Using Hobsons Products

Using Hobsons Products to

Streamline Your Offline Processes

Kim Lachut, Hobsons CRM Administrator

University of Connecticut School of Business

Office of Communications

Marie LeBlanc, Communications Manager

University of Connecticut School of Business

Office of Communications

• Identify where the digital process ends

and offline processes begin

• Create efficiencies in offline processes through

available Hobsons tools.

• Make effective use of special attributes, views,

automation, and external software

Learning Objectives

• Who are we and what does our instance look like

• Offline challenges

& Hobsons-integrated solutions

Kim

Lachut Hobsons CRM

Administrator

Marie

LeBlanc Communications

Manager

University of Connecticut

• UConn is one of the top public

research universities in the

nation, with more than 30,000

students located in Storrs,

Connecticut

• We also have four regional

campuses as well as a Law

School and a School of

Medicine and Dentistry

• UConn Huskies!

UConn School of Business

• #1 public business school in New England

• Storrs, Connecticut

Three regional campuses:

Downtown Hartford, Stamford, and

Waterbury

• Undergraduate, Graduate, and

Professional Development

• 3800 total students;

1700 enrolled in a graduate program

Our Hobsons Instance

Joint AY/Connect client since 2010

Number of Hobsons users: 40 staff and student workers

Number of inquiries in a year: 5000+

Applications in a year: ~2500

Programs in Hobson instance: 7 Masters Degrees

1 Ph.D. Program

10 Graduate Certificates

• Coordinating numerous users

• Integrating non-Hobsons activities

• Collecting data

• Hosting events

• Reviewing applications

• Communications

• Ensuring data integrity

• Multiple ways to collect data

Specific Challenges

• Communications

• Coordinating phone calls

• Coordinating student ambassadors

• Coordinating follow-up

• Processing

• Identifying non-interested applicants

• Managing activities by external offices

• Application review by faculty

• Marketing

• Administrating events we host and those we don’t

• Analyzing survey data across multiple attributes

Tools

The tools we use:

• Process-oriented attributes

• Automatic emails of reports

• Connect Views specific to tasks

• Events module work-arounds

• Effective exports

Programs want to formally

incorporate phone calls into

their communication plan.

Phone Calls

• Manual reports were being created

• Multiple people were contacting applicants

• Potential applicant has indicated their

communication preferences

• Process for this not built in

Phone Calls

• Created export & view with only data necessary

for phone calls

• Reinforces use of contact communications log

• Included phone number attribute in multiple data

processes

Communication log

Phone – BestNum Attribute

Student ambassadors who

are not in the system

need access to data.

Student Ambassadors

• Manual reports created by staff for ambassadors

• Ambassadors don’t have access to Hobsons

• Need to formalize it into our current marketing

strategy

Student Ambassadors

• Created an attribute called “ambassadors”

• Populated the dropdown with names that can be

exported

• Created export report that can be emailed

directly to ambassador

Student Ambassadors

Need to coordinate

event hosting activities.

Events Administration

• Need to bring key event materials

• Need process to handle non-registered

(walk-in) attendees

• Need to manually enter data

• If data wasn’t entered correctly/timely, then the

post-event “Thank You” message wouldn’t go out

correctly

Events Administration

• Staff Event Checklist email

• Thank you email grace period

• On-site Registration

• Corresponding branded registration forms

Staff Reminder – Set up

School of Business

Graduate Infosession

Event Follow-up Check list

{#EI:Name#} on {#EI:Start On#} at our {#EI:Location#}.

__________ Attendee Roster (use Download Contact button on Host Tools)

___________ Nametags (if applicable) This is also found in the Host Tools

___________ Brochures (if desired)

___________ Laptop for check-in or walk-ins

___________ Table giveaways/chatchkeys (if applicable)

Please remember to mark all attendees (including last minute walk -ins) as

either: Attended or Did Not Attend. This MUST be done within two days of the

end of the event in order for the automatic emails to populate.

Accredited by AACSB International - the Association to Adv ance Collegiate Schools of Business - since 1958.

Admin View – Setting Up Thank You’s

[insert visual of printed infosession reg sheet form]

External events (i.e. non-

hosted) integrated into our

Events module.

External Events

• Inquiries aren’t automatically entered into

Connect, or may already be in Connect

• Registration for these events is handled

elsewhere

• We want to promote the event

• Streamline the user experience at the event

External Events

• Post Only event without registration

• Private event with registration piece

• Uploaded list to private event

• Communications to “attendees”

Reporting and communications

to those who indicate they’re

no longer interested.

Inactive Users

• Data doesn’t always come from within the system

• We don’t want to include these users in

communications and outreach

• We need to include these users in some reports

Inactive Users

• Active/Inactive toggle

Filter with Active toggle

Need to coordinate need for

and timing of individual

outreach.

Coordinating Outreach

• Follow-up can be requested by the user or coordinated by

the staff member

• Notes in communication log aren’t searchable

• Follow-up can occur via phone, email, etc.

• Multiple staff members could be tasked with follow-up

Coordinating Outreach

• Follow-up Date attribute toggle

Faculty want to review

applications offline.

Offline Application Review

Case Study: Ph.D. Program

• Faculty don’t want to access Hobsons

• Cumbersome for faculty to have to log into

system to see full applications

• Manual spreadsheets

• Each department was requiring different

information to make a decision

Offline Application Review

• Developed a daily export

• For director and/or staff member

• Individual program reports for faculty

• Customized fields in export

• Built new fields to match data needed in spreadsheet

• Column included on spreadsheet for internal decision

• Faculty no longer had to enter system

• Centralized person entering decisions

Ph.D. Export

Need to coordinate

administrative activities

with external offices.

GPA Translation

Case Study 2 :

MSBAPM/MSFRM – GPA Translation

• Majority of their applicants are international and

need a GPA translation by our Graduate School

before a decision can be made

• Program needs to know the applicant’s status

• Graduate School needs to know who they need

to take action on

• Inability to use “Or” in AY filters

GPA Translation

• Created a field for GPA translation status

• Email report to Coordinators based on attribute

• Coordinated process with The Graduate School

GPA toggle

Applicant Client IDUniv1_CumGPAUniv1_2YGPAUniv2_CumGPAUniv2_2YGPAUniv3_CumGPAUniv3_2YGPAUniv4_CumGPAUniv4_2YGPAUniv5_CumGPAUniv5_2YGPAUniv6_CumGPAUniv6_2YGPA

2247783 3.85 3.59

3082804 3.33 3.8 4

3263160 3.87

3518086 3.09 3.22

3775064 3.48 2.89

3780628 2.93 2.7

3827951 3.36

3835433 3

3835945 3.7

3837277 3.29

3841526 3.3

3841537 3.22 3.78

3844185 3.75

3845673 3.84

3845695 3.99

3855847 3.72 2.42

3859977

3862202 3.45

Reporting and analysis

of marketing data fields.

Reporting Marketing Data

• “Rank what is important to you (1-5)” includes

multiple attributes (17)

• Calculations cannot be performed within Connect

• Connect Reporting has one primary attribute for

the report

• Connect Reporting is limited in comparing

attributes against

• Limited number of reports on the dashboard (10)

Reporting Marketing Data

• Export into Excel*

* External File

Final thoughts

• Evaluate your current processes to identify where

your online process ends and offline processes

begin

• Use this information to help determine where

using Hobsons tools can create better efficiency

in these offline processes

• Make effective use of special attributes, views,

and automation notification of exports

Kim Lachut

kim.lachut@business.uconn.edu

Marie Leblanc

marie.leblanc@business.uconn.edu

www.business.uconn.edu