In March, 2007, the University signed a contract with Datatel to provide a new administrative computing system to replace our antiquated CARS system. This new system, representing an investment of approximately $2.1 million dollars, will be implemented by various administrative offices across the campus over the next 18-24 months. By June 30, 2009, the University will have converted the data completely from the CARS system.

As a company, Datatel has been in existence for 39 years and has over 730 clients across the United States and Canada. Datatel provides the University with a strategic advantage in that many of their customers are similar in size and type of institution to Carlow and they will provide us with regulatory updates and new enhancements on a regular basis.

The Datatel system, called Colleague, offers many exciting features for the campus constituencies and for the administrative offices. These features are detailed below and will be implemented using a phased conversion approach. This approach means that various offices will convert to the new system at different points in the next two years and that once a module is converted, the users in that area will continue to work on enhancements in their area for some time to come.

Here are some of the features that Colleague will bring Carlow:

Web Self-Service: Students, faculty, and staff will be able to access a new portal system that will provide access to WebAdvisor, campus announcements, team areas, and news feeds. The WebAdvisor portion will provide student services, such as web-based registration, degree audit, financial aid award information & approval, and billing information. WebAdvisor will also provide employee self-service including leave & vacation balances.

In addition to WebAdvisor, there will be two exciting web-based features that will interface with the Colleague system. These are called Active Admissions and Active Alumni. Both of these web interfaces will provide a personalized approach to their audiences allowing applicants to be pushed information relevant to their potential majors and interests and allowing direct integration of application information into the Datatel system. The admissions office can also use this component to communicate directly with guidance counselors regarding the applicants from their schools. For Carlow alums, the web will provide an online alumnae community where they can share information with one another. The web can also push information to alumnae about their interests and upcoming events. Alums will be able to register for and pay for events online and this information will be integrated directly into the Colleague advancement system. Additionally, Carlow’s donors can make online gifts that will be directly receipted by the Colleague system with little work by the advancement staff.

Communications Management: Throughout the entire system, offices will be able to easily generate correspondences with their customers using automatic integration with Microsoft Word and email. Among other things, these correspondences can serve as invitations to events, admissions acceptances, reminders to supply additional documents to offices and thank you letters for donors.

Dramatically improved reporting capability: The entire system, from the student system, to financials, to human resources and advancement will benefit from new easy-to-use reporting tools. Two tools will be used: Business Objects and FRx. With Business Objects, users will be able to point-n-click to easily generate reports from the Colleague data and they will be able to execute other more complicated reports designed by the IT staff. The FRx tool will be used to provide financial statements and financial reporting in a professional format including graphs and charts.

Activities and Events: Areas such as Admissions, Student Affairs, and the Alumnae office will be able to use the Activities and Events module to track their event participants, reservations for sub-events, event payments, and net costs. This will allow for integration back to the applicants and alum records for later reference. (continued on page 3)