University Student Housing (USH) Drives Success with StarRez PortalX + DocuSign Integration

Manual Processes and a Lack of Centralized Data Bog Down Staff

Managing tasks across multiple systems and platforms is incredibly inefficient and time-consuming. University Student Housing, LLC (USH) encountered this challenge with their previous resident management system. The lack of customization and integration options in both their student portal and their staff system forced them to rely on multiple platforms to gather essential information. This resulted in scattered data across various locations, which made it cumbersome to access student details. Staff spent precious time searching for the information they needed, instead of focusing on higher value tasks.

The Need for an Integration with DocuSign for Student Housing Contracts

Another pain point for USH was managing lease agreements and other contracts that residents are required to sign throughout the year. Before StarRez and DocuSign, managing documents was a cumbersome and time-consuming process. They relied heavily on physical paperwork, which involved printing, mailing, faxing, scanning, and ensuring that all paperwork was completed properly and all signatures were included. This often led to delays, misplaced paperwork, and significant administrative overhead – it also took students weeks to complete an application! The process was inefficient and prone to human error, highlighting the need for a more streamlined, digital solution.

Additionally, thousands of paper forms were manually created and then signed on move-in day, which resulted in long check-in lines, written errors, and missing documents. Temporary relocation paperwork was also a hassle to keep track of. Because temporary relocations often happen in the middle of the night, those paper documents frequently contained errors or were not completed at all.

With this former process, when paper documents were completed, they were scanned, renamed, saved to a staff member’s computer, and then uploaded to the system. It was a monotonous and cumbersome process for the USH team. For move-in documents alone, it took four full-time staff members and numerous student staff weeks to complete the task for 3,000 residents.

A Blank Slate to Build Unique, Automated Processes

In need of more integrated systems and streamlined processes, USH launched StarRez PortalX. With this platform, they enjoy the flexibility to modify questions using custom fields and can create tailored portal processes that align with their unique operations. Furthermore, StarRez’s seamless integration capabilities with systems like Financial Edge, TouchNet, DocuSign, Maximo, GradGuard, and Banner have been instrumental in centralizing all USH’s information in a single platform while allowing them to leverage various best-in-class tools for specific areas of operation.

‍“StarRez has given us the ability to customize the questions we ask through custom fields, a blank slate to build our portal processes so that they work for our unique operations, and the ability to integrate with multiple systems.”

- MELISSA MULLINS, SYSTEMS DIRECTOR @ UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING, LLC

In addition to system integrations significantly improving operational efficiency, there are multiple StarRez platform functionalities that have also become essential to the team’s daily tasks and responsibilities. The running theme is custom automation. “We rely heavily on custom fields to drive our operations and our portal processes,” said Melissa.

USH automates multiple processes within StarRez to drive efficiency, including:

• Automatic updates to a custom field based on another action.
• Automatic email sends when certain fields are updated.
• Choices in PortalX to drive the mapping of processes.

Over time, the flexibility of pages and widgets in PortalX became essential. The team at USH saves hours of manual work by being able to quickly add and edit new pages, processes, applications, and more.

‍“The ability to export and import pages and widgets in PortalX allowed us to operate more efficiently and saved a lot of manpower time during the set up.”‍

- MELISSA MULLINS, SYSTEMS DIRECTOR @ UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING, LLC‍

StarRez Integration with DocuSign for Student Housing Streamlines Move-in and Beyond

After expanding their capabilities with PortalX, the team at USH quickly realized they needed a better eSignature solution. So, they launched their DocuSign integration with StarRez. With this new process, all their student housing documents are now set-up in DocuSign using custom merge fields. Unlike open text fields, merge fields are configured to collect certain data, therefore presenting less opportunities for human error. Once created, those documents are integrated and housed within PortalX for students to easily access.

The DocuSign integration with StarRez has simplified the document signing process for students. The Lease Addendum, for example, is available for students to sign two to three weeks prior to move-in and signing takes less than one minute. Students log into their PortalX and with the StarRez & DocuSign integration and custom fields, the Lease Addendum populates with the student’s information and the student signs all in less than one minute. After the student completes their eSignature, the document is automatically sent back to USH for countersignature. This accelerates the process for students and their families while eliminating the extra middle step for staff.

Once signed, documents are automatically uploaded to StarRez without any work on the staff side. This change has drastically sped up check-in time on move-in day and has allowed the team more time to focus on the student experience rather than manual document processing.

USH now uses anywhere between 8,000 to 9,000 DocuSign envelopes annually across their student housing operations. A few of the many contracts they have set up in their system include lease agreements, gender inclusive housing agreements, on-campus animal agreements, summer housing documents, lease addendums, temporary relocation addendums, and more.

USH Enjoys Efficient Operations and a Drastic Reduction in Manual Work

USH experienced immense change and growth within a few short years. And the impact of those changes has been substantial. Melissa acknowledged that many features and processes have helped shape their success, but the following are her top five:

1. Appointments: Adding the Appointments module to automate and manage move-in and move-out time slots has greatly improved operations. “The appointments module allowed us to streamline and transform our move-in process. By allowing residents to select convenient time slots, we’ve reduced wait times and improved overall satisfaction. This approach not only enhances efficiency, but also ensures a smoother, more organized move-in experience for students, families, and staff.” said Melissa. With how well it has worked for move-in, the USH team is interested in finding additional use cases for this module. Some of which include time slots for maintenance to raise and lower beds, for students to meet with staff, and for students to book amenities.

2. Dashboards: Proving to be a valuable tool, USH actually created over fifteen unique dashboards within one calendar year. Because they work so closely with campus partners, their use of collaborative dashboards has become imperative. Staff now have quick access to the specific information they need and can easily identify trends and areas of opportunity.

3. Multiple Applications Open: This tool has allowed USH to expand existing processes within PortalX. For example, with Page Selector, instead of having one application open for the full-term, they could have five applications open simultaneously within a single process.

4. Advanced Waitlist: Adding this module allowed USH to have waitlists for the academic year, spring semester, and for specific room types running simultaneously and open to different populations, which increased their flexibility and efficiency.

5. DocuSign: Prior to StarRez, USH managed all housing contracts and other documents manually, so the move to StarRez and integration with DocuSign was a game changer for their operations. Documents are now set up to be easily available in each student’s PortalX and automatically pull in student specific data. Once the student reviews the document and adds their eSignature, the document is sent to their parent or guarantor for eSignature, and then sent back to USH for signature. Once the final signature is added, the document is automatically uploaded to the entries Communication folder in StarRez! Because of this integration, USH was able to completely overhaul their document signing process.

“I am incredibly proud of how our team has adapted to constant changes over the last few years. The landscape of higher education and student housing is evolving, and our staff has done a great job of adapting. StarRez has allowed us to customize and set up new portal processes every step of the way and our team has consistently asked “how can we do this in StarRez?” to ensure we are continuing to streamline our operations.”‍

- MELISSA MULLINS, SYSTEMS DIRECTOR @ UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING, LLC‍

Interested in learning how you can streamline processes with StarRez PortalX and DocuSign? Request a demo today!