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Five Form Builder Examples for Universities with Kuali Build

February 11, 2021

You can use Kuali Build for just about any of the form needs at your institution. (Really, truly, you can. Our customers regularly show us new use cases!) However, when the possibilities of form creator software are endless, it can be difficult to imagine how and when to use the software. 

In this post, we’ll break down what types of forms are best suited for Kuali Build and we’ll discuss how institutions are using the software today.

When to Use Forms Automation Software 

While form automation software can be used for a large variety of forms, some are better suited to form builders. Here are a few telltale signs that a form builder could add significant value to the form issues you might be facing. 

1. Paper-based forms

This includes physical paper forms and PDF forms that are essentially a digital version of a paper form. You don’t need to look far to find these. 

2. Forms that receive a large number of submissions

These types of forms might operate just outside of the jurisdiction or capabilities of your existing software. For example, the majority of your student forms might be managed within a student information system or learning management system, but there are a few paper-based forms that are used every semester. The change of major process is a great example of this type of form. 

3. Forms that require significant manual processing

Some forms require more manual processing than others. Lengthy forms, or forms that require many approvals, fall into this category.

If you see any one of these signs, a form builder can help. Form builder software allows you to quickly build a digital form, add automation, and automate the tracking and processing of the form. For more on creating forms, take a closer look at how to create an online fillable form for higher education. Now, let’s discuss how you could use Kuali Build in a more tangible way with real customer examples. 

Five Form Builder Examples for Your Institution

Urgent Forms: Return to Campus Safely

COVID-19 introduced unique complications for every department when college campuses temporarily closed in the summer of 2020. 

The research department at Colorado State University was not exempt. Leadership asked IT to build a process that could do the following:

  • Accept requests to return to research
  • Fairly prioritize requests
  • Approve requests
  • Notify those who’ve been approved or otherwise.

In a mere 30 minutes, the IT folks had a form ready to go that met all the criteria and was easy for submitters to use. Additionally, the main builder, Cory Hudson, who works in database reporting at CSU, was fairly unfamiliar with the product. Still, he was able to stand up a form in half an hour. 

“Kuali Build is so ridiculously easy to use. I would even call it playful. People are drawn to it.” - Cory Hudson, Database Reporting, Research Services, Colorado State University

Colorado State University is not the only customer to utilize Kuali Build in their return to campus plan. The University of Massachusetts Amherst and Davidson College, a small liberal arts college, also used Kuali Build. Check out how all three institutions safely returned to campus with Kuali Build

Supplemental Pay 

Imagine you’re a professor with an opportunity to participate in a colleague’s impressive grant-funded research project. You put in the work and fill out some paperwork. But it takes weeks or months to see a paycheck. 

This issue with supplemental pay for grant-related work was occurring at Southern Connecticut State University. They had an electronic research administration system, but this process fell outside of the scope of the software; they needed a way to expand the use of their existing software and help individuals get paid faster. 

SCSU turned to Kuali Build. With this new forms and workflow platform, research administrators were able to track a form along the process. They spent significantly less time tracking information down and were able to repurpose that time toward more important work.

"This product [could] save us nearly 10,000 personnel hours or $675,000 per year. It would transform hundreds of hours. Instead of devoting [time] to paper processing, we could recover that staff time and reallocate it to something more important - knowledge management." - Amy Taylor, MBA, CRA, Director, Sponsored Programs and Research at Southern Connecticut State University

Take a look at how SCSU saved time and money with Kuali Build.

Hiring Forms

The engineering department at Western University was experiencing form issues in their hiring process. One specific form was lengthy and included dozens of pages with many conditional sections. Because the form was paper-based, the conditional sections were confusing for those filling the form. Often, a new applicant would fill the incorrect section or skip an applicable section. 

Kuali Build form automation software helped them solve this issue. Now, this form uses conditional logic, or the ability to hide/show form fields based on what the submitter completes on the form. Submitters fill their forms more accurately and administrators spend less time manually correcting and processing forms.  

Kuali Build also acted as a key solution in helping Western’s leadership move internal approvals to a digital format. Helping even the most change-averse individuals move away from paper, PDF, and email is a huge accomplishment for the IT department. See more about the benefits of Kuali Build at Western University.

“This software helped us come to an agreement within the faculty that we could use Kuali as an approval process without a signature on a piece of paper. That was huge!” - Ron Farren, Associate Director, Information Technology, Department of Engineering, at Western University

Internal Approvals

Garret Yoshimi, VP of IT and CIO at the University of Hawaii, missed time-sensitive approvals because he was bogged down by hundreds of new emails every day. 

Kuali Build helped him and the IT department. They moved internal approval processes to Kuali Build, where Yoshimi could easily see urgent requests and access relevant documents. 

Since automating approvals with Kuali Build in late 2019, the University of Hawaii has processed over 500 approvals and decreased the approval process from upwards of several weeks to less than 24 hours. Learn more about how the University of Hawaii uses Kuali Build

“We’ve created turnarounds that rarely exceed 24 hours and in many cases are under two hours because it’s a really quick click for me to review and approve.” - Garret Yoshimi, VP of IT and CIO, University of Hawaii

Digitizing Paper Processes

Davidson College had many paper-based processes around campus that needed attention from IT. However, IT’s backlog was full. (Sound familiar?)

Through careful analysis, Davidson’s Digital Transformation Team found that 90% of their form needs could be solved by Kuali Build.

Kuali Build helped Davidson with the vast majority of their forms needs, and also did so in a sustainable way. With Kuali Build, the Digital Transformation Team could turn the management of forms over to the business users they served. Learn more about Davidson’s digital transformation with Kuali Build.

Get Started with Kuali Build Form Builder Software

You may be working on improving one of these processes at your institution. Perhaps you’re working on something else and you see similarities between our customers’ previous problems and how Kuali Build acts as the solution.

Learn more today to see how you can improve forms at your institution with Kuali Build

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