SOFTWARE BUSINESS CASE
CONTINUING EDUCATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
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 .............................................................................................................. 4
4. Technology Migration .............................................................................................................. 4
5. Benefits..................................................................................................................................... 4
6. Strategic Alignment .................................................................................................................. 5
7. Cost ........................................................................................................................................... 6
8. Product Life/Application Sunsetting or Decommissioning ...................................................... 6
9. Alternatives .............................................................................................................................. 6
10. Recommendation .................................................................................................................... 7
11. Timing / Schedule .................................................................................................................... 7
12. Approvals................................................................................................................................. 7
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Continuing Education at Central Washington University is significantly behind, handicapped
and chipping stone wheels with its piecemeal, one-off manual processes for handling all
aspects of customer interface for its non-credit programming. Greater expectations are
looming for this area to contribute to the financial growth and regional reach of the
university over the next few years, and it will be impossible to do so without an appropriate
software solution. As a self-support organization, we must have more effective and
efficient systems to streamline these operations. We stand behind doing this with approval
to self-fund a non-credit continuing education management system solution that works for
us.
- Richard Byham, Director, Office of Continuing Education
Sponsoring Department(s): Continuing Education
Date of Business Case Preparation: 11/2/2012
Contact Person Name/Phone: Ric Byham
New Product/Service
Renewal of Existing Product/Service – if checked, include background information.
1. Problem Definition
Archaic Systems: For nearly a decade the Office of Continuing Education has
struggled with processes for course promotion, student enrollment and payment,
management and tracking, data collection, and documentation and reporting for
continuing education’s non-credit courses. Some processes are handled manually on
paper, many are handled using an obsolete, home-grown FileMaker database, and
some are handled with Excel spreadsheets and by other improvised means.
Scattered data: Because our data for courses, course budgeting and decision
models, instructors, students, revenues, etc. is spread around so many systems, it is
difficult to compile useful data for reporting and decision-making.
Antiquated Hardware and Software: Our hardware and software systems are
antiquated and long-past due for replacement. Our FileMaker “server” is a standard,
stand-alone, desktop PC. The database is FileMaker Pro 6.0, which we licensed in
September of 2002, ten years and six versions ago. It’s a home-grown, hobbledtogether database that is difficult to use and completely inadequate for our current
needs. We are in constant fear that it will fail and corrupt mission critical data.
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Marketing and Sales: Promoting our offerings in an online catalog, providing
customers with up to date program information, and the ability to follow through
with the purchase is impossible with our current systems. For example, we offer
hundreds of online career training and professional development programs through
contractual agreements with 3rd-party vendors. Our customers, who shop online for
online courses, have an expectation of being able to finish the transaction by paying
online! Not an unreasonable expectation in a society that has been shopping online
at the likes of Amazon.com for over fifteen years now. We have never been able to
accommodate this, and we lose sales because of it. For years, our best alternative
has been to direct customers to call us by telephone to pay by credit card. But with
recent compliance initiatives implemented at CWU, we are now no longer able to
take payments by phone.
Acquiring a service that provides us with the ability to satisfy all these needs is
imperative to the future success of Continuing Education.
2. Addressing Problem with CWU existing tools and products (i.e. PeopleSoft)
Wine and beer tastings, yoga, tai chi, voice, piano, preparatory strings, concerts,
camps, bus tours, 15-passenger van safety training CD’s, wine education DVD’s,
industry trainings, workshops, and certificates are examples of our non-credit
offerings. That wide variety of offerings combined with our need to effectively build
and market programs, fulfill sales orders, and track and communicate with our
customers is not unique to CWU. Continuing education units at nearly every
community college and 4-year college and university have similar programs and
technology needs. There is a rich market of commercial products designed to
effectively fulfill the needs of this niche market.
Many times in the past few years we have consulted with people in ITS, the
Registrar’s office, Enrollment management, and elsewhere seeking to find if CWU’s
existing products could be customized to fulfill our needs. In every case it was
mutually agreed that it would not be the best solution. Even if it could be tweaked
to provide for one or two of our needs, it would not meet all of our needs. We were
told that the kinds of customizations to PeopleSoft that we would need would be
cost prohibitive, and not high on the university’s list of projects to allocate its scarce
resources to.
Furthermore, there are state reporting requirements for credit seeking students that
could be confounded if using a common system for credit and non-credit programs,
which would likely lead to wasted staff and programming efforts.
Whereas PeopleSoft and Hobsons serve our needs well for credit courses,
particularly those that are marketed to our matriculating students, it is not designed
to accommodate the world of non-credit programs. Nor does it incorporate the
numerous other features included in products that are designed specifically for this
vertical market.
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The safest, most effective and least expensive solution therefore is to utilize a
software system/service that is designed specifically to meet the needs of continuing
education operations.
3. Organizational Impact
There are no other units on campus using or needing such software. It is uniquely
suited to college continuing education operations.
An outsourced service will have lower impact on CWU resources than an internally
installed and maintained system. Although both types of solution are available on
the market, a hosted service would be the preferred solution that we would seek,
unless there are demonstrable costs savings.

Primary Users
o Continuing Education staff
o Customers of Continuing Education educational programs and
products.

