow.

ImageNow Current students submit one of almost 30 forms

to ISSS and they are scanned into their file.

fsaATLAS- 7 years 2 data feed processes

Custom fields

Work-arounds

Systems Used

Timeline

Introduced to Sunapsis at NAFSA

conference in May 2012 & had a call

shortly thereafter.

Talked with UNT IT Shared Services

(ITSS) contacts about who & what

would be involved.

Project initiative request submitted

to UNT committees in October.

Approved in February & assigned a

high priority.

Contracts approved & signed,

software received May 16th.

ITSS teams worked on servers &

data feeds for initial & continuing

students.

Experienced some challenges- server

crashed, ColdFusion & Java issues,

security limitations, teams being

pulled off to work on other items.

Sunapsis production environment

was available 1 week before site

visit.

Site Visit & Go-Live

Finalized in June that we would

have a 3 day site visit- July 29th,

30th, & 31st. Proposed Schedule:

Day 1: Outstanding Tech Issues &

fsaATLAS/SEVIS Conversion.

Day 2: User Training

Day 3: Brainstorming new functionality &

answering user questions.

Site Visit & Go-Live

Actual Schedule:

Day 1: Outstanding Tech Issues

Day 2: User Training

Day 3: fsaATLAS/SEVIS

Conversion & Outstanding Tech

Issues.

Currently

A few items remain that we are working on

to improve/implement, including:

Sunapsis Development Environment

Spotty F & J batching

Data feed schedule

Employee & J data feed

fsaATLAS custom field conversion

Student/department log-in

E-forms

Checklists

Already we have seen efficiency increase

as well as happier students & staff!

Suggestions

Communicate your expectations/needs

early.

With both Sunapsis & key players at your

institution.

Designate a project manager/team lead.

Don’t try to rush it.

Unless you have other deadlines to meet,

etc., try to take your time to lessen the

probability of future issues coming up.

Do your research.

Visit other schools to see how it works.

Find contacts who are willing to share

info with you & your IT staff.

Use all of this info to plan.

Suggestions, Cont.

Think about your business processes. Why do you do what you do?

Could use this as an opportunity to restructure

duties & create a more efficient office.

Just because you do something now with your

current software doesn’t mean that it will be the

same with a new software.

Work with your IT staff to help them

understand what you are trying to do. Get supervisors on board so that staff are able to

make this a priority.

Make yourself available to them & be responsive.

Be appreciative of their time.

In Preparation for Go-Live

Make sure everyone is available. From IT staff who may be across campus, to

your student assistants.

Close the office, and/or only offer

limited services if possible. You’ll only have this one-on-one time for a

few days, so it helps to be able to focus.

Reserve a computer lab for training.

Make sure all computers have the

correct version of Java!

Document your current office

processes.

During Go-Live

If you are converting from another system,

be sure that your data is clean.

Use OneNote to take screenshots & make

notes that can be the beginning of your

office’s user guide.

Have all of your configurations and user

profiles (especially roles) double-checked

in Sunapsis.

Use the “Help” question mark icon!

Remember that this is an alert-based

system.

Be willing to be flexible and encourage

your staff to go with the flow.

Questions?

THANK YOU!