Company: Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University; Atlanta, GA
Company Description: The Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University was founded in 1990, and has more than 1,100 students pursuing master's degrees and over 150 students pursuing doctorate degrees. The school comprises six departments: Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Global Health, Health Policy Management, plus an Executive MPH program.
Nomination Category: Web Achievement Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Non-Profit Organizations
 Nomination Title: Rollins Earn And Learn (REAL)
- Which will you submit for this nomination, an essay of up to 525 words describing the nominated achievement(s), OR a video of up to five (5) minutes in length describing the same? CHOOSE ONE:
Written essay of up to 525 words
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video:
- If you are providing a written essay of up to 525 words about your nominated web achievement(s), provide it in this space:
Total 517 words used.
In 2022, the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) at Emory University, with the committed efforts of business analysts, developers, subject matter experts, and business leaders, completed a web application project to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Rollins Earn and Learn (REAL) program, achieving immense success in streamlining workflows and expanding employment opportunities for working students at RSPH.
The REAL program connects RSPH students with internal and external employers, allowing students to gain real-world experience while continuing to fulfill the requirements of their academic degrees. Prior to the release of the REAL web application, the program was mired in crippling inefficiencies. Virtually all functions were coordinated by email, which is highly prone to errors and delays. All contract activities were conducted manually and by hardcopy – meaning that employer contracts needed to be delivered by PDF, printed by the employer, scanned, and emailed back to RSPH. Additionally, critically important employment details were tracked through spreadsheets, resulting in inaccuracies and errors in data entry. Needless to say, the employer and student experience left a great deal to be desired.
Resulting from a massive effort from stakeholders across RSPH, led by the Applications, Media, and Data (AMD) team, the REAL Expansion and Enhancement project automated all functions through a web-enabled interface, resulting in vast improvements in efficiency:
- One person can now process over 40 student supervisor records in just over 10 minutes. Previously, this required many days of effort.
- Today, email has been eliminated from the process. All functions are now automated.
- All contract and employer onboarding activities, including signature and workflow, are automated through DocuSign, replacing the printing and emailing of documents.
- Now, up to 75% of graduate students employed through the REAL program are continuing their employment into their second year, compared to a fraction of this retention rate in the past. Re-hiring for year two is now an instant, two-click process – compared to the manual processes previously in place requiring manual steps and multiple weeks to complete.
- Due to the elimination of spreadsheets for recordkeeping, the tracking of student and employer details is now standardized, allowing for audit compliance and full adherence to Emory University’s policies related to security and recordkeeping.
- Invoicing, previously requiring three weeks of manual effort to compile and distribute, is now a pain-free 15-minute process.
- The above improvements have been deployed through an entirely web-based interface, without the need to install software and allowing for continuous functionality updates and the instantaneous deployment of new releases.
RSPH has also benefited from this project by introducing the Salesforce platform to our organization. Initially used for the REAL program improvements as detailed above, RSPH anticipates utilizing this platform for further workflow automation and applications in the future. Already, the AMD team has leveraged these technology advances to revamp and improve the process RSPH faculty use to publish their profiles to the web, integrating with authoritative data sources and allowing for self-service updates. In 2023, RSPH will embark on a process to expand workflow automation across multiple functions – and this opportunity is largely due to the successes of the REAL web application.
- Optionally, list the appropriate creative and production credits for the nominated achievement(s) you are nominating, such as the following: Advertising Agency/City: Client: Art Director: Cinematographer: Creative Director: Designer: Director: Illustrator/City: Music Producer/City: Photographer/City: Printer/City: Producer: Production Company/City: Programmer: Writer: Web Development Firm/City:
All design, production, and development undertaken by the teams at the Rollins School of Public Health; Emory University; Atlanta, Georgia, USA:
- Brandon Barnes - Business Analyst
- Deepthi Vijayan - Applications Developer/Analyst
- Cathy Cheng - Applications Developer/Analyst
- Denise Kenson - Associate Director, Applications, Media, and Data (AMD)
- Mark Conde - Executive Sponsor, Technical Project Manager
- James Leonard - Executive Sponsor, Senior Director of IT Operations and Chief Information Officer
...plus countless other internal and external contributors and subject matter experts.
| Attachments/Videos/Links: |
|---|
|
