Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Education

Louise Alderton, 07 April 2011

For education institutions, deploying a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is gaining popularity. I hear you saying – “but education institutions don’t have customers?!” Well true. But with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM xRM Platform the ‘C’ is easily replaced with Student, Staff, Alumni, Partner, Faculty, Donor and the list can go on. The ‘X’ in xRM can stand for anything you want, any type of relationship management.

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Not only can Dynamics CRM be a student management or staff management system, it can be a complete solution for the running of an education institution.  For example it can help meet reporting standards for audits, running staff and faculty programs, the organisation of student alumni associations, and many more activities. 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM can provide a 360-degree view of a school, polytechnic, university or other education institution as well as the tools for such an establishment to run like a well-oiled machine. You can have the capability to drive consistent and higher levels of efficiency through workflow automation that enable organisation-wide collaboration and productivity. Easy access to data and real-time visibility into how each component of your organisation is functioning allows any issues to be identified and resolved quickly.

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to work the way you do, work the way your institution does and work the way that technology should. As a Microsoft product it has a very similar look and feel as other applications like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint that you are probably quite familiar with. This allows for faster user adoption, less frustration and therefore faster return on your investment. The tight integration with outlook means that users can manage tasks and information more easily without having to jump between systems.

Every education institution is unique and every department within that is also unique. Dynamics CRM can easily be tailored and adapted to meet the individual needs of a department and organisation. It can also be integrated to any other applications your organisation uses creating a seamless link across all essential systems. Dynamics CRM technology was created to be able to be adapted to you not the other way around.

Key Features of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Education Solution:

General Administration

Control administrative costs with efficiencies gained through automation and access to real time information.

• Use built-in tools to automate processes for workflows and for collaboration with other institutions.
• Get in-depth views of various operations including transportation, food services, and asset management, and use the information to increase your efficiency.
• Create sophisticated reports on your organization’s performance—without the need for IT assistance.

Communications

Keep your key audiences informed and help build stronger relationships with your community.

• Automatically distribute communications to increase awareness of key events and achievements.
• Help reduce the need for extensive e-mail communications between distance-learning students and teachers through a quick consolidation of information.
• Have student records readily at hand so you can respond quickly when a person contacts you.

Student Information Systems

Create a comprehensive view of each student and gain insight into performance to help serve your students better.

• Centralise the management of student records such as attendance, curriculum, discipline, academic results and extracurricular activities to provide a complete view of every student.
• Take advantage of real-time visibility into student data and classroom or school performance to proactively address potential issues before they become problems.
• Automate processes and communications to reduce administrative tasks and, at the same time, help ensure that student privacy is protected.

Faculty and Staff Management

Take advantage of tools that help faculties and staff manage day-to-day activities and make more informed decisions.

• Eliminate paper processes for managing the teacher certification process and other career-related activities.
• Provide faculty, administrators, and staff with mobile access to take advantage of tools and information at any time, from almost anywhere, with advanced data synchronization and mobility features.
• Simplify the management of substitute teachers and staff with easy, visual scheduling and a centralized view of calendars and resources.

Recruiting and Retention

Attract and retain students and outstanding educators.

• Take advantage of the out-of-the-box capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to prospect for and recruit qualified educators and students.
• Track event attendance and measure the success of marketing or informational campaigns within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
• Give administrators the ability to evaluate school, department, or faculty performance with real-time information and trending analysis.

Alumni and Donor Management

Leverage tools for effective fundraising and development. Boost contributions and create long-lasting relationships.

• Provide a complete view of individual donors, including past interactions with your institution.
• Identify top alumni donors to better target communications to them.
• Automate communications to key donors and the community to strengthen these vital connections.
• Analyse fundraising campaigns and identify trends to further refine your efforts and help increase contributions.

*Image 1 from: http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2009/01/put-your-questi.html
**Image 2 from: http://crm.dynamics.com