Posts by Tiffany
OrgSync is Upgrading How You Manage People on July 31st
Next Tuesday, our Development Team will be deploying an upgrade to people management within portals. This upgrade will include a new Groups feature, changes to module permissions, and an easier-to-use interface. In short, this upgrade is a simpler way to manage people within portals!
The Groups feature will combine Account Groups, Committees, and Families and allow people to be members of multiple Groups within a portal. When our Development Team deploys this upgrade, all current Account Groups, Committees, and Families within OrgSync will automatically be transitioned to Groups to make the switch easier for administrators.
With this upgrade, module permissions can be assigned to any Group in the portal. This was previously not available for Committees and Families, but will now be applicable to any Group.
Groups will be deployed between 10pm – 11pm CST on Tuesday, July 31st and for periods during that time, the OrgSync site will be down.
We will provide materials for the Help Desk and more information when this upgrade is deployed. Stay tuned!
OrgSync Connect was a Success!
Last month, OrgSync hosted our inaugural user conference, OrgSync Connect. Our team was overjoyed when 100 attendees, from students to Vice Presidents, representing 55 institutions made the trip to Dallas, TX. Here’s a quick recap of the conference!
Educational Sessions:
Listening to Campus Partners present about how they were using OrgSync was a major benefit of hosting a conference. Administrators presented 15 educational sessions about implementation, marketing, risk management, assessment, Co-Curricular Transcripts, campus-wide expansion, and more. These educational sessions gave our Campus Partners the opportunity to learn how other campuses were using OrgSync and spurred many conversations between institutions about best practices and creative uses. For those who were unable to attend, here are the presentations.
Development Updates:
One of the highlights of OrgSync Connect was the Development Updates presentation presented by our Product Manager, Kevin Wade. He presented on the platform updates expected to roll out this summer and fall which include: Forms Logic and Reporting, EMS and R25 Integrations, Revenue Tracking, API Version 2, Search, and Groups. The presentation was an exciting experience for the OrgSync team since many of these updates were met with gasps and rounds of applause by the attendees. If you would like to view the presentation, follow this link.
Learn, Share, Interact:
For the OrgSync team, the best part of the conference was having the opportunity to meet some of our true rockstar clients. With the exception of the Client Services and Sales teams, most of us do not have regular interactions with clients so having the opportunity to talk with them at the conference was amazing! Our Development team was excited to hear the different ways clients were using OrgSync on their campuses and the Marketing team was delighted to meet with the administrators they interviewed for case studies.
Based on the feedback we received from attendees, the conference was a huge success! Plans for the 2013 user conference are already underway and we will keep everyone updated as more details are finalized. We hope to see many more of our clients next year!
[CASE STUDY] OrgSync Across Campus: Residence Life
Did you know that you can use OrgSync to centralize Residence Life programming?
Residence Life departments can immediately benefit from using OrgSync to build a community for their residents and staff. With OrgSync, your department can:
- Store important information online, such as incident reports and fire alarm statistics
- Go paperless by moving forms online, including RA morning reports and daily rounds
- Increase online visibility with a department-specific website
Two of our campus partners, The University of Tennessee at Martin and Point Park University, have streamlined department processes and improve communication with students.
“Any Residence Life department could benefit from OrgSync. There are tons of ways that you can organization your department and residence halls in the platform,” said Natalie Taylor, Director of Residential Co-Curricular Education at Point Park University.
OrgSync Madness at Georgia State University
We love it when our Campus Partners get creative! They come up with great ways to promote OrgSync on campus and increase student adoption. Our newest example comes from Georgia State University.
Georgia State University created a unique OrgSync adoption strategy based off March Madness. “OrgSync Madness” is a six-week student organization competition where organizations compete each week to win prizes. The categories for the competition range from largest organization membership to best website design. Ebony Rose, Student Organizations Advisor, created a great flyer to promote the competition.
With over 300 organizations using OrgSync at Georgia State University, this competition will be no easy task. We commend this campus for thinking outside the box to help get students active and involved on OrgSync. Great work Georgia State University!
Running Elections Through OrgSync
Student Administrators around the country are getting ready for Student Government elections. With difficult software programs, paper ballots, and maybe a few overzealous candidates, this can be a difficult time. But did you know that you can use OrgSync to simplify the whole elections process?
OrgSync makes it easy to run elections by centralizing the entire process in one place. In a few simple steps, you can create ballots, advertise to students, and analyze voting results with dashboards and graphs. Here’s a quick overview:
- Create an OrgSync form for each round of the elections.
- Determine your electorate and ensure they have access to the form.
- Promote your elections and send out voting instructions.
- Students begin voting; monitor the progress of each election with graphs.
