SOFTWARE BUSINESS CASE
WILDCAT CAREER NETWORK (WCN)
POWERED BY: SYMPLICITY NACELINK CSM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.
Problem Definition ......................................................................................................................................... 2
2.
Addressing Problem with CWU existing tools and products (i.e. PeopleSoft) ................................................. 3
3.
Organizational Impact .................................................................................................................................... 3
4.
Benefits .......................................................................................................................................................... 5
5.
Strategic Alignment........................................................................................................................................ 6
6.
Cost ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
7.
Alternatives (add lines as necessary) .............................................................................................................. 8
8.
Timing / Schedule (add lines as necessary) ..................................................................................................... 8
9.
Technology Migration/Resource Identification .............................................................................................. 8
10. Product Life/Application Sunsetting or Decommissioning ............................................................................. 9
11. References .................................................................................................................................................... 9
12. Recommendation ........................................................................................................................................ 10
13. Approvals .................................................................................................................................................... 10
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Career Services provides many services to CWU for students and faculty. Specialty software is used
for a variety of functions, such as job postings for post-graduation or internships, and hosting career
fairs. The current product used in Career Services, Erecruiting/Experience, is at end of life and will be
shut down in three months. The Career Services Manager provided by Symplicity will allow Career
Services to easily migrate existing data and business processes to the new system.
Sponsoring Department(s):
CWU Career Services
Date of Business Case Preparation:
February 23, 2015
Contact Person Name/Phone: Vicki Sannuto/ext. 2420
New Product/Service
*See Attached Symplicity Software License Agreement
Renewal of Existing Product/Service – if checked, include background information.
If there is a site license agreement, existing contract or new contract draft, please
provide a copy.
1. Problem Definition:
In June 2014 Symplicity acquired Erecruiting/Experience business software (our
job/internship search database called the Wildcat Career Network, WCN) and
announced honoring existing agreements through June
2015. Erecruiting/Experience is currently used to enter job and internship postings,
placement file information for educators, and runs our career fair registration and
payment system. It also hosts student accounts which include resumes, cover
letters, and additional documents used in job searching. It also contains career
information for students. We are now three months from the time that eRecruiting
/Experience services will be shut down permanently. We need a product that will
allow us to easily migrate our existing data and house future data pertaining to
resume books, placement files, learning agreements, employer information, career
fair registrations, etc.
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2. Addressing Problem with CWU existing tools and products (i.e. PeopleSoft).
We purchased the eRecruiting /Experience software program in 2005 because
Peoplesoft could not meet our software and data needs such as allowing our staff
and employers to post jobs and internships that were accessible through our web
site, host our education placement file data, and run career fairs. Since 2005 we
have expanded our career fair module, portfolio functions and the use of the system
to house data pertaining to placement files, learning agreements, student/employer
affiliation information etc. and there are no existing university programs that can
support these functions fully.
We conducted extensive research and demonstrations on both Career Services
Management and another product called CSO Professional. Through this extensive
research we found that CSM will provide more functionality, customization
capability and an easier migration process and is more cost effective in the long run.
Symplicity has also agreed to waive the $2600 implementation fee to migrate over
to CSM.
3. Organizational Impact
Students/Alumni
 Career Services current database system for posting jobs, internships, setting up
career fairs, and tracking education placement files is used by students, alumni,
employers, and faculty.
 Students and alumni benefit from a centralized database that contains
information on jobs and internships that are not student employment. Human
Resources has their own system for on and off campus jobs.
 Students are interested in engaging with alumni as mentors and the new
software is set up to make this easy for them.
 Education students depend on being able to access their reference or
“placement file” information and this information is stored in our database and
in paper files which we keep for 30 years. The electronic storage of data is
essential in keeping up with this system as we have hundreds of teacher
graduates each year.
 Students and alumni have asked that the new product be easier to use, for
example, have a single sign on with their CWU account and a shorter
questionnaire when opening their account.
 CSM Mobile which is included in the Full Edition allows students to access job
postings, view and RSVP to events, sign up for interviews, view employer profiles
and more across all smartphone platforms
 Students in the proposed CSM system can access Career Explorer with O*NET, a
federally managed industry database, which will enable them to make better
decisions about majors and careers. It is embedded in the CSM package.
 The CSM system integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allowing users
to stay up to date on current career information and research and assist with the
job/internship search process
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Faculty
Our partners for events (College of Business, ETSC department, Health and
Nutrition) all depend on our ability to use the career fair module for employer
registration and payment.
Faculty direct students to the database for help in finding jobs and internships
and engaging in on campus interviewing with employers.
Faculty have limited access to the database as “outside” users, however, we are
working on figuring out how they could have administrative accounts that would
enable them to use the system to help students prepare for jobs and internships.
Employers
Employers interested in hiring CWU students and alumni depend on a system
such as ours to find job and internship seekers through job/internship postings
and the interviewing module.
Employers have asked for clearly labeled and quicker process for creating their
accounts as well. Attracting employers to CWU is essential for helping faculty
keep up to date on industry issues, hiring our students, and contributing
financially to university projects.
