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Nonprofit

Improving Online Education Services with Better Data Collection Processes

Nick Dodds

Salesforce Administrator

Case Study Snapshot

Online Education Services (OES) is an educational provider that helps organisations find and discover end-to-end solutions for online learning. After spending time carefully considering their needs and realising how much “tech debt” they faced, team members at OES opted to use FormAssembly for more efficient data collection. While FormAssembly helps the organisation boost its internal efforts, advanced web forms also improve processes with outside vendors and education partners.

About Online Educational Services (OES)

  • OES connects with various universities and higher education providers to support and build content solutions for online learning.
  • Services include full student management, enrollment, sales, and student support.
  • OES supports educational growth by reaching new cohorts of students who prefer the flexibility of online education and unique styles of learning.
  • The company is based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The numbers

1

year with FormAssembly

30+

forms built with FormAssembly

1

week of tech work saved per form (estimated)

The Need

“Tech Debt” and Constant Need for the Creation of New Forms

“…the developers did not always have additional bandwidth to build them [forms] quickly.”

Nick shared that the team at OES found themselves in a great amount of “tech debt” over the years. There was always a need for new web forms, but the developers did not always have additional bandwidth to build them quickly. When their team discovered FormAssembly and began learning about how to adapt it for different use cases, they took the jump and began building Salesforce-connected web forms to solve internal and external needs.

The Solution

Use Case Compatibility with a Simple Salesforce-Connected Platform

Because Salesforce is our hub, we needed a form builder that would integrate as much as possible.

Due to the sheer amount of platforms and partners with which OES coordinates regularly, OES needed to choose a flexible solution that would work in a variety of ways. Additionally, a tool or platform that allowed for on-brand themes and integration to third-party platforms was a huge factor.

“Because Salesforce is our hub, we needed a form builder that would integrate as much as possible,” Nick said.

FormAssembly’s Salesforce integration allows OES to adapt to internal needs while also providing creative options as they serve other organizations and partners. Other benefits of using FormAssembly include:

  • Customizable conditional logic: Conditional logic features have come in handy for several OES forms, allowing the builder to add more fields and choices based on the respondent’s feedback.
  • Access to Dynamic Picklists: FormAssembly’s Salesforce Dynamic Picklists feature provides live, real-time feeds that flow directly into form choices. If anyone makes changes within Salesforce, they can trust that the form options will update accordingly, without manual editing.
  • Knowledgeable support: If the OES team runs into any roadblocks with features or forms, FormAssembly’s support team is there to provide assistance and offer practical solutions.
  • SAML: Coming up, the Application Development team will be working closely on SAML. Since many legacy forms sit behind student portals, it’s important to leverage a single sign-on system that provides quick access to forms and responsive data.

Use Cases

Exit Checklist

An exit checklist helps a human resources department replace outdated manual data entry

One of Nick’s primary FormAssembly use cases involved replacing a manual HR checklist procedure that involved shared Word documents and manual updating. The process was messy, and it didn’t offer an ideal method of collecting important data.

To replace this outdated process, Nick leveraged FormAssembly and the Salesforce connector to build a form that was powered by an object within Salesforce. Now, an HR employee can go into Salesforce and directly create a new job order for whichever employee requires it.

An annual check-in form for teachers and educators

Professional Development Form

Nick is currently working on a new form that will be used once per year, or when needed. This form will allow teachers to update their annual professional development opportunities. It will include a unique link that prefills the form with personal data directly from Salesforce. This project allows OES to implement an in-house solution as a way to meet an external need that partner organizations have in the education industry.

“That’s one of the things about FormAssembly—the agility that [we] have to build out a form instead of scoping with external vendors. [We] can have a look at it in house and make a quick decision whether it’s possible with FormAssembly,” Nick said.

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What’s Next?

When looking ahead, Nick shares that OES is just beginning to leverage the power of FormAssembly and what it can do. In particular, the Salesforce integration opens up a world of possibilities to solve problems with forms, even where forms weren’t traditionally an option or potential solution.

With FormAssembly as the data collection platform of choice, Nick reports that the team at OES has the freedom to work as an agile team. Not only does this serve them in the present, but it allows for better workflows and productivity well into the future.

Curious to learn more about how the flexibility of FormAssembly can help solve a variety of data needs at your own organization?

We are too! If you’d like to learn even more practical solutions, grab a free copy of the 100 Ways to Use FormAssembly eBook at the link below.

Don’t just collect data

— leverage it.