ACEware Customer Spotlights

ACEware Welcomes OLLI at the University Center of South Dakota

OLLI at UCSD Specs

We're so excited to welcome OLLI at the University Center of South Dakota to the ACEware family.

Nancy Wehrkamp, Director of Lifelong Learning at University Center, shared that their team learned about ACEware when researching which software other OLLI programs were using for course registration. ACEware was selected from 10 software products being considered for several reasons according to Nancy. "It is a very comprehensive solution that has all the key functionality we were looking for and also has most of our, 'nice to haves'. The web registration module appears straightforward and should allow our members to self-register without assistance. ACEware was very responsive to our requests for information and demonstrations, and the cost of the final solution was reasonable and within our budget."

They especially appreciate the ACEweb Quick Pick registration module. "Each term we offer many short courses," shares Nancy. "Most are between one and four one-hour sessions. It is not uncommon for a member to sign up for 15 or 20 courses in a given term. The Quick Pick module will keep the registration process quick and simple."

The team will be doing self-paced training using the ACEware webinar series before a two-day onsite training in late October. They plan to be regular attendees at the ACEware Users' Conference. We hope to see them represented in Las Vegas in June 2019!

ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) Award Recipient Spotlight

Maxie receiving her award

Maxie Flores receives the ACE award from Chuck Havlicek, President of ACEware Systems, Inc.

Maxie Starr Flores, Administrative Services Manager within the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) Professional and Public Programs (P3), was recognized as a 2017 ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) at the June Annual Users' Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

In FY17, P3 saw 1,259 courses with 9,018 enrollments which brought in $1,515,622. Almost 20% of their annual income is from summer programming. P3 Kidz on Campus offered 266 courses with 3,667 enrollments and $267,805 in revenue this past summer. Is it any wonder they bring in additional support for summer programs?

At our June conference, Maxie shared how Student Manager and ACEweb support their youth program management, and how P3 uses workshop courses. In addition to her program management tips, attendees appreciated Maxie's, "can-do," spirit.

Many accolades were shared from Maxie's colleagues including that she is, "the Go-To Guru of all things in ACEware! Maxie is instrumental in helping our unit with any questions we may have as well as training us on all the features ACEware has to offer. Thank you Maxie!!"

Lindsey Lieberman, UTEP's technical consultant said:

Maxie is a joy to work with not just because she's a pro when it comes to ACEware products (I swear she could run her program with both eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back), but also because of her perpetually sunny disposition. No matter what we're working on, I get the sense that Maxie is smiling on the other side of the phone. She provides outstanding leadership for the UTEP Student Manager team.

ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) Award Recipient Spotlight

Mary receiving her award

Mary Corley receives the ACE award from Chuck Havlicek, President of ACEware Systems, Inc.

ACEware recognized Mary Corley, Program Director of The Center for Highway Construction Excellence within Tri-County Technical College's Corporate & Community Education Division (CCED) as a 2017 ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) at the June Annual Users' Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

CCED, a self-supporting unit at TCTC, depends on program development, corporate partnerships, and sales to stay in business. Mary's department contributed 30% of CCED's $3 million revenue in FY2018. They work with efficiency, and Student Manager/ACEweb are essential tools in their work processes.

Tri-County Technical School

Those in attendance at the June conference received valuable insights from interacting with Mary. She spoke on developing and maintaining corporate partnerships during a general session. And, in her two break-out sessions, she discussed CCED's use of Student Manager to support their certificate programs and shared best practices for internal team collaborations. Her advice to all was to invite ACEware to your institution for custom training for your team, to develop and document your internal operating procedures, and to never hesitate to discuss ideas and software needs with ACEware. (We certainly agree with her!)

TCTC, always in search of streamlining procedures, is responsible for system enhancements such as the Make Credentials button you see on a registration record.

There were many accolades shared from Mary's TCTC colleagues including that "Mary is our 'senior level expert' in-house with Student Manager and ACEweb. She has been integral to solving problems and helping to determine strategic settings/changes and working with our favorite Technicians at ACEware. She's awesome to work with in all aspects!"

Matthew Olson, TCTC's technical support representative commented that

"Mary is always trying to push the limits of what Student Manager and ACEweb can do. She is never afraid to try something new and is willing to share what she learns with her coworkers and other units at conferences. Whenever something comes up that stands in her way, she doesn't back down. She never gives up even if she has to find an unconventional way to do something. I mean, who else prints their certificates on business cards?"