Career Services/University
Using CSM, users can administer unlimited custom surveys to students and
employers
and use this information for creating better experiences and services
for end users
The CSM system has the functionality of collecting student graduation placement
data, e.g. where they got a permanent job or went to graduate school. This
information can assist the university in advertising to prospective students the
success rates of our students in various majors. It is also connected to a national
network of other universities so that comparison data between universities can
be obtained. It helps fulfill the federal requirement that all universities report
their “placement” rate.
Work flow in the Career Services Department should be enhanced as the system
has more functionality than we currently use, e.g. better employer access so
they can handle more of their own account including interview set up
Training for Career Services Staff
Training in the CSM system will be required for all Career Services’ staff,
however, only three or four staff will require more extensive training to ensure
that the system is working properly. All Career Services’ staff are familiar with
systems like this one as we have used a database of some sort for over 15 years.
Career Services’ database program coordinator will be the primary user and
support for the Career Services’ staff.
Career Services has contacted and met with various departments on campus to see if
this product could be used by them. This includes Organizational Effectiveness
(graduation placement information), Alumni Affairs (alumni mentoring), University
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Advancement (employer contacts), and Academic Advising (counselor appointment
through Outlook/notes component). All are interested in the product and would
require more experience with it to see how they can use it effectively.
All Stakeholders
 Career Services, students, alumni, employers, faculty
Potential Partners/Primary Users
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Career Services, students, alumni, employers, faculty
Alumni Affairs, University Advancement, Organizational Effectiveness, Academic
Advising
RFP Requirements Contributors (add lines as necessary) – This section may or may not be required
Department
Name
No RFP Required under
$10,000
4. Benefits
The NACElink CSM Full Edition offerings align with our current preferences and offer
the ability to expand on our current functions. The system provides a full suite of
comprehensive tools that will allow students/alumni/staff/faculty and employers to
access and benefit from. The Full Edition will meet all our needs and we do not
expect to purchase any other plug-ins at this time. The Full Edition package includes
the following benefits, some of which will be used immediately and some will not:
Immediate
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1st Destination Placement and Career Outcomes is an employment function that
tracks job/internship placement data.
Students/Alumni can continue to conduct job/internship searches, upload their
resume and cover letter and apply directly to job postings.
Portfolio function allows student/alumni to create a portfolio to supplement
their resume and highlight specifics that assist with their job search.
Shibboleth Authentication allows students to use their MyCWU sign-on to access
the Wildcat Career Network.
Professional Network Feature that supports online Mentor registration and rich
search tools.
On-Campus Recruiting allows for automatic interview schedule generation.
Currently, approximately 1,000 students do internships for credit per year. This
number keeps growing. The proposed CSM would enable us to move from a
paper to electronic process to make the handling of learning agreements and
contracts easier for students, employers, faculty, and Career Services staff. It
would also enable us to keep better statistics as they could be generated by the
system instead of being done by hand. Statistics are currently used by all
departments at the university to gauge quality of the internship experience and
post-internship permanent placement data.
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Expanded Career Fair Manager features online employer registration, employer
profiles, booth management, credit card processing, integrated job postings,
auto-published print directory and event resume books. Credit card payment
will be PCI compliant.
NACELink/CSM bought our current software so changing over to the proposed
CSM should be faster and easier than using another vendor where data
migration could cause an issue
Future
Counseling Appointment System that if turned on will integrate with the Outlook
calendar and provides online appointment booking, follow-up actions and notes.
Experiential Learning function that provides end-to-end management of
cooperative education/internship programs. This includes the ability to manage
the workflow process including evaluations and provide for electronic signatures.
This would replace our current paper situation. We understand that the
electronic signature page may be an issue. We would also need to create some
procedures around implementation of this function.
Faculty Engagement Function allows faculty to access the system to review
resources, recommend jobs/internships to students, register to be a Mentor,
complete recommendation requests and sign cooperative education learning
agreement forms and complete evaluations. Turning on this function would have
to be more thoroughly planned out prior to implementation.
The proposed CSM can be integrated with Peoplesoft at an additional cost but
we will have to research that more thoroughly and don’t anticipate buying it for
quite awhile.
5. Strategic Alignment
Career Services is dedicated to educating and empowering undergraduates,
graduates and alumni in the career development process by:
 Facilitating self-assessment and career exploration to develop a clear career
objective
 Promoting avenues for experiential learning
 Providing assistance in job search and transition to professional life
 Cultivating and maintaining partnerships with employers
 Serving as a resource to staff, faculty and community
 Advising students preparing for post graduate study
Our mission falls within the following CWU strategic goals:
Objective 1.1: Enhance student success by continually improving the curricular, cocurricular, and extracurricular programs.
Outcome 1.1.1: Students will achieve programmatic learning outcomes.
 Indicator 1.1.1.1: Student performance data and outcomes achievement as
described in annual program assessment reports.
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Indicator 1.1.1.2: Post-graduation job and graduate school placement rates.
Indicator 1.1.3.4: Student participation in internships, teaching
assistantships, and research assistantships.
Outcome 1.1.4: Students will be increasingly engaged in high quality cocurricular and extracurricular offerings.
