Success Story

Industry

Higher Ed

UFL’s Enterprise Salesforce Team Delivers Fast COVID-19 Assistance

May 4 2020

Launch date for Aid-a-Gator

12,000

Form submissions

$10+ million

Funds dispersed

UFL Enterprise Salesforce Team Header

Overview

During a time when many organizations around the world had to quickly design plans and contingencies, higher education institutions were also forced to rapidly adapt. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff at the University of Florida in Gainesville developed several key initiatives to provide aid to students and help staff and faculty through new online processes. The university used FormAssembly to generate secure online forms quickly for maximum reach and impact. With over 4 million Salesforce records populating EDA objects in the org, a personalized user experience was achieved by leveraging the pre fill connector.

New Processes to Address Global Challenges

Challenge

The COVID-19 crisis presented many significant challenges. Not only was there a shift in the way that students were able to attend and finish on-campus courses, but there was also an immediate need for tangible assistance.

In terms of course completion, students and faculty were faced with a dramatic change in procedures. Although communication was still critical, methods of instruction and assignment submission were forced to adjust with little time to prepare.

Additionally, the crisis presented unique hardships for students and staff that had lost reliable income, housing, and other resources. The university needed to find a way to understand these hardships and distribute existing funds to support those in need.

With little time to plan and prepare, having a data collection platform that offered powerful flexibility and security was crucial.

University of Florida

Information Technology Department

Fast, Connected Web Forms

Solution

In navigating both of these challenges, university staff were able to create new data solutions that offered security, speed, and efficiency. With little time to plan and prepare, having a data collection platform that offered powerful flexibility and security was crucial. Enterprise Salesforce Team members were able to implement and release two major form solutions at the beginning of May 2020 that garnered thousands of responses in a short period of time.

The university’s Aid-a-Gator program is a longstanding initiative to deliver resources to students and staff in need. These needs often appear in times of emergency or crisis, and funds have been used in the past after natural disasters, like hurricanes. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic rapidly increased the number of students and community members who needed to request different types of financial support.

Features the UFL Enterprise Salesforce Team uses

Salesforce Prefill

The Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory grade option form, built by TJ Sumerford, Gator360 Manager, allows students to select which courses they want to submit for pass/fail according to the university’s revised grading and drop policies. The form is powered by prefill connectors and currently has over 23,000 associated records.

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Single Sign On (SSO)

The Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory grade option form was placed behind a single sign-on for quick access and identification. This previously existed as a lengthy paper form, which was no longer feasible due to in-person restrictions on campus.

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Fast Form Building

Enterprise Salesforce Team members were able to implement and release two major form solutions at the beginning of May 2020 that garnered thousands of responses in a short period of time.

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What’s Next?

The University of Florida maintains a variety of FormAssembly use cases year-round, including event registration forms, student admission forms, faculty feedback surveys, and more. The university plans to use FormAssembly in their return-to-work and COVID testing projects.

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