Approximately 36% of higher education colleges and universities are interested in or committed to replacing their ERP system, according to a recent Educause report. Institutions opt for this transition to enhance functionality, leverage the advantages of Cloud computing, streamline system integration, improve vendor support, and drive down operating expenses.
To dig into how Aptron Corporation delivers on each of these with their Collēgix ERP and SIS, I sat down with Dianne Ackerman, Aptron Vice President and recent recipient of Software Equity Group’s SaaS Trailblazer Award, to get her insights. Read the below Q&A with Dianne to learn more.
Q: Dianne, give us a sense of your role as Vice President at Aptron.
A: I began at Aptron as a programmer and documentation writer. I moved through the company over the years, becoming an analyst, a trainer, a project manager, a support specialist, a manager, and a developer. My current role takes all of that knowledge and experience and uses it to help drive the products forward and keep our customers happy.
Q: Most ERP and SIS companies are fraught with long product development cycles that take months if not longer, to release the features colleges and universities need today. How is Aptron’s process so much faster and more responsive to what universities need?
A: Several factors contribute to how responsive Aptron’s development process is. One is that we are a smaller company, and instead of each of us only understanding one small part of our vast system, we all understand all of it and how it interacts. Because of this, it is much easier to determine what changes need to be made for any new enhancements, and we are not required to have many meetings between different departments of the company to see how they will impact the entire system.
Another reason is the way our software is designed and the database that it uses. Much of the system is based on templates and tables, so making changes and installing them on our customers’ systems is very easy. We don’t need to wait for a whole new release of the system to add any enhancements. For example, if we decide that we need to add a new field to our student dataset, within a few days, we can have the new field designed, added, and installed at all of our customer sites.
Q: It seems that many ERP companies are moving away from customizations. What’s Aptron’s approach to meeting each institution’s unique needs?
A: Aptron understands that all schools are a little bit different. We do encourage our customers to keep their individuality. We often have discussions with our customers about exactly what they are trying to accomplish. Then we make suggestions on (1) how to make it work within our system as it is, (2) another way to handle it, possibly a new parameter within the system that can be added as a general enhancement option, or (3) a complete customization. Collēgix has a way to handle customizations built in so they are easily and quickly accomplished, as well as to ensure minimal issues when installing base system updates.
Q: Many institutions are switching to a new ERP because they desire to be in the Cloud. What can a new Collēgix client expect from the Collēgix Cloud implementation?
A: We have two different Cloud options. You can have your system hosted in the Cloud, and it works just the same way as hosting it on-premise. Aptron handles all the updates and enhancements, and customizations are always allowed. The other option is to be a part of our multi-tenant Cloud solution, where customizations are allowed but limited.
Q: Switching to a new SIS is a big undertaking. Would you explain what that process looks like when a college moves to Collēgix?
A: First, we get files of your current data and analyze them to figure out how to work them into our file structures. We’ll work closely with the users at the new customer site to make sure we understand all of the data and custom nuances of the data. Then, we run a conversion of all the data into a test environment, both for training on our system and for validating that the data is all being considered correctly.
As the training continues, we’ll tweak our conversion programs as necessary. We help the users run comparison reports between the old and new systems, especially in the finance system. Then, we’ll schedule a go-live date and do a fresh conversion of the data. Sometimes, if necessary, we’ll need some transitional integrations if the customer doesn’t want to move the whole system live at once. And we always convert all the data going back in time, not just current information. That way, the school can move completely off of its old system, even for archived information.
The time it takes depends on the customer. We’ve moved systems live in a few months when needed. We don’t work with outside consultants because we feel that our customers know their own data, and we know our own software better than any outside consultant would.
Q: Would you describe how your team integrates Collēgix with an institution’s existing technology stack?
A: Over the years, Aptron has integrated Collēgix with learning management systems, recruitment software, advancement software, document management systems, identity management systems, and many more. There is a high probability that we have already integrated with a new customer’s existing technology. We work directly with our clients to perform integrations into any third-party product. There is no need to hire a consulting firm to do integrations. The Rocket Software Universe database we use makes it very easy to do any necessary integration. We don’t force a customer into any particular structure. We’ll tailor the programming to work however it needs to work. Most integration projects are accomplished very quickly.
Q: How about reporting? How is reporting in Collēgix different than with other solutions?
A: We offer several different reporting tools that can be easily used without much training – end users often create their own reports without assistance from IT. We offer dictionary-driven tools, WYSIWYG report design, and awesome drill-down technology for dashboards, graphics, and analytics. These tools also provide powerful ways to export data for delivery to other systems using automated workflows.
Q: The Educause report finds that “ERP implementations are often more about people than technology.” Aptron does a fantastic job of engaging the institution’s stakeholders. Would you share your approach to working with all campus departments?
A: Aptron has always encouraged direct communication with department heads. Sometimes, it’s just easier to work through any concepts with the person in charge of a particular department rather than going through someone in IT who may or may not understand the details of that department’s processes and data.
Q: This leads nicely into support. Aptron’s support model is also unique, as your clients frequently list Aptron support as a top reason to stay with the Collēgix ERP. What makes your support model exceptional?
A: Users at our customer sites work closely with our support team and get to know them by name. They are assigned a lead support contact and can contact us directly rather than through a general helpdesk. A great example would be a phone call like “Hey Dianne, it’s Christa. Remember that thing I had asked about a few months ago that we decided to put off? I think we’re ready to go but with the 2nd option.” There is no need to re-introduce themselves and go over details about something again. Our support team cares a lot about our customer’s success and works hard to ensure we can resolve anything that comes up as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Q: You have a great product with fantastic support that requires little effort for the institution to maintain. How can you offer all of this in addition to a cost that’s a fraction of your major competitors?
A: Because we are a smaller company, our employees can quickly look at the big picture with minimal wasted time. We don’t have a lot of people, each responsible for a small part of the system. We’re all extremely knowledgeable about the entire system, as well as our various customers’ customizations. For example, if a new concept comes up, our development team can very quickly figure out the best way to introduce it to our system, do the work, and install it at our customer sites. We use great technology and tools that inherently allow Aptron to develop, deploy, and maintain in a fraction of the time needed for other technologies.
