New Students Now Starting in Student Center

Prospective students who have applied to the University of Arizona start getting acceptance letters on January 15. This year, their process for completing all the important tasks needed to enroll at the university will be much easier. The Next Steps Center has been rebuilt in the UAccess Student Center, where students already go to access much of the academic and financial information and forms they need. 

The Next Steps Center was launched over 15 years ago by the former Student Administration Systems Group (SASG) as a homegrown application with a checklist of tasks and information for new admits.   Next Steps ensures that enrolling students complete financial aid, residency status, deposit, Orientation reservation, placement exams, vaccine documentation, dorm reservations and the myriad other forms required to start school. 

Two years ago, Student Transitions & Customer Service executive director Logan Adams and associate director Dolores Machado started looking for a new solution, one that would provide a friendlier interface that can be updated more easily. There were multiple existing options to choose from, including Slate (Arizona’s student recruiting CRM), Trellis, CatCloud and Student Center.

In the meantime, Student Center had launched a modernized web portal in summer 2020. By utilizing the InFlight application as a front end to the PeopleSoft back-end system, the UITS team was able to add modern navigation, a branded Arizona look and feel, mobile friendliness and accessibility for students entering information into or pulling information out of the system. 

Student Center IT manager for business analysis Lindsay Wedge and business analyst principal and product owner Eileen Seegmiller have long had an excellent relationship with partners in Enrollment Management departments. They were eager to show the user-friendly capabilities for Next Steps Center in Student Center. Logan and Dolores were excited by the idea that incoming students could start using the system right away  and continue coming back to it throughout their U of A academic careers. 

The enrollment process can be complex, requiring the system to provide custom views for different kinds of students showing the processes they need to complete: 1^st Year, Transfer, International, Global Campus, Arizona Online, Re-Admits, Non-Degree Seeking and Community Campus (high school students). With the modern design abilities available in Student Center, pulling all the required information out of the system to provide an outside application, plus linking back to Student Center to complete many of the tasks, was unnecessary. 

The new Next Steps Center  inside Student Center was built by a cross-department team drawing on a variety of expertise. The new portal can now be easily updated and reconfigured by the Student Transitions & Customer Service team. 

With the new Next Steps Center and the streamlined NetID and 2FA portal, the next class of students will have an easier time than ever starting at Arizona. Logan noted that although the planning started before Provost Prelock and President Garimella came to the university, it complements their strong focus on student success. She said, “I think this project falls nicely into what some of the President and Provost’s strategic plans are to make the institution accessible and help students feel supported.”