Streamlining the Induction Process with Harper Adams University

Redefining the Housing Experience

As technology evolves and residential demands increases, using legacy technology poses challenges and limitations to what you can achieve in your housing operations. Harper Adams University experienced inefficient workflows caused by using limiting technology. This limitation minimized the control this team had over the online application process and required resources in their IT department to make updates or changes at least 3-6 months prior to an application launching. They had limited reporting ability and all invitations to students were triggered manually by an external team and had to go with a mass-application launch day, which meant 400+ students were all trying to apply at the same time putting huge pressure on the students and the internal teams. Harper Adams University needed to gain more overall control of the accommodation application process and move away from manual to improved automation processes.

Moving to an online application allowed students to upload photos, provide evidence to support adjustment requests and complete a questionnaire to support room allocation. All this provides valuable information that helped to tailor student inductions and provide wellbeing support. There were able to book in arrivals time slots across 8 different areas of the campus, showing availability by the hour, with the option to change/cancel a booking, and completion is mandatory. Using QR codes, students can scan for a fast check in process, and this allows staff to know residents’ movements and retrieve live information from the mobile app on the go without relying on paper-based lists. This is turn gave them the ability to easily create reports and dashboards.

The arrival time slots meant that we can plan and better manage both physical and human resourcing during our Residential Check-In Day. Students can only see the time slots once they have completed all mandatory steps needed to confirm and pay for their booking as well as complete our mandatory online module. This in turn generates the QR Code, which allows the paperless and quick check-in.

Joana da Silva, Harper Adams University

Creating Efficient Workflows

The ability to access real-time data through reporting via the new check-in process saved time and removed several manual tasks for the team. In fact, students were able to complete up to 70% of the check in process via the app without the need to refer to staff for additional assistance, making arrivals a much smoother, easier process. Both the students and staff in areas such as housekeeping, finance, student records and services benefited from the new efficiencies and operating procedures.

This has significantly reduced the administrative burden of getting ready for arrivals and providing real-time data for a number of teams, including admissions who are able to confirm student registrations quicker. Having the necessary dashboards to pull the data means not having to rely on paper lists which needed to be updated at the end of the day.

Joana da Silva, Harper Adams University

Harper Adams University were able to ensure students completed more of the mandatory elements pre- arrival and achieved the following:

• Health and Safety Module now has an 87% completion rate pre-arrival
• Arrival slots allocated to help traffic flow on campus and 83% of students completed pre-arrival

They were also able to customise their messages and directions about induction, time slots and arrivals via their homepage at each step of the journey, improving the student experience with the pre-arrivals process.

To learn more about how you can empower your residents and benefit from the self-service portal to manage room selection, reporting concerns and a lot more, visit our website.