Q: What does AccuCampus do?
A: AccuCampus is an all-in-one system for tracking, engaging, and retaining students. The tracking section includes an advanced center management system, class attendance system, event management system, and student flow management and control system. The student engagement section includes a system for a module for matching appropriate academic resources to student needs, a customized success plan, feedback collection, and more. The retention section includes modules for predictive analytics of at-risk students, referrals, tracking, and much more. AccuCampus represents a new category of educational software systems. Because of that, the best way to understand its many capabilities is to see it in action.
Q: We want to analyze a variety of factors and demographic categories. Does AccuCampus support this?
A: Yes. AccuCampus supports unlimited profile items, which can be used for our machine learning analytics, reporting, attendance restrictions, and more. Profile items can be entered manually or imported from a data silo such as your SIS.
Q: Is AccuCampus secure?
A: AccuCampus is hosted on Amazon Web Services and benefits from AWS’s comprehensive security features. SSL encryption is used to move data from your computer to the server, and the data is encrypted at rest on the server. Within your institution’s account, each user is given a role and if necessary, a location scope, to ensure that they only have access to the information and functions they need.
Q: Is it possible to purchase AccuCampus in modules?
A: AccuCampus is not sold in module form, meaning that when your institution purchases AccuCampus, your staff and students will have access to all features (barring permissions, of course). We do this because while AccuCampus has many distinct features, they all work together to create a comprehensive user experience.
Q: We already use ________ system at our college. Why should we consider AccuCampus?
A: Most colleges already have some kind of tracking, referral, or other similar systems in place, but are still interested in certain functionalities of AccuCampus. Since AccuCampus is not sold in modules, we often work with potential clients to determine which systems could be replaced with AccuCampus, and there is usually more than one! While bringing on a new system can have its challenges for students, staff, and faculty, many clients have found that consolidating systems has several benefits. For example, most accreditation boards prefer that data and day-to-day functions be in as few systems as possible.
Q: How flexible is AccuCampus? Can it be used in any area on campus?
A: One of the challenges many institutions encounter when considering a tracking and retention system is that each area has its own unique needs and as a result, they have pursued systems built specifically for their type of area (advising, testing, etc.). This results in many different systems being used and can cause problems with IR and accreditation. If the student has to interact with the system, this further causes problems, as the system will have to learn the process for each of them. There are also security concerns, as many areas deal with sensitive information that must be locked down.
With this in mind, our developers created AccuCampus to be as flexible as possible, not to mention secure enough for centers dealing with sensitive information. We’ve yet to find an area that couldn’t participate in tracking and reporting through AccuCampus, including advising, testing centers, and accessibility services. Our Implementation Team’s knowledge of both AccuCampus and higher education means that they are experts in finding ways to implement any area, and will ensure that your processes and policies are preserved during the onboarding process. No two areas share settings, which means you’ll never have to compromise on making sure your setup is to your exact specifications. Even one-stop shops or other similar areas that house several centers in the same physical location can easily be onboarded.
Q: What about prospective students and alumni? Will we still need a different system to serve their needs?
A: Because of our robust permission and import abilities, we can make AccuCampus a true “birth to death” system. This means that in addition to areas that serve current students, we can also serve areas such as Orientation and Career Services which serve prospective students or alumni. And in most cases, those users can be added automatically through SIS imports, without the need for staff to manually add them, ensuring data accuracy.
Q: Is AccuCampus difficult to set up? How involved will our institution’s IT department need to be?
A: AccuCampus’s IT needs are very minimal. Your institution will need to designate a representative who can set up the initial automated imports for student, course, registration, and profile information via flat files (compatible with any SIS or other data silo). If your institution wishes to utilize the single sign-on feature, IT will also need to assist with that. Beyond that, there are no on-the-ground support needs as AccuCampus is cloud-based and managed by Engineerica’s support team. Since AccuCampus can be used on any device through the browser or app, there is nothing to install either.
For end-users, AccuCampus is a very robust system with many available features, and while this is part of what makes AccuCampus great, it can also make it overwhelming. This is why our Implementation Team works with each area individually through in-person and online meetings to determine their needs for setup. We handle the initial onboarding, and train staff to take over after the first term, ensuring a smooth learning curve.
Q: Does AccuCampus require faculty members to use it for their students to participate?
A: With many similar retention systems, students can only make full use of the product if their faculty members, acting as gatekeepers, participate first. However, AccuCampus is designed so that students can use its student-facing features without being onboarded or “alerted” by a faculty member. While faculty participation is beneficial as it can help alert students and guide them to the correct services, students can still make appointments, use the Campus Compass, follow up on alerts from other staff members, and perform any other task their fellow students can also access.