The five main objectives of the R3 Project and why they matter

Posted on Friday, June 10th, 2022

The R3 Project is an ambitious undertaking, so it needs a firm set of objectives to guide the College throughout the Project’s duration. By establishing these objectives, we will stay connected to the “Why” behind the Project.

Side note for a quick refresher: the overall purpose of the R3 Project is to replace our 25-year-old Student Information System, GeneSIS, with a new system, Thesis Student Management (Thesis SM).

The following five main objectives are our North Star: we refer to them whenever we make a decision when it comes to the ultimate outcomes. We work to ensure that at least one of these objectives will be met when we’re re-working an existing element or introducing a new business process.

Here is a quick breakdown for each objective and how it all ties into the Project.

1. Improved student success and satisfaction

A lot has happened in 25 years since GeneSIS was first launched. Not only are The Simpsons another year older, but the technology in these years has also transformed immensely. That means that the student expectation during their learning journey has also shifted. They expect user-friendly technology to get access to information. And that’s what we plan to accomplish by reducing lead time and increasing access to student supports and Student Net Promoter Scores.

2. Improved employee satisfaction and productivity

Keeping our employees happy is a key ingredient to the R3 Project. That’s why we’re reviewing business processes in order to help increase both employee satisfaction and productivity.

For example, one way to improve productivity for employees is to change the way the Annual Curriculum Review works so that only the programs with curriculum changes will need to go through this process. Similarly, employee satisfaction and productivity will be measured by the reduction of process cycle time, which will allow employees to reinvest their time in more rewarding work and increase Employee Net Promoter Scores.

3. Improved data quality, security and resilience

With implementing a new Student Information System, we’ll be simultaneously improving data quality and security, which will also make our system more resilient. For instance, we are focused on Identity and Access Management (IAM), which includes a set of business processes or activities that provide the College the ability to give the right people, the right access to the right services, at the right time. Two fitting examples that focus on this objective include Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

To improve data quality and security, there will be increased collaboration between various systems, which include, but are not limited to, Workday, Brightspace and Salesforce.

4. Better, faster decision making

If employees have an easier way to create and access reports and analytics, then guess what? We’re going to be able to make better and faster decisions.

This objective ties in nicely to Objectives #1 and #2—are we right?

One way to ensure that we improve student success and employee productivity is to enhance our decision-making process by bettering our business processes and systems. And we’ll measure this objective by reviewing employee access to dashboards and reports.

5. Growth in new markets

Lastly, the R3 Project hopes to accelerate the growth in other markets, which includes continuing education, online education, in-the-workplace training, leisure learning, and corporate training. This growth in new markets is measured by the Student Information System’s capacity to track student success in the markets just mentioned.

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Those are the five main objectives of the R3 Project explained with concrete examples. We hope that you understand why these objectives are crucial to the success of the Project!

If you’re wondering where you can find more information about the Project, then the R3 Project FAQ and Glossary sections are great resources!

Additionally, don’t miss our next R3 Showcase Event to receive important updates and learn more about the R3 Project. We’ll also be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

The next R3 Showcase is set for Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 at 10 a.m.

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