Objective 1.2: Enhance the effectiveness of student support services.
 Outcome 1.2.1: Increase student use and impact of relevant and effective
support services.
 Indicator 1.2.1.1: Participant usage, impact, and satisfaction survey results
(local data).
Objective 4.1: Enhance the commitment and the level of collaboration between the
university and external communities.
 Outcome 4.1.2: Increase the number of collaborations and partnerships with
external community entities and organizations
Outcome 5.4.3: Provide the technology infrastructure, systems, and campus services
necessary for all departments to achieve their objectives and the objectives of the
university
6. Cost
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Source of Funding will be Career Services Foundation Account.
Project ID: 010405001
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Cost Breakdown (*Copy of Symplicity Software License Agreement Attached)
Initial Implementation:
Career Services Manager, Full Edition
Career Services Manager Set up Fee ($2,600)
Shibboleth set up fee ($550.00)
Shibboleth annual fee
$ 9,350.00
$ 8,800.00
Waived
Waived
$ 550.00
5 Year Cost Projection:
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2015-2016
2016-2017
2017-2018
$ 9,350.00 $ 9,724.00 $ 10,112.96
Potential 4% Increase per year
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2018-2019
$ 10,517.48
2019-2020
$ 10,938.18
7. Alternatives
Alternative
Reasons For Not Selecting Alternative
CSO Professional
Did not provide the same baseline
functions that we currently need and
anticipate needing in the future.
*See Attached CSM vs. CSO Comparison
8. Timing / Schedule
Task
Target Week
Pre-transition work by Career Services
KickOff and IT Setup
3/30/2015
Manager Overview I
4/6/2015
Manager Overview II
4/13/2015
Non OCR Jobs Training
4/20/2015
Tools I Training
4/27/2015
Tools II Training
5/4/2015
Additional Module Setup
5/11/2015
Import Data
5/18/2015
One Stop Setup
5/25/2015
Student Launch
6/08/2015
Employer Launch
6/15/2015
Project Wrap Up
6/22/2015
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See attached transition email and CSM Deployment Timeline
9. Technology Migration/Resource Identification
A Transition Team from Symplicity will be assigned to assist with and complete the
migration process remotely. This is included in the implementation fee that
Symplicity has waived.
They will be working closely with Sandra Lindelof, CWU Career Services Database
Program Coordinator and Vicki Sannuto, Director CWU Career Services.
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See Attached Systems Integration Overview
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Resource
Personnel
Equipment
Facilities
Requirements
Sandra Lindelof, CWU Career
Services Database Program
Coordinator
Vicki Sannuto, Director CWU
Career Services
No additional Equipment
Timeframe
3/1/2015-7/31/2015
Resource
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Career Services Staff
100
120
120
120
100
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
Enterprise Student
Systems
CWU Portal Manager
1
Network Infrustructure
Services
Enterprise System Services
3
3
2
2
2
Security Admin
4
2
2
2
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total Hours
10. Product Life/Application Sunsetting or Decommissioning
CWU is sole and exclusive owner of all data that is collected and received by
Symplicity through the Career Services Manager Program.
 See Attached CSM Privacy Policy and Security Standards
11. References
Virginia Hinch, Director of Career Services
Eastern Washington University
“The more you use the system the more you will like it. I think all these types of
enterprise systems have huge pluses and minuses.
We are most successful with Symplicity when we have staff that can focus on
implementing features and keeping up with the updates.
I would also highly encourage you to develop a strong relationship with your Symplicity
representative. We have standing monthly phone meetings with ours and that has been
extremely helpful. We have found out that some of the issues we were having were on
our end and some of them were on Symplicity’s end. It took regular meetings to figure it
out.
Having looked for jobs using Experience with our son, Jered, I think you will really like
Symplicity.”
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Research into the product through a Linked In Career Services Professional group shows
that about half of the responders use NACELink/CSM. That seems to be a national
trend. Most of the universities in Washington state use NACELInk/CSM except for
Evergreen and Pacific Lutheran who have home built systems and St. Martin’s who uses
CSO.
12. Recommendation
Buying NACELink/CSM will enable Career Services to continue to provide the services it
currently does to students, alumni, employers, faculty and departments without
downtime or a large learning curve by users. It will also enable the department to
increase services to students by implementing an online internship component, an
alumni mentoring program, and single sign on feature. Staff will benefit from a system
that can do multiple functions and generate accurate statistics including graduation
placement information that the university needs.
13. Approvals
The following actions have been taken by the appropriate Sub-Council (ATAC or
Non-Academic Sub-Council) and Enterprise Information System Committee (EISC):
Date
Action
By
3/16/2015
Approved
EISC
Upon secured funding and approval by the Enterprise Information System Committee (EISC),
Enterprise Facilities Committee, or one of the two Sub-Councils (Academic or Non-Academic),
CWU procurement policies and procedures should be used to initiate a purchase. Please
contact the Purchasing office at x1001 with any questions regarding the procurement process.
If you have any questions, please contact Ginger McIntosh 963-1466, Sue Noce 963-2927 or
Tina Short 963-2910.
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