No-code platforms makes better education, Skuid

Universities, historically, are centers of learning and innovation. They are the places where compelling research happens, leading the world in the latest technology and insights.

But too many are held back from being truly transformative institutions, simply because they’re caught up in paperwork, literally, because critical operations still happen offline.

If they have migrated processes to digital solutions, those processes and applications are slow, inefficient, and just end up making things more difficult.

To attract the best students and the highest-quality faculty, organizations need seamless processes, from admissions, to managing contributions from grants and donors, to curriculum management.

Learn how, with a no-code app development platform like Skuid, higher ed institutions can be free to thrive in the digital world.

Apps that don’t fit correctly don’t fit at all.

Higher education institutions are often alike in their goals. They want to prepare graduates to enter the world with confidence, to equip educators with the tools they need to share their knowledge, and to help administrators get their jobs done more effectively.

But every organization’s processes, administrators, educators, and students are unique, it’s what sets each institution apart.

Unfortunately, this becomes a problem when it comes to purchasing an off-the-shelf application solution. Universities often have complex requirements and security concerns that need to be considered when purchasing their solution. Vendors, however, have proven that they can’t predict all the different things universities might need from an app, leaving them with few options.

With limited IT resources and the high cost of custom development, institutions are forced to choose the option that most closely matches their goals, but still doesn’t fit “just right.” After the solution is purchased, IT teams are busy maintaining the system.

When users request changes, they have to go straight to the bottom of the backlog in favor of higher-priority concerns. All of this results in low returns on software investments. When the solution doesn’t fit users or their processes, productivity lags and people are less likely to use the system.

Streamline processes and integrate data.

Because of the investments they’ve already made in enterprise software, higher ed institutions need to be able to leverage and connect to existing systemsWith a no-code app development platform like Skuid, companies can connect to existing data sources with point-and-click ease, including Salesforce, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Box, DocuSign, Google, Marketo, SAP, and Slack.

By bringing all of their data into a single, unified user interface, universities can provide the best experiences possible for students and faculty, whether they’re signing up for classes or managing a curriculum.

Because of the flexibility that no-code platforms afford, administrators can design applications to meet the exact needs of their users, without having to write any code or dip into precious IT resources. Learn how these industry leaders accelerated innovation in their institutions through the power of no-code:

Berklee College of Music.

As one of the world’s leading colleges of contemporary music, Berklee College of Music attracts top talent from across the globe.

This means that the application and interview process is exceptionally rigorous and thorough. Doug Bennett, Berklee’s Director of Admission Operations, and his staff needed a system that could help them better manage the application, interview, and audition processes.

The system also needed to keep track of a diverse and robust data set, including number of applicants, how far along each applicant is in the process, their geographical location (out of more than 60 locations globally), their skill set, their major, and other background information.

Within a week with Skuid, Doug and his team built a made-to-order application that manages their entire admission process. Using Skuid filters, they created a dynamic data filtering system that connects to their Salesforce org and replaces the need to run tedious and time consuming reports.

Now, Berklee is able to schedule auditions for more than 9,000 applicants in 60 locations across the globe in a simple and efficient way. And the even bigger results? They save 15,000 hours annually.

National Association of Independent Schools

National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a nonprofit that offers research and trend analysis, leadership and governance guidance, and professional development opportunities for school and board leaders.

To better serve the schools they work with, Kyla Longe, senior Salesforce® administrator at NAIS, needed to roll out a new feature to clients managing financial aid applications.

With NAIS’s old program, clients had limited capabilities to view financial aid applicants on a single page. Clients could only load 25-50 applicants at a time. There was a button that allowed them to view more, but it was so confusing that NAIS had to provide additional training just to use the program.

Additionally, with single-pick filters, clients couldn’t view more than one type of applicant at a time, for example, there wasn’t an option to see 5th and 6th grade applicants at once.

With Skuid, Kyla introduced applicant tabs where clients can view whatever amount of applicants they need on a page. And with multi-pick filters, they can also pick and choose the sets of applicants they want to see, and provide mass actions on them. They can also export the information to a PDF and print it.Now, Kyla’s looking for other ways NAIS can use Skuid. Watch the video to hear her take.

What can you build?

Maybe you don’t need a new and improved admissions process or a more sophisticated way to filter data. But chances are, if you have a need, you can use the power of no-code to address it. Here are just some of the applications higher ed institutions can create with Skuid: