In late 2015, Johns Hopkins University hired the consulting firms Deloitte and Continuum to conduct an assessment of administrative operations and student experience at JHU.
Deloitte focused on reviewing administrative operations and technology, while Continuum concentrated on understanding the current and potential future student experience.
The assessment phase included the formation of an oversight committee, an advisory committee, and six working groups focusing on key functional areas – engaging staff, faculty, and students extensively.
The analysis resulted in 50 key recommendations to achieve JHU’s desired future state vision.
The implementation phase of SSEI began in Fall 2016, leading to the establishment of a dedicated project team and the creation of governing bodies – the SSEI Governing Council and SSEI Executive Team, along with working groups comprised of staff, faculty and students across the university enterprise.
SSEI adopted a phased approach due to the extensive nature of the recommendations, resulting in three main phases with distinct focus areas:
Phase 1A: Graduate Admissions and Career Services
Phase 1B: Shared Services (Registration, Financial Aid, Student Accounts / Billing)
Phase 2: Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Advising Techology (Stellic), and SIS Replacement Discovery.
Phase 1A of the SSEI implementation focused on Graduate Admissions and Career Services, along with improvements in Registration, from January 2017 to June 2019.
Modernization efforts led to the implementation of Handshake, a university- wide career services platform, and the creation of an Employer Engagement Portal. This phase also saw the establishment of a new organization with oversight from an inaugural vice provost of Integrative Learning and Life Design, transforming our original approach to career services to one that bridges curricular and experiential learning with professional ambitions and mentoring across all levels and schools at JHU.
SSEI supported the implementation of Slate to unify graduate admissions offices across JHU, design common processes, and provide a streamlined, mobile-friendly application experience.
Alignment of Academic Calendars reduced the complexity by streamlining from 24 academic calendars to two, making planning more accessible for students, staff, and faculty.
Interdivisional Registration improvements included a pilot program for electronic registration in Public Health Studies, which served as a blueprint for other school/program pairings.
This phase introduced the inaugural University Registrar position, enhancing coordination of university-wide records and registration policies and operations. A “Registrars Roundtable” was established to facilitate cross-university collaboration.
Phase 1B of SSEI, spanning from July 2019 to June 2022, focused on addressing recommendations related to establishing a shared service organization for records and registration, financial aid, and student accounts. Historically, each school had separate offices for these functions, resulting in 27 such offices, leading to policy, process, technology, and service disparities that inconvenienced students.
Student Enrollment and Account Management (SEAM): was designed, staffed, and launched to create a streamlined and integrated service experience.
Key accomplishments in SEAM included the redesign of 92 business processes related to records and registration, student accounts, and financial aid, along with the recruitment of new central leadership roles.
The implementation of a case management system using Salesforce, document and workflow management using OnBase, and an AI chatbot tool (Ocelot) to support SEAM operations.
In addition, this phase saw a transition of the School of Medicine (SOM) from its legacy student information system to the university SIS, enhancing interdivisional registration processes and integrations with other university systems.
Phase 2 of SSEI, spanning from July 2022 to the present, is focused on large-scale technology projects, including the DXP implementation, Stellic implementation (Advising technology), and SIS replacement discovery.