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OnBase 11.0 Helps Schools Manage Student Application and Financial Aid

By Lemuel Cacho  

Hyland Software, provider of enterprise content management (ECM) software to colleges and universities, released OnBase 11.0 software that captures information faster and in sync with real-time applications.

Universities and colleges have student information systems (SIS) in place. Together with SIS they use ECM solutions hoping to get the right students faster - from the admissions application to the financial aid application.

"To be successful, universities and colleges are relying on ECM software to get that student information compiled and evaluated as soon as the process starts, to integrate the information back-and-forth with the SIS, and to be able to access it from the Internet browser that fits their needs," said Bill Filion, vice president of development for Hyland Software. "Higher education institutions aren't finding ways to augment their SIS with these ECM capabilities in one complete package. But now, we're changing that with OnBase 11.0."

More than 1,800 additions and enhancements were made in Hyland Software's OnBase 11.0. For colleges and universities, these changes include:

Hyland Software's OnBase 11.0 begins by offering new data-level integrations with applications that include student information systems Datatel and PeopleSoft. The integrations require no custom coding and allow for real-time back-and-forth movement of data between the applications.

Most colleges and universities use checklists in the SIS to track the progression of the student record through processes like admissions and financial aid. With OnBase 11.0, documents and other content that are brought into OnBase, using its Datatel or PeopleSoft application, can be automatically and instantly updated. This way, staff no longer has to manually update the checklist, allowing for processes, like student application review when the file is completed, to be immediately started upon a change in the checklist.

With OnBase, universities and colleges can also use ECM solution to evaluate transcripts on a school-by-school basis. This includes matching transfer credits with the articulation database and posting to the SIS.

By providing the ability to automatically capture term, course and grade data from a transcript, manual data entry of these processes is reduced by more than 90 percent. This speeds time-to-degree and helps the institution meet both matriculation and customer service goals.

When it comes to browser preference, OnBase can also deal with that. Many departments using the same system are concerned with the instability of long-term Java support on Mac. OnBase 11.0 offers this capability in its web client, allowing OnBase users to work in their preferred browser, from Mozilla Firefox to Internet Explorer 9, no matter the operating system.

Hyland Software has been meeting organizations' needs for document and process management with OnBase, an ECM solution suite. As OnBase has evolved through consistent and customer-driven product innovation, it remains focused on automating business processes that depend on documents, content and people to operate more effectively.

Lemuel Cacho is a versatile writer specializing in business, technology and science. Contact Lem through NewsBlaze.