When campus quiets down and the pace of admissions slows (haha, yeah right), it’s time for CRM admins to leverage the slower pace to begin laying the groundwork for the next wave of recruitment — this is when the real magic of Slate cycle prep happens.
To help you on your way, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to setting your team up for success in the coming year.
Understanding the Slate Cycle Prep Process
Cycle prep isn’t just an update; it’s a strategic opportunity to enhance your Slate system ahead of the next admissions cycle. This period of summer stillness is a chance to audit your processes, implement improvements, and chart a course for the next round of applicants, parents, influencers, and more.
Collaborative Effort for Comprehensive Improvement
True cycle prep excellence comes from collaboration. Encourage contributions from every corner of your team to surface new ideas and identify pain points in your current setup. Teams can include:
- Strategists and Visionaries
Include your Slate Captain and members of your Operations and Marketing teams. This group will make intentional and strategic decisions, and drive the outcome of your cycle prep. - Stress Testers
Leverage your student workers, counselors, tour guides, admissions representatives, and coaches. They use Slate regularly and will have great ideas on how to improve your Slate configuration. (Seek some Gen Z input here!) - External Insights
Think of students and parents as stakeholders, too. Their impressions of your Slate environment are key to your success. What changes can you make that will drive value for them?
Timeline: Proactive Planning for Pivotal Changes
Cycle prep typically runs summer to early fall, but tailor it to suit your institution’s unique rhythm. When planning your cycle prep schedule, weigh what changes are necessary for the upcoming admissions cycle against all wish-list items you have in mind for your Slate instance. This will allow your team to focus on necessary updates and projects first, then aim for nonessential improvements as time permits.
Be sure to start small, as small steps will lead to big wins. Here’s a timeline we find helpful:
Strategize and Prioritize
Make a wish list of all the components you want to see enhanced or built in your Slate environment. From there, estimate the difficulty and duration of each project. Then, prioritize what should be completed first.
Build and Update
Get started on updating existing components in your Slate environment. If your timeline permits, build out new functionality that will strategically improve your team’s processes.
Test and Refine
Before you go live, rigorously test all updates and new builds in your Slate environment. Use your testing environment and user impersonation to check every nook and cranny.
Go Live and Post-Project Review
Migrate your processes and celebrate your team’s successes. Before making the switch, be sure that all Slate users at your institution are aware of what’s happening ahead of the go-live date. Lastly, create a post-project review (PPR). Using that PPR, a road map for next year’s Cycle Prep is already underway.
Key Areas for Cycle Upkeep and Innovation
Start with necessary updates that are crucial to your upcoming cycle. There’s a whole lot to consider, so our team has created a checklist to help you strategize:
Annual Slate Upkeep
Perform these tasks to get ready for the upcoming cycle.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Staff Assignment Rules Updates | 🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Material & Checklist Items Audit | 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Update Decision Letters & Codes | 🔥🔥 | |
|
Strategize Your Populations How are you leveraging populations? |
🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Batch Acquire Review | 🔥🔥 | |
|
Consolidate Records Review Are the counts in these tools manageable? |
🔥🔥🔥 |
Application Prep
Maintain a top-notch application.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Periods & Rounds Updates Have you created them for the upcoming cycle? |
🔥 | |
| Application Forms Updates | 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Streamline Application Questions Only ask questions that you need answers to! |
🔥🔥 | |
| Status Page Updates & Additions Dynamic content and multi-tabs are 👌 |
🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Application Logic Updates & Testing | 🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Clear Bins | 🔥🔥 | |
| Move Defers Forward | 🔥 | |
| Withdraw Old Applications | 🔥 | |
| Updates to Third-Party Applications Common App, Coalition, CAS, etc. |
🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Reader Workflow Review Do you like how your reader workflow is set up? |
🔥🔥 | |
| Cycle Prep Status Page Review | 🔥 |
Deliver
Enhance your communications.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Review Scheduled Campaigns | 🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Email Template Updates Test for mobile responsiveness. |
🔥🔥 | |
| Recipient List Queries Updates Are the right filters established? |
🔥🔥 | |
| Liquid Markup & Custom Personalization | 🔥🔥🔥 |
Data Hygiene
Crucial items for maintaining Queries, Reports, and overall database health.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Updated Configurable Joins Libraries | 🔥🔥 | |
| Turn Over Scheduled Queries & Reports What’s necessary for this cycle? |
🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Review Integrations | 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Create Source Formats Are there any new integrations you’d like to build? |
🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Update Source Formats Refresh prompt values! |
🔥🔥 | |
| Job Activity Monitor Audit | 🔥🔥 | |
| Migration to Configurable Joins How is your transition going? |
🔥🔥🔥🔥 |
User Permissions
Confirm all Slate users are seeing what they need to see.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| User Permissions Cleanup & Audit Remove inactive accounts & confirm permission levels. |
🔥 | |
| Staff Assignment Rules Updates | 🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Impersonate New User Accounts Confirm permissions function as intended. |
🔥🔥 |
In-Depth Review
Identify next steps and mark them complete.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Organizations Dataset Updates | 🔥🔥 | |
| Rules Health Audit Any erroneous rules? |
🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Compliance Dashboard Audit | 🔥 | |
| Ping Implementation Review | 🔥 | |
| Origin Sources Review Remember these? |
🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Create New Event Templates | 🔥🔥 | |
| Update Current Event Templates | 🔥🔥 |
Proactive Measures
These additional steps will help you make big gains.
| Item | Difficulty | ✅ |
|---|---|---|
| Activate Early Access Features | 🔥🔥 | |
| Migrate to Workflows | 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | |
| Update/Configure Slate.org Profile | 🔥 | |
| Buy Deliver Credits | 🔥 | |
| Hire Spark451 to Help | 🙌 |
Reach for the Stars with Spark451
We want to see you succeed! When you’re ready to take your Slate instance to the next level, reach out to the enrollment marketing and CRM pros at Spark451. Together we’ll make sure you’re getting the most out of this powerful CRM!
Interested in learning more about the different ways Spark451 can support your efforts in Slate? Check out our SparkAssist service, which offers customizable packages to fit your needs!