Create a Strategic Plan for Implementation (Change Management)

• The institution must identify all stakeholders.
• The institution must showcase the platform solution.
• The institution must evaluate existing initiatives.
• The institution should consider existing portals.
• The institution should consider ways to promote platform use.
• The institution should consider ways to communicate platform value.

• Successful Implementation for all stakeholders
• Lasting usage for student achievement
• Positive and clear communication for all users

• Promoting Pathify Email Template

Academic Affairs

• VPAA / Provost / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• AVP / Directors / Deans / Divisional Managers
• Staff who push out communication
• Advisors
• Club or Department leaders
• Library stakeholder(s)

Student Affairs

• Sr VP of Student Affairs / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• AVP / Directors / Divisional Managers
• Advisors / Counselors / Leaders of student consumption products (bookstore, writing center, etc.)
• Staff who push out communication
• Student leadership / Students who are known to push out communication

Admissions / Enrollment

• Sr VP of Admissions / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• Registrar
• Advisors / Enrollment Counselors / Staff who will use the platform to connect with students, parents, etc.

I.T.

• CTO / CIO / Sr Technology “sponsors”
• Integration stakeholders (typical: SIS, LMS, Productivity suite, Early alert system, CRM, CMS, etc.)
• Owner of current “portal” platform

Advancement / Alumni Relations

• Sr VP of Advancement / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• Staff who connect alumni with content or communication
• Staff who connect alumni with current students, etc.

Athletics

• Head coaches
• Promotions / Marketing staff
• Team captains

Communications Office

• VP of Communication / Director of Comm / Sr Executive “sponsors”

Institutional Effectiveness / Review

• VP of Data Management / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• VP of Student Success / Retention
• Psychometricians

HR

• VP of Human Resources / Sr Executive “sponsors”
• HR staff

Other: Many colleges and universities have other departments acting independently of the above categories.  For example, eLearning might be its own department or even college. Therefore, it is important to consider the context when creating a list such as this.

Consider the following best practices:

• Invite and gather the stakeholders (potentially from the list above).
• Carefully craft language in the invitation and description such as “imagination session,” “ideation,” or “innovative experience."
• Show stakeholders what a “full” implementation of the platform can look like. 
• Consider demonstration and discussion regarding the mobile app, communication efficiencies, new forms of data, new paradigms of content delivery, connection to resources, how to better connect any/all people, etc.  (This can be performed by Pathify Customer Success, in conjunction with Pathify, etc.).
• Provide access to training materials or sandboxes for appropriate stakeholders.
• Allow for reflection and inquiry from stakeholders as well as time to ask questions, encourage conversation, exploration, and ideation.

Consider the following best practices:

• Encourage early adoption by any group or division that sees a way to meet a need via the platform.
• Conduct a short survey or send a follow-up email asking if a department wishes to be included in the initial rollout.
• Ensure executive sponsorship for departments; a director encourages use throughout the department or (at least) agrees to the time and resources necessary for their people to participate in the implementation.
• Ensure inclusiveness as all appropriate stakeholders are part of the communication plan, training schedule, and implementation process moving forward.

• Leave the old portal available for a period of time, perhaps as long as two years.  This will allow third-year students (and beyond), who are already comfortable with the system to continue to access their information. 

Make the Pathify portal available to users (which typically sees a lot of grass-roots use in the first 9 months at most institutions), but do not “force” users to change. 

• Consider the longitudinal Apple study that suggests it can take up to 4 years for any technology to transform an organization. 

Push incoming first-year students toward the new portal first.  The Pathify portal will be known to them as “the digital version of my campus.” In year two, continue the strategy, including Pathify access as part of the first-year experience, orientation, etc.  

• Deprecate the old portal in or at the end of year two.

By then, all resources should be fully integrated (whether via simple SSO or full, notification based integration).  Most students, faculty, and staff will have migrated to the new platform, making the transition far less support intensive.

• Use "social plants." Find a few work-study students and assign them (as part of their work) the task of better connecting people at the institution. 

Train them in the system and potentially give them more advanced access, if deemed appropriate (this is certainly not a requirement, but may help in specific situations). Consult with a Pathify Customer Success Manager for further suggestions. 

After being trained, ask these students to spend a few hours each week reviewing conversations, questions, and other system activities, promoting connection and recommending community building strategies between students, faculty, and staff.

• Run a campaign or two to generate “buzz” for a desired use of the platform and offer prizes as an incentive (xBox, coffee, pizza, etc.). 

Use this opportunity to evaluate desired activities (by asking questions, answering questions, building community, liking posts, joining groups, etc.). Promote a contest or two to encourage those behaviors. Following the contest, highlight winners via content pages or in the All Students activity feed based on any number of metrics or pulled randomly (like from a hat). 

• View faculty and staff as more than facilitators. When faculty and staff find personal usefulness in the platform, change management time is reduced and recommended usage to students is increased.

Create specific areas of the system where staff, faculty, and even administrators can have private conversations, ranging from important information (interdisciplinary research, faculty senate agendas / notes, etc.) to community building (Friday afternoon club, Ask an Expert, etc.) to process-based information (HR questions, parking tips, etc.).

• Move beyond formal groups.  Most schools allow users to create their own groups, ad hoc, promoting community.

Create groups (using notifications instead of requiring constant monitoring) that allow for 1) tips to be generated (How To Land A Job After College); 2) tricks to be ideated (Finding Parking On Campus); 3) recommendations to be given (The Best Hotels for Conferences); or 4) pragmatic issues to be solved (How Not To Get Scammed by Fake Textbook Offers).

As these groups are likely not going to be “required” in any user’s list, their availability might see an uptick in conversation, helping the institution realize the importance of an issue.