Guiding Principles for Student MyUB

Criteria for Determination of Recommendations to the Student Systems Team of ASAB

Guiding Principle

Improving the quality of lives (customer satisfaction) of our students by dehassling UB.

We will accomplish this by developing and prioritizing recommendations for improvements that require an integrative framework for transactional services, communication and content. Ease of access and navigability for students is a necessity.

Assumptions

1. We will make no recommendations to the Student Systems Team without ensuring that we have worthy and substantive data that will provide the rationale for the improvement.
2. Students need not understand the UB geography, organizational structures or unique terminology.
3. By following the guiding principle of dehassling UB, activities we recommend will naturally result in students gravitating to MyUB as their single point of entry.
4. By following the guiding principle of improving student satisfaction by the activities we recommend, we can expect better retention.
5. We will consistently guard students' confidentiality and make no recommendations that diminish privacy of information.
6. We will maintain the institutional image by preventing external commercial advertising on MyUB.

Related Activities of the MyUB-Student Stewardship Group

Data Collection

The MyUB-Student Stewardship Group members will share in the planning and implementation of data collection activities, following agreed-upon practices.

Co-sponsorship & Support

Recommendations made by the group, based on data collection, careful review and prioritization, will be advanced to the appropriate administrative unit sponsor for creation of mini-charters. Our group will act as co-sponsor and will provide guidance, as needed, in the mini-chartering process.

Marketing

The MyUB-Student Stewardship Group will share, with administrative unit and executive sponsors, the responsibility for marketing of the improvements that we recommended for implementation.

Utilizing the Three Portal Components — Transactional Services, Communication & Content — to Achieve our Guiding Principle

Definitions

Transactional Services: (3 "levels" as they relate to the portal)

• low integration (e.g. links, such as webmail, requiring separate authentication and/or without any MyUB "look & feel")
• moderately integrated (e.g. change of address)
• completely integrated (e.g. student's course schedule)

  Caveat: Transactional (change, update) services at UB do not reside on the portal but are accessed via the portal. Our group will recommend (based on supporting data) improvements to underlying services as well as levels of integration with the MyUB "front door" to those services.

Communication / Outreach: Nurturing, high tech/high touch (e.g. Need to Know's — NTK's)

• personalized *
  • action-oriented (e.g. checkstop)
• general
  • awareness-building (e.g. workshop)

• * 1 to 1 (completely personalized to ONE individual)
• 1 to few
• 1 to many
• 1 to all

Content / Wayfinder: Links to other information (content does not reside on MyUB)

• fine grained — better business rules so we can categorize on many more attributes
• general

Approaches (sub-principles)	Transactional Service Component	Communication / Outreach Component	Content / Wayfinder Component
1. Improving the quality of student life by dehassling UB: Make administrative tasks more efficient, easier.	Improvement of self-service opportunities, such as the recently-implemented "address change" function. Examples of possible online enhancements: ordering academic transcripts; completing various financial aid forms; applying for UB time payment plan; applying for a refund; applying for degree candidacy; applying for leave of absence; enhancing E-pay with real-time account information.
2. Improving the quality of student life by dehassling UB: Market/Build awareness of information and services.		Could be Need to Knows (NTK's) or highly personalized info. Examples of possible outreach opportunities: advising all health science majors of a health science fair, or health service employers on campus	Wayfinder role: pointing of students to what they need and where they should go. Further develop the technology to allow for content items and sections to appear or not appear on portals (e.g. no financial aid on international student portals; INS updates on international student portals only).
3. Improving the quality of student Life by dehassling UB: Provide reliable and appropriate information in a proactive fashion to assist in dealing with administrative concerns.		A highly personalized NTK (e.g. strategic intervention, such as "you have a Bursar checkstop"), or perhaps a group message to all undergrads with 90 hours that they should apply for their degree; telling individual students when they are not making satisfactory academic progress; advising students with loans that they need to complete a promissory note.	Focus on relationships with stakeholders, and advocating that stakeholders dedicate resources to keep content on their websites fresh, and to make their websites robust.

Updated: October 30, 2003