West Virginia Universitys DEGREEWORKS IMPLEMENTATION WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

West Virginia University’s DEGREEWORKS IMPLEMENTATION WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

CONTENTS • Introduction • Time Line • Pilot Programs • Testing • Training • Validation • Marketing • Lessons Learned WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

INTRODUCTION • WVU rocked by scandal in 2007 -2008 • Series of AACRAO and other recommendations to improve process and integrity • No registrar’s office before July 2009 (Combined Admissions and Records) • WVU also did not have an online degree audit system instead relying on paper check sheets • As part of the remediation (and AACRAO’s recommendations), WVU purchased Degree Works and began implementing it as quickly as possible WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

TIME LINE • Spring 2009 – Purchase Software • Fall 2009 – First Staff hired for project • Nov. 2009 - First Training with Developer • Summer 2010 – Pilot Launch • Feb. , June 2010 - Additional staff hired for project • January 2011 – Go Live Undergraduate Programs WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

PILOT PROGRAMS • Implementation began with pilot schools to work out any issues with the system • A new degree audit tool was initially for advisors and selected majors as part of the University’s pilot program • Pilot schools were selected based on their curricula • Program requirements provided significant meaning as part of the pilot WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

PILOT PROGRAMS • Included undergraduate programs from four colleges within the university • Able to obtain valuable feedback from students and advisors • The new degree audit system allows students —with just a few clicks— to review, monitor and track their degree requirements • There were a few minor issues related to transfer credits and instances of students either not knowing their degree required a course or realizing a particular class didn’t fulfill a particular requirement WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

TESTING • Quantitative vs Qualitative • Comparison of Test and Production Environment • Originally looked at 25 students for each feature or update and did not look at the interactions with all of the features • Later, we analyzed how the features were interacting together and discovered this was more effective WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

TRAINING Introduction to Degree. Works How to search for students How to read an audit How to trouble-shoot How to Get a Clean Audit Checking data from Banner Exceptions processing Features Focuses on new features WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

VALIDATION • What did NOT Work – Large Group testing – Email Validation • What DID Work – One on One testing – Updates via-phone during testing meetings – Documentation Sheets – Sign-Off Forms WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

MARKETING • Postcards • Posters • Video • Bus Shelter Ad WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

LESSONS LEARNED • Become a friend with the Action Line • Attend the Degree. Works Symposium early and often • Develop buy-in from central IT • Develop buy-in from departments • Appropriately resource project • Develop your core strategies in advance • Test each feature thoroughly • Avoid assumptions WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

QUESTIONS WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355

CONTACT INFORMATION For additional information please visit http: //registrar. wvu. edu/dw Jerry. Ross@mail. wvu. edu Kent. Campbell@mail. wvu. edu Kylie. Edmond@mail. wvu. edu WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Office of the University Registrar 304 -293 -5355