i Recruit and other fun stuff

1. iRecruitand other fun stuff Betty Momayezi, Director of Recruitment and Admissions bettymomayezi@clayton.edu Charles Read, IT Database Professional charlesread@clayton.edu Clayton State University Morrow, GA

2. Who are we? • Clayton State University – Morrow, GA • Located 15 minutes south of downtown Atlanta • Office of Recruitment and Admissions • About 7,000 students • Scenic, park-like campus • Surrounded by competition • 6 public universities; 6 two year colleges; 19 private institutions; and 5 proprietary entities.

3. Background • Information Systems and Processing Coordinator position in Recruitment and Admissions upgraded Summer 2009 • Expectations: • Significantly reduce Admissions’ dependency upon the main IT office. • Reduce or eliminate the need for third party software. • Infuse technology into all aspects of the admissions’ function: • Increase efficiency, • Reduce costs (fiscal and human), • Reduce opportunity loss, • Help create the “WOW” factor.

4. Motivations • Paper visit information form • Created a kiosk in our front office • Keep track of who visits • Get a more detailed description of visit • Office members can make notes immediately about what was said, what was done, etc. • Don’t have to wait on data entry staff to input visit information • Data integrates immediately with our SIS • Data helps with staffing and budgeting

5. Motivations • Kiosk • It’s really just a webpage • ASP.NET (C#) form • AJAX • A lot of Javascript • Submitted data goes directly into the database of our SIS and is merged with production data via table-level database triggers, instantly • Words are cool, demos are better

6. Motivations • Kiosk Outcomes • About 15,000 check-ins per year • Save a lot on paper, ink, etc. • Utilize staff better • Much quicker follow-up with students and prospective students • Much better data accuracy • Much better record keeping • Reporting • Maybe we can apply this logic to other things…

7. Kiosk

8. Motivations • More uses of database-dumping • Event registration forms • Event check-in • Applications: Presidential Scholarship, Out-of-state tuition waiver, etc. • Big wooden kiosks aren’t very portable • Who wants to bring a laptop to a recruiting event? Power cables, wifi – ugh! • iPads!!!!

9. Why iPads? • Seriously? • Ultra portable • Great battery life • Full blown operating system with a browser sufficient to handle complex forms and behaviors • Processor can handle pretty intense AJAX processing • They’re just cool • Lots of wow factor with prospective students

10. iRecruit is born • iRecruit is the name of our iOS web app • What’s a web app? • Just a website that is configured to look like an actual app that you downloaded from the App Store • Why not an App Store app? • In-house use only • Super easy to maintain and edit • Much easier to make

11. Web App “Creation” • With Mobile Safari’s Add to Home Screen feature and a few lines of HTML you can turn a webpage into an icon on a home screen in iOS

12. Inside iRecruit • An ASP.NET form • Written in C# • Inserts data into a non-SIS database table • No server-side or client-side transformation • Trigger on non-SIS table that transforms and inserts data into SIS import tables • Stored procedure merges import tables with production SIS tables • Verizon MiFi

13. Features of the iRecruit UI • Instruction bubble • Completion checkmarks • City and state lookup on zipcode • Phone number restriction • Email address validation • High school AJAX • GPS!

14. Features of the iRecruit UI • High School Lookups • Uses AJAX (JSON) and iPad GPS to find the closest school to the iPad • AJAX search if GPS is wrong

15. iRecruit

16. Challenges and Solutions • Volume at College Fairs • Two iPads per recruiter. • Supplement when needed with hard copy contact cards. • Physical Security • Lucite locking frame. • Cable secures to table frame. • Secure Wi Fi in Schools • Mobile Hotspots • Better than individual data plans. • Allows connection of up to four devices per hotspot. • Budget • One time expenditures for iPads, Cases, Cables. • On-going expenditure for mobile hot spots.

17. Other Uses • Access to application records • Mobile hotspots enable recruiters to look up application records while in the high schools. • Access to special event registration • Open House • Regional Receptions • Counselor events