Tri-County Technical College

In March, ACEware representatives were asked to join Tri-County Technical College (TCTC) for their monthly Student Manager Team Meeting. Say what? A meeting solely dedicated to all things Student Manager? We were impressed, intrigued, and hungry for more information. Set a year in advance, these meetings are a priority for this busy Continuing Education operation! When we asked if they'd share a bit more about this practice with our customers, Teresa Young, Operations Manager and leader of these monthly gatherings, agreed to donate her valuable time and share this best practice with our readers.

At TCTC, the Keeper of the Flame status is shared by three staff, and these three are on the Student Manager Team. The team is made up of TCTC's Operations Manager (oversees financials and steers the ship), Customer Service/Registrar Manager (works closely with college financial office), a Program Director, a Training Coordinator (sets up courses, monitors registration, cancels classes when needed), and an Administrative/Program Manager (newer to their team so a fresh set of eyes).

ACEware: What prompted you to begin Student Manager Team Meetings?

Teresa: Our staff is so limited, that the only way we can make progress is by culling out parts of a project, making assignments, and grinding until it is done. It also means that no one person is making strategic decisions that negatively affects the other users.

ACEware: How is the meeting agenda determined?

Teresa: Priorities drive it. I currently prepare the agenda, but, all team members are equal and have input.

ACEware: Can you share some action items have you had as a result of your meetings?

Teresa: SM procedures updated, reviewed, and published. This is a continuous action item, it seems.

Review of different modules. See if implementing them will minimize our time spent on paperwork, data/customer tracking.

Redesign of all certificates, and assigning the publication of the certificates to the Customer Service/Registrar staff. This was a "lean" initiative, so that there are not 15 different staff having to print certificates. And, the redesign incorporated an embossed seal, to eliminate the chance of fraudulent certificates being published.

Data cleanup standards. We discuss prior to clean up and get clarification on data qualifiers so we are all coding things properly.

Voucher/billing decisions are made in these meetings.

Communication on testing of new updates prior to implementing the update in Production.

ACEware: Please share how these meetings have strengthened your Student Manager team.

Teresa: We still struggle with making real fast progress against the team's goals, because we really need more personnel/hours capacity to do it totally, but if it were not for the team meetings, nothing would be accomplished.

Between regular meetings, the team tends to ask each other questions ad hoc as things arise, and work cooperatively to fix things that happen. It reduces angst because there is a decision not made by one person, to trickle down, but by a cross-functional team.

Tri-County Quote

ACEware: In addition to your meetings, what else does your Student Manager team do to stay current with software and industry (continuing education/workforce development) knowledge?

Teresa: I truly wish I could say that our staff reaches out to the ListServ and the many ACEware solutions and support - but - they often do not have time to do this. We hope to get to the point where we have a "tech minute" at the end of each of our staff meetings, where we show other staff a "shortcut", "did you know", tips, etc.

Those on the SM team use the ListServ and Support Menus on the ACEware website. When financially viable, we attend the conferences (multiple staff), and we have brought ACEware staff to our campus for training, twice, for week-long, cross-functional training. This has been great.

ACEware: What advice would you give to a new Student Manager Customer?

Teresa: Have ACEware come to train your staff. Establish that cross-functional "SM Team", because you need to have the knowledge spread to multiple staff, and have input from different perspectives.

You can all thank TCTC for the warning message you receive before your pack and reindex function! That was a wishlist submitted by their team. They have plenty of innovative ideas so stay tuned for more developments!

We thank TCTC for sharing how they collaborate and use Student Manager to improve their work processes. How about you? How does your team cross-train, work consistently, and streamline work? We'd like to hear from you!

ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) Award Recipient Spotlight

Brittany receiving her award

Brittany Thomasson receives the ACE award from Chuck Havlicek, President of ACEware Systems, Inc.

Brittany Thomasson, Senior Program Associate, Auburn University at Montgomery was recognized as a 2015 ACEware Champion Educator (A.C.E.) at the April Annual Users' Conference in Myrtle Beach.

Brittany has worked with Student Manager and ACEweb for 8 years. The only full-time registrar for Auburn's outreach units, she managed 8,942 registrations in 2014; 4,682 of those registrations were online registrations using five alternate registration interfaces. In 2014 she also emailed approximately 240 daily enrollment reports to staff . She is known for "working smarter, not harder" by her team.

In addition to alternate interfaces used to accommodate the unique needs of various program offerings, Brittany appreciates the instructor portal offered by ACEweb which allows instructors to access rosters when staff might not be available.

"Brittany is one of my favorite customers to work with. Even though we are on the phone, I imagine her always having a smile . . . even if she's not having a good day. She's a glass half-full type and is never impatient."