RFP Requirements Contributors (not applicable)
4. Technology Migration
Part of the vendor selection process will be an evaluation of their product’s ability to
import data from legacy systems. Existing data will either be a) migrated by the
vendor as part of the system deployment, b) migrated by Continuing Ed staff using
data import tools provided in the vendor’s product, or c) not imported at all,
archiving it instead. It remains the decision of Continuing Education to determine
the value-add component of either a) or b) above.
5. Benefits
 Elimination of risks associated with the use of archaic and disparate
management systems;
 Increased productivity and error-reduction for CE staff through more efficient
work processes;
 Time savings allow staff to devote more time to program improvement,
expansion, and new program development;
 Improved outreach to our campus communities;
 Improved communications and marketing to a broader service region;
 Better customer service by fulfilling customer expectations for contemporary
online shopping and payment;
 Increased competitiveness with other colleges and universities in the state and
region, all of which use similar systems;
 Increased sales by reducing barriers to purchase / Increased enrollments in noncredit programs / Increased revenues for CWU;
 Better customer tracking and customer relationship management;
 Improved access to mission critical data and reports for decision-making;
 Improved electronic financial tracking.
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6. Strategic Alignment
The project aligns with the CWU Strategic Plan in the following ways:
o Core Theme 4 – Public Service and Community Engagement
 Objective 4.2: Increase participation in university sponsored life-long
learning opportunities.
o Core Theme 5 - Resource Development and Stewardship
 Objective 5.1: Maximize the financial resources to the university, and
assure the efficient and effective operations of the University through
financial stewardship.
 Outcome 5.1.2: Maximize strategies and practices that optimize
resource availability.
 Outcome 5.1.3: Provide effective use of university resources.
 Objective 5.2: Develop and implement enrollment management and
marketing plans that meet the enrollment objectives of the university.
 Outcome 5.2.2: Position CWU for increased enrollment.
 Objective 5.4: Provide the facility and technology infrastructure and
services appropriate to meet the university objectives, while maximizing
sustainability and stewardship.
 Outcome 5.4.2: Provide facility and technology infrastructures
that are accessible, safe, and secure for all visitors, students,
faculty, and staff.
 Outcome 5.4.4: Provide information technology infrastructure,
systems, and services necessary for all CWU departments to
achieve their objectives and the objectives of the university.
The project also aligns with the Office of Continuing Education’s Vision, Mission and
Goals in the following ways:
Vision: The Office of Continuing Education will be respected nationally and
internationally for excellence in the development and delivery of innovative
educational opportunities.
Mission: The Office of Continuing Education's mission is to provide lifelong learning
opportunities in support of the university mission. Continuing Education staff
collaborates with academic departments to develop programs that meet society's
existing and emerging educational needs.
Goals:
I.
Provide high quality, integrated and innovative academic and
professional development programs that serve the Ellensburg campus,
the university centers, and local, regional, national and international
communities.
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II.
Develop a diversified funding base to support credit and non-credit
programs and maintain viable self-support status.
V.
Provide outstanding customer service.
VI.
Create and sustain a productive, civil, and pleasant workplace.
VIII.
Identify and initiate programs that help strengthen local and regional
economies.
7. Cost
This software/service solution will be acquired through a competitive bid process.

Source of Funding (Project ID) or Description of the Source of Funding.
The cost will be covered by the Office of Continuing Education, using its
current Account 148 Ledger 2 funds. This project has been endorsed by the
Provost, Marilyn Levine.

Cost Breakdown
The RFP will require that vendors submit a cost breakdown with one-time
cost, recurring costs and a five year ownership cost for the applicable cost
types:
o Consulting (data dictionary/migration options, FMS/general ledger
integration, estimation of processing capacity constraints and
limitations, on-going implementation and maintenance support,
product customization, unique reports, etc.);
o Hardware (specification of server/desktop/laptop configurations
sufficient to support the product’s use);
o Application software /modules (initial purchase, upgrades, annual
maintenance costs, etc.);
o Staff training for current and future employees (hands on, online
refresher and update training as appropriate;
o Other items specific to the proposed solution.
8. Product Life/Application Sunsetting or Decommissioning
Such products are designed to serve a useful life of many years. Products are
continually upgraded and improved to continue to meet the needs of customers.
The department expects to use the product for a minimum of five years and possibly
much longer. We anticipate always needing a product like this, so we will use it as
long as it continues to meet our needs. Upon looking at an eventual replacement
system, consideration will be given to the costs and ROI of switching to another
system. Any replacement product would need to have a data migration
plan/features/services included.
9. Alternatives
There are many products and vendor in this market. All viable solutions from
competing vendors will be given consideration through the RFP process. The result
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we seek will be the best combination of a robust, feature-rich, easy to use for
customers and internal staff, and cost-effective solution.
10. Recommendation
The problems that exist with our current manual systems can be resolved with a
structured software solution. Such a product/service will bring CWU Continuing
Education from the Stone Age into the 21st century. Key results will include
elimination of the risks associated with the current use of archaic and disparate
systems, better access to mission critical data and reports for decision-making,
better customer service by meeting current and future expectations, better
customer relationship management, administrative simplification and errorreduction, quicker transactions processing, improved communications and
marketing to a broader service region, and support of the University’s Strategic Plan
and departmental mission.
11. Timing / Schedule
Task
Target Date
Issue Requests for Proposals
Letter-of-Intent to Respond Due
Written Questions Due
Answers to Questions Faxed to Vendors
Proposals Due
Review of Proposals
Product demonstrations and evaluation
Award
Begin Product Implementation
Staff Training
Product GoLive Date for Customers
December 01, 2012
December 12, 2012
December 15, 2012
December 18, 2012
December 31, 2012
January 02, 2013
January 07, 2013
January 28, 2013
February 04, 2013
February 18, 2013
April 1, 2013
12. Approvals
This section should be left blank. It will be updated as ET takes actions on this
business case.
The following actions have been taken by the University Enterprise Team:
Date
Action Taken by Enterprise Team
Upon approval by the University Enterprise Team (ET), 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.
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