QUEST Consulting Project: ECE Registration Process
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Maryland reached out to QUEST to assist in the analysis of their current online registration process and provide recommendations regarding improvement of the registration process. The goal for the team was to identify inefficiencies in the processes, and develop recommendations that aim to minimize time spent on registration paper work and eliminate delays in the registration process.
The team interviewed current faculty members in the department, including the Assistant Director and an undergraduate advisor, to gain a better understanding of all of the steps involved in the current online registration process. Conducting a run through of the process allowed the team to understand where the advising team spends the most time and has the largest amount of delays. After conducting secondary research, the team discovered that the use of Wufoo as an advising form created unnecessary movement of of data and over-processing, which was causing delays in the registration process.
The team also discovered that the assistant director and advisors are sent many questions about registration. The team then analyzed the emails that are sent to students, specifically the first email, and found that is was lengthy and somewhat daunting to read. The long email prompted the team to investigate whether the entire email was being read or not.
From the analyses of both of these problems, the team identified two main opportunities for improvement: the automation of the registration process through a complete switch to the Google suite, and the restructuring of the primary email sent to students. In order to automate the registration process, the team utilized Google Sheets scripting to lessen the work of both the assistant director and the advisors. This was done by utilizing Google Apps scripting and an HTML file that contained a response email. The structure of the email was improved by sectioning is and making the sentence structure easier to process. Focus groups were utilized to see if the email was sufficient, and the team received significant positive feedback.
Implementing both of these recommendations in the ECE department will allow the assistant director and advisors to dedicate more of their time towards projects and events that will benefit students and their academic experience.
The team interviewed current faculty members in the department, including the Assistant Director and an undergraduate advisor, to gain a better understanding of all of the steps involved in the current online registration process. Conducting a run through of the process allowed the team to understand where the advising team spends the most time and has the largest amount of delays. After conducting secondary research, the team discovered that the use of Wufoo as an advising form created unnecessary movement of of data and over-processing, which was causing delays in the registration process.
The team also discovered that the assistant director and advisors are sent many questions about registration. The team then analyzed the emails that are sent to students, specifically the first email, and found that is was lengthy and somewhat daunting to read. The long email prompted the team to investigate whether the entire email was being read or not.
From the analyses of both of these problems, the team identified two main opportunities for improvement: the automation of the registration process through a complete switch to the Google suite, and the restructuring of the primary email sent to students. In order to automate the registration process, the team utilized Google Sheets scripting to lessen the work of both the assistant director and the advisors. This was done by utilizing Google Apps scripting and an HTML file that contained a response email. The structure of the email was improved by sectioning is and making the sentence structure easier to process. Focus groups were utilized to see if the email was sufficient, and the team received significant positive feedback.
Implementing both of these recommendations in the ECE department will allow the assistant director and advisors to dedicate more of their time towards projects and events that will benefit students and their academic experience.
Mechanical Engineering
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University of Maryland
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