Mike Lowry, ACEware Systems Technician for Auburn University at Montgomery

Kathy S. Gunter, Executive Director and Linda Wright, Associate Director states that

"Brittany is our resident 'cheerleader' who works hard to deliver the best customer service possible! Brittany never has a bad day and she is always cheerful and loaded with enthusiasm. We hear from customers all the time about what a wonderful job she does and how patient and helpful she is. She will go above and beyond to work out issues and will make sure that customers are satisfied with their registration experience. We appreciate her attitude and work ethic and making sure that Auburn Montgomery looks good to all of our customers."

Brittany's advice to Student Manager users:

"The ACEware/SM help guide is your friend! Watch the webinars and learn, learn, learn the system. The more you learn the system the more you enjoy it. Use the short-cut keys as well; they help you speed through registrations."

ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) Award Recipient Spotlight

Karen receiving her award

Chris Harvey, Karen Rankin,and Chuck Havlicek

Karen Rankin, Manager, Information Technology Services for University Outreach at Auburn University.

Chuck comments that "If we were looking for a model of who we'd choose as an ideal ACEware support person, Karen Rankin's name would pop up."

While she would be quick to tell you that she is not an ACEware expert, if you have a question about a report, about a design on a web page or getting to a special field, Karen can help you out.

Karen provides support to three different Student Manager/ACEweb installations at Auburn University, and manages numerous ACEweb interfaces. She is able to generate special custom web registration forms to address the myriad of programs that Auburn offers including about 1,100 activities a year with around 36,700 participants.

She has been key in working with ACEware Software Developers in fleshing out new features and in building some custom routines to address needs of some unique programs. One of our challenges as a software "manufacturer" is to get a full and thorough test or model implementation of the new feature. Karen knows both the "ACEware" side and can articulate and work through the business case that her department is trying to solve.

Michael serves as Karen's technical support representatives and comments that she is "the most easy going IT customer I've ever encountered."

Karen's advice to Student Manager users:

"I would say that the online help is a great resource to answer general questions and a way to find out about features that you may not currently use."

What she would like to share with professionals considering the use of Student Manager:

"ACEware has provided hands-down the best technical support that I have ever experienced. If I can't figure it out, Michael, our technician, is always only an email away. Everyone at ACEware is always so willing to help you figure out a problem or how to make something work if you are trying to do something new."

The software feature most beneficial to Auburn's operation:

"My favorite feature of Student Manager/ACEweb is the ability to customize registration pages and reports as needed."

ACEware Champion Educator (ACE) Award Recipient Spotlight

The ACE recognition was shared with his team members - Marcos Kochmann (left) and Ricardo Suarez (right)

Martin Malpica, IT Director at the University of Central Florida (UCF) Continuing Education is an ACEware Champion Educator (ACE).

The ACE recognition was shared with his team members - Marcos Kochmann (left) who does most of the ACEweb maintenance and Ricardo Suarez (right) who does most of the Student Manager maintenance. His colleagues, friends, and family found the recognition, "impressive, most impressive."

Martin and his team have taken their ACEware software to new levels. The open architecture of the software allowed UCF to build a custom (UCF specific) wrapper around their Student Manager and the ACEweb system.

The UCF system is highly customized, and yet it all is built around the core functionality of the Student Manager/ACEweb structure.

The University of Central Florida Continuing Education provided 600 programs in fiscal year 2014. From those programs, they had over 10,000 registrations.

Chuck Havlicek, President, ACEware Systems has this to say about Martin:

"Martin brings great technical skills, a solid understanding of continuing higher education, and strong organizational skills to help leverage the services available from ACEware. He has been very willing to share advice and offer suggestions for helping us make your ACEware registration software faster, more functional and easier for students (and staff) to use."

Martin's advice to Student Manager users:

"Always attend the Webinars Aceware hosts, not only is it a great up-to-date training tool, but helps refresh your knowledge on functions you may not always use."

What he would share with professionals considering the use of Student Manager:

"We have been using Aceware since 1998 and the tech support and availability of advice on CE functions is unmatched."

The software feature most beneficial to UCF's operation:

"Aceweb has been the most beneficial in providing self-service options and online registration for our programs. Thanks to Matthew and Stein, we have been very successful in creating efficiencies in processes."

Martin had this to say about UCF's future with ACEware:

"We are really looking forward to the SQL upgrade as Aceweb/Aceware will be fundamental in our next Website re-design. We want to give as many self-service tools to our students as possible."