What a medium-sized educational institution manages outside of SIS (and why is that a growing problem)

The academic ERP article that we have already published covers the systems —Universitas XXI, Ellucian Banner, Electronic Office— and Gaps that they leave to the student's management.

This article describes the day-to-day operation of a medium-sized educational institution: a private university with 5,000—15,000 students, a group of vocational training centers with several locations, or a business training institution with its own programs and open programs.

The integration of fragmented systems and data is the main IT problem in higher education according to Educause. [3]

Spain has around 80 active universities and the private sector — the most dynamic in technological investment — is growing steadily. [1]

The challenge isn't the absence of systems: it's that the systems that exist don't talk to each other, and the processes that fall between them are managed manually.

The processes that fall between the SIS, the CRM and the LMS

The processes that fall between the SIS, the CRM and the LMS

1. Monitoring students at risk of abandonment

Institutions that implement a single view of the student that crosses data from SIS, CRM and LMS report reductions of around 15—20% in the dropout rate in early years. [4]

The logic is direct: students who start disconnecting from the LMS, who miss class and who have grades below the average have been sending signals for weeks before leaving.

These signals exist in three different systems. Without integration, no one crosses them until it's late.

In most medium-sized institutions, at-risk students are monitored by a tutor or coordinator who manually reviews attendance lists, notes and activity on the platform.

This is a work of hours that could be an automatic alert if the data were connected. [5]

2. The admissions process during peak periods

The admission period concentrates a disproportionate part of the institution's administrative work in a few weeks: applications, documentation, interviews, evaluations, responses and enrollment.

The CRM manages the Pipeline of candidates. The SIS manages formal enrollment.

Between the two there is an evaluation and decision process that in many institutions is managed in Excel, in shared Google Sheets or in email. [3]

3. Managing internships with partner companies

A vocational training center or university with internship programs has to manage three relationships simultaneously: that of the student (assignment, monitoring, evaluation), that of the company (agreement, contact, Feedback) and that of the academic tutor (supervision, reports).

This triangle of relationships has no native module in any standard SIS: it is managed with tools ad hoc that each institution builds independently, with greater or lesser success.

4. Reporting for accreditations and rankings

Institutional accreditations —ANECA in Spain, AACSB or EFMD in Business schools— require accurate data on graduation rates, graduate employability, research output, student satisfaction and teaching load.

These data exist in the institution, distributed between the SIS, the CRM, the HR system. HR and external surveys.

Consolidating them for an accreditation process is usually a project of weeks of manual work that is repeated each time the evaluation arrives.

5. Communication with alumni and managing the alumni community

El Alumni It is one of the most important value levers for an educational institution: a reference for new students, an internship and employment network, a potential donor or sponsor of scholarships and a brand ambassador.

Most mid-sized institutions have a database of Alumni fragmented, with outdated contacts and without a systematic process of Engagement.

The SIS does not manage Alumni: The relationship ends with graduation.

The education sector has data.

The student generates data from the first contact in admissions to graduation day and beyond.

The problem is that this data lives fragmented between systems that don't talk to each other.

The institutions that connect these systems are not only more operationally efficient: they are able to detect students at risk before they lose them, to personalize the experience and to make decisions based on real data rather than intuition.

References

1. CRUE (Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities). (2024) .Spanish universities in numbers 2023-2024. CRUE. — Spain has around 80 active universities, of which approximately 35 are private. The Spanish university system had more than 1.7 million students enrolled in the 2023-2024 academic year. Private universities and private higher education centers are the fastest growing segment and the most active in technological investment.

2. ONTSI/ Red.es. (2024). Digital technologies in business 2023. National Observatory of Technology and Society. https://www.ontsi.es/es/publicaciones/tecnologias-digitales-en-la-empresa-2023 — The Spanish education sector is among those with the largest digital divide in the adoption of data analysis tools. Only a minority of medium-sized educational institutions have real integration between their SIS (Student Information System), CRM and LMS.

3. Educause. (2024). Top 10 IT Issues in Higher Education 2024. Educause Center for Analysis and Research. https://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/research/top-10-it-issues — The three main IT problems in higher education in 2024 identified by Educause are: system integration and fragmented data (#1), digital student experience (#3) and institutional analytics for decision-making (#5). The fragmentation between SIS, CRM, LMS and financial systems is the most cited challenge.

4. Deloitte. (2024). 2024 Higher Education Outlook. Deloitte Insights. — Educational institutions that implement a unique view of the student that crosses data from SIS, CRM and LMS report reductions of around 15— 20% in the dropout rate in early years, by detecting early signs of risk before the student reaches effective dropout.

5. MuleSoft (Salesforce). (2024). 2024 Connectivity Benchmark Report. MuleSoft. https://www.mulesoft.com/connectivity-benchmark — Data fragmentation in educational institutions generates inefficiencies similar to those in the business sector: student data spread across multiple systems that don't communicate, with administrative staff dedicating weekly hours to manual synchronization.