- Analyze results and announce your new campus leaders.
One of our Campus Partners, Furman University, saved time as well as increased voter turnout with their Freshman Class and Homecoming elections by moving them to OrgSync. “We had 50% more voters this year for Homecoming elections. I attribute this to how easy it was to vote on OrgSync,” said Scott Derrick, Director of Student Activities.
Follow the link to the case study to learn more about how Furman University uses OrgSync to run elections:
We’re Traveling Coast to Coast this Spring!
Just when we started to relax after the Fall Conference Season, it is time to ramp up again for the Spring! This year, with more OrgSyncers than ever before, we’re excited to go coast to coast to meet with students, campus administrators, and Campus Partners across the country.
Check out our schedule below and come see us if you’ll be at any of these conferences.
| Conference | Dates | Location |
| NCLC | February 17-19 | Tucson, AZ |
| NACA | February 25-29 | Charlotte, NC |
| NAIS | February 29 – March 2 | Seattle, WA |
| SWACUHO | March 4-7 | College Station, TX |
| ASPA | March 4-7 | Huntsville, AL |
| NASPA | March 10-14 | Phoenix, AZ |
| JASPA | March 10-11 | Phoenix, AZ |
| ACUI | March 18-22 | Boston, MA |
| ACPA | March 24-28 | Louisville, KY | HLC | March 30 – April 3 | Chicago, IL |
| WASC ARC | April 18-20 | Costa Mesa, CA |
| AACC | April 21-24 | Orlando, FL |
Safe Travels!
Wait… Orientation Lasts All Year?
Wait… Orientation lasts all year? Yes it does! Well, sort of.
For students, Orientation might mean a week-long program before classes start or a First Year Experience course taken in their first semester; Orientation Administrators see it differently. Most people may not realize it, but Orientation Directors and Administrators are planning, managing, and evaluating their campus Orientation programs throughout the entire year. And that’s a lot of work!
With all of the programs, staff, student leaders, and new students to keep track of, we’ve found that campuses are really benefiting from using OrgSync to manage Orientation and First Year Programs (see handy graphic below). We’ve already seen success with the Orientation programs at Muskingum University, Penn State Altoona, and Utah Valley University (just to name a few), who all contributed to our Orientation Case Study.
This is why we’re excited to be sponsoring, speaking and exhibiting at the NODAC conference next week in New Orleans! We’re sending Leanna, Cayce, Andrew, David, and Allison and they’re looking forward to speaking with Orientation Administrators about how they can benefit from using OrgSync for their programs.
So, if you’re going NODAC, stop by the booth or sit in for our Ed Session, on Tuesday morning at 9:15am to learn more about how we’re serving the needs of Orientation and First Year Programs. We’d love to talk to you!
See you in NOLA!
Where Can You Get Your OrgSync Sunglasses This Fall?
Conference Season is always a crazy busy time at the OrgSync HQ! Our Client Services and Sales teams are meeting with students and administrators from around the country while the Marketing team is packing up the bags with buttons and sunglasses to hand out to everyone.
We had a great start to the conference season at ASGA and TACUSPA and are planning to attend 8 more conferences over the next three months. Phew! Check out our schedule below and come see us if you’ll be at any of these conferences. Maybe you can grab your own pair of OrgSync sunglasses!
Are there any other conferences that you think OrgSync should be attending? Where will you be this conference season? Let us know!
Why You Should Visit OrgSync at ASGA
This Thursday, members of the OrgSync team will be heading to the American Student Government Association’s National Student Government Summit in Bethesda, Maryland. We’ll be sending Andrew and Michael who were both student leaders not too long ago and they’re pumped to get the opportunity to talk with student government leaders from across the country!
But here’s the big question, why should you stop by our booth at ASGA? Besides the fact that it can get a little lonely in the exhibit hall (and we can’t trust leaving Andrew and Michael for too long without getting into trouble) there’s a bunch of stuff we’d love to talk to you about! For example:
Learn different ways to increase visibility about events on campus
We know you’re using email and Facebook, but there are other great ways to get the word out about events on campus and OrgSync can help.
Understand why Facebook doesn’t work for student organizations
We all love Facebook. But honestly, it doesn’t do the best job of serving the full needs of your SGA and other organizations on campus. Does it give each organization a public website or allow you to mass text your members? OrgSync does.
Find out how you can leave a legacy
You want to make big changes on your campus. We get that. Let us talk with you about the improvements OrgSync can make for your campus and become the legend that made it all happen.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, stop by and chat with Andrew and Michael at ASGA this year! They look forward to meeting everyone. And while you’re at it, check out their e-Portfolios below.
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| View ePortfolio | View ePortfolio |
Safe travels!