Leveling Up in Higher Ed: How FormAssembly Helps UC Merced Facilitate Dynamic Check-In Processes

Case Study Snapshot

At UC Merced, the use of FormAssembly has evolved from its original purposes as a standard questionnaire web form approach to:

• A more dynamic, stimulating, user-friendly, and simplified check-in system approach
• The development of a full-fledged FormAssembly data management application, which enables staff and student workers to process and manage their own caseloads

FormAssembly has provided a way for internal teams, departments, and student service professionals to level up in terms of how they handle requests and appointments. By making changes to the overall form process, staff at UC Merced have been able to expand access to important student data without needing hundreds of extra Salesforce licenses for staff. This has contributed to an advanced queuing system that provides an enhanced student booking experience.

About UC Merced

• Opened in 2005 as another campus in the expansive University of California system
• Became the first new American research university opened in the 21st century
• Models economic growth, stimulus, and design throughout the region
• The Enrollment Management Systems team serves thousands of students and hundreds of staff members

At UC Merced, the Student First Center has limited physical space to serve students who make appointment requests. The office is staffed by only three team members, and physical space for handling lines and conversations is limited. These limitations created a bottleneck in terms of time and resources when students needed to speak with someone to handle requests related to the Registrar, Financial Aid, and Admissions.

Additionally, the Business Systems team took notice of how much other departments were relying on technical and analytics support to handle basic day-to-day operations.

“Our philosophy is, if departments/teams need to rely on us for them to do their jobs (modify forms), the form design approach has been developed wrong,” Steve shared.

After identifying this particular pain point, Steve and the team got to work on a solution that provided flexibility, user-friendliness, and speed for departments across campus that needed accurate data in real time.

To help departments and office teams have more control over their own internal processes, Steve and the team developed a Salesforce Department Configuration object for any department using FormAssembly forms. With this system, campus employees can change, update, and modify specific information on their own forms at any time without additional support. By using this new user-friendly process, departments can:

• Open and close access to individual forms at certain times of the year
• Make daily changes to event locations
• Provide daily or weekly advising support hours based on availability
• Promote and advertise upcoming events or deadlines

This allows each department to effectively reach hundreds, if not thousands, of students on a daily basis by managing their own unique FormAssembly forms. This process also reduces stress for busy technology teams who may not be able to manage the minutiae of day-to-day operations.

In addition to providing better access for campus staff, the school’s FormAssembly processes also provide a more on-brand experience for students. By using a common look, feel, and theme, the forms reassure students that they’re in the right place to make requests. Additionally, form creators have taken special measures to boost response rates through best practices. These include:

• Effective navigation throughout each form field and page
• Shortened text with minimal wording to help reduce confusion
• An easy-to-use touch and click design that streamlines the experience across devices
• Using an image-based approach that changes the traditional web form experience to one that’s more interactive and engaging

COVID-19 Considerations

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and changing environment in virtual education, UC Merced also hopes to implement FormAssembly as a way to sustain better asset management. The current process involves a system of manual requests and spreadsheets, which could be improved in the near future with Salesforce-connected form requests.