I created a financial aid tutorial for my team of enrollment advisors once about a year ago, and for the most part, it was a modest success. Basically, I created a PowerPoint taking them through the process a student goes through to accept his financial aid award through the myWalden page so that the team could better assist students through the process itself should they need it. The idea was to increase student support and customer service, and at the same time benefit the enrollment advisor by increasing total Talk Time, a metric used for review purposes on a quarterly basis. The tutorial was about twenty-five slides long, included screenshots of my own student financial aid account, and navigated the user through all aspects of the financial aid acceptance process, from locating the documents to exactly what those documents looked like (i.e. Master Promissory Note, Entrance Counseling, etc). There were elements that were successful and others that were not so successful, and with a firmer grasp of project management concepts, I think I could’ve did a little better job.
First, the good news. My team was able to see the financial aid process through the eyes of a student, and got some very useful insight into the documents needed for completion of the process as well as some topics of conversation to bring up with students on the phone to guide them through. The PowerPoint wasn’t too long, and included enough screenshots of an actual student financial aid account to graphically tell the story as opposed to an endless sea of bullet points. I also included back and forward buttons in the presentation so the user could navigate backward as well as forward in order to access earlier slides for review. I heard good things from my team initially; they stated that the presentation looked good, took a smooth and steady course through the brass tacks of the acceptance process, and allowed for an acceptable freedom in navigation without stranding the user. From the feedback I did acquire, the team was able to glean useful information from the presentation, and for that reason, I can be confident of some level of success with it.
While the team found value in the presentation, there could have been improvements made. From a project management stand-point, I think the organization of the project itself could’ve been better defined. I was the only one working on the project, but that shouldn’t mean that a well defined Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and/or Linear Responsibility Chart (LRC) was/were unnecessary. A WBS would’ve detailed a “hierarchical representation of all work to be performed in [the] project (Portney et al., pg. 86, 2007),” and would’ve have given me a concrete plan to approve or revise. With a well defined WBS, an LRC may be superfluous in this instance, especially considering all work would be assigned to me, but the LRC might have helped to schedule the work and prioritize the elements of the project. The LRC could have also helped to organize my duties as I assumed different roles: As the project manager, a task would have been to approve the WBS, and an LRC could’ve helped me to track that approval; as a task leader, a duty would be to approve completion of an element of the presentation, and the LRC would allow for this approval to be concretely represented. The whole idea behind these documents is to create a sense of organization and accountability, so even though I was the only employee on the project, value can still be found in the process of creating and utilizing the documents themselves.
So, while the project wasn’t a total bust, more organization from a PM perspective could’ve brought the financial aid tutorial project to new levels of utility. Now that the concepts of project management have been revealed to me (and as they continue to be revealed), I can only imagine how useful they will become on future projects, solo or otherwise.
Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Jason,
ReplyDeleteYour blog gave me a glimpse of what is happening behind the scenes of an enrollment advisor. I cannot avail of any grant but I find it fascinating to follow how you have shown your team the whole process leading them to see things through the eyes of a student. That has not been an easy task. I suppose it is always challenging to "put on" another person's hat or shoes whichever fits the scenario better.
What you say about knowing the basics of project management is indeed true. I can see that it will help me make a difference when I will manage a project or organise a simple workshop in the future.
See you around.
Malu
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteAs a former enrollment advisor myself, I think this project that you completed was probably more appreciated than you know. In my personal experience when I became a student at Walden it better enabled me to know what the students were dealing with throughout the process and better equiped me to help them through the process. The other EAs on my team who were not enrolled in programs often came to me as a go to person. In fact even though I am in a different position and sit on a different floor of the building I still sometimes receive phone calls with questions. It sounds to me like your project was a success but we always expect more of ourselves. I will say in taking this course I am starting to evlauate my methods for taking on projects in my life and see improvements that can be made as well. Congratulations on being able to help out your team.
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example and it shows how similar the project management process and the ADDIE design model are. From a management perspective it is always a good idea to break down the tasks and responsibilities. I have heard it said that the more people that are involved in a project, the more complicated and conflict ridden it will be. The flip side to that though is that doing a project alone can result in all the bases not being covered. I am always amazed by the suggestions I get from others and how they improve the project overall.
By the way, I think it speaks volumes that an enrollment adviser also takes classes at the university they represent. Advisers at Kaplan have been in the news a lot lately for aggressive sales tactics and outright lying to potential students. They are getting hit with lawsuits right and left. Interacting with you in class helps ease my distrust in the for profit education business.
I'm really impressed with the thoroughness and precision of thought indicated by this piece. From the detailed understanding of the benefits of the Linear Responsibility Chart to the spec on an effective PowerPoint, I really just enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteSome day you'll be in charge of a group, and they'll be well off.
Ted
Interesting post, Jason. That sounds like the kind of project I might have undertaken in similar circumstances: In the past, I've certainly decided to put together this or that program or utility to help with some process. And, of course, since it was my idea, and I was the only one working on it, why would I need to go through the motions of "planning"?
ReplyDeleteHowever, as you point out, there's no reason why you couldn't create a Work Breakdown Structure and even a Linear Responsibility Chart. Although my nature, unfortunately, shrinks from such formalities, I concede their possible benefit. The WBS would help to organize what you had done and what you wanted to focus on, and the LRC would be useful if anyone else decided they wanted to help.
I actually have a personal project or two currently in varying stages of preparation, and this ... No, I probably won't say "inspires" me; however, it does suggest to me the idea of at least attempting to make a list of what I want to do and assign priorities.
--Rick