Getting Back to Campus Safely with Kuali Build

DAVIDSON COLLEGE

Summary 

Davidson College utilized Kuali Build to collect and leverage COVID-19 data, providing decision-makers with the timely information they needed.

Problem

Like other institutions, Davidson College had a matter of weeks to develop a tracking and analysis system needed to keep campus safe from a COVID-19 outbreak. 

Solution

Davidson’s digital transformation team produced a scalable solution using Kuali Build, a forms and workflow software, and data processing tools to track, collect, and leverage COVID-19 testing data. 

In Kuali Build, the team created two forms: one to track student attendance, and another to help administrators reconcile student attendance against assigned testing dates. 

Davidson chose to use Kuali Build for these forms because the software facilitates a seamless user experience for students, test site volunteers and coordinators, and college administrators. Using integrations, Davidson automated many fields within each form. Students and test site coordinators could manually fill as few fields as possible, translating to an expedited, friction-free test site experience.  

After processing the data, Davidson had the information needed to monitor testing compliance. Additionally, when combined with detailed daily records of students’ symptoms and entry onto campus, Davidson had the data to carry out contact tracing when necessary.

Results

Kuali Build provided the agility Davidson College needed. Leadership received pivotal data, and students, faculty, and staff received a seamless experience. Additionally, no custom code was created. Without their current solution, Davidson College would likely use a data management tool like Excel to export, manipulate, and analyze the data manually, which would undoubtedly take far longer to process and significantly limit data reportability. 

In six weeks of using the Kuali Build form, Davidson received 10,000 submissions. The scalable solution not only saved Davidson College substantial time and labor costs but empowered the campus to return to in-person instruction. Most importantly, the solution provided confidence for university leadership when certainty in data and student safety was critical. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

Summary

The University of Massachusetts Amherst deployed applications powered by Kuali Build to safely re-open and closely monitor campus research activities following the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Problem

The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s research department needed a method to gather and analyze data, which would provide leadership with the necessary information to safely re-open sections of campus for research activities. 

Solution

UMass Amherst chose to use Kuali Build in their reopening strategy. With Kuali Build’s forms and workflow features, they could collect data with an easy-to-use solution that integrates with other campus systems.

Results

The research department built, integrated, and deployed a form using Kuali Build to resume research activities safely. Kuali Build not only provided a digital form builder to create the form, but it also included integration capabilities that were crucial to UMass Amherst’s success.

Complex integration capabilities allowed UMass Amherst to integrate campus identity data, such as roles and titles. With these integrations, individuals submitting a form were no longer required to input their supervisor or dean manually. Integration capabilities made the form submission process more straightforward and eliminated opportunities for error along the way. Additionally, with integrated roles and titles, the research department did not need to maintain another database.

Once the data was collected, the research department exported it to their preferred data analysis tool, Tableau. 

The data UMass Amherst collected with Kuali Build gave leadership the critical information they needed to make decisions. They were able to confidently re-open sections of campus while maintaining a close watch on new cases. Kuali Build empowered UMass Amherst with tools to respond quickly to COVID-19. 

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Summary

Colorado State University’s research department needed a solution to return to campus following the COVID-19 shutdown. With Kuali Build, CSU built a comprehensive solution in 30 minutes.

Problem

After closing campus due to COVID-19 in April 2020, the Colorado State University (CSU) research department needed a way to safely return to research activities. The research department needed a solution that could help them with the following:

• Accept requests to return to research
• Fairly prioritize requests
• Approve requests
• Notify those who’ve been approved or otherwise
• The timeline for delivery? As soon as possible. 
  

Leadership turned the request over to the research department’s IT, expecting to see a process proposal weeks later.

Solution

The research department’s IT turned to Kuali Build. 

In 30 minutes, the IT group delivered a form and workflow that could be used to facilitate a safe return to research. Leaders and researchers alike were thrilled to see a solution in production so quickly!

Results

Kuali Build allowed the IT team to deliver a solution faster than expected and a solution that could scale. When CSU used a form and workflow to allow for opting out of COVID-19 testing, the form received thousands of submissions within minutes.  

CSU also benefits from Kuali Build’s usability. Though CSU has enterprise licenses with other form automation vendors, none are as widely adopted as Kuali Build.

“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

Hudson and the IT team are looking forward to continued use of Kuali Build. Most notably, Hudson anticipates widespread adoption of Kuali Build across the institution in the coming years. Because CSU is engaged with other products in the Kuali suite, such as Kuali Financials and Kuali Research, Kuali Build can eventually scale to serve the whole institution with deeply intertwined integrations.

Interested in learning more about how to automate paper and PDF processes at your institution? Take a closer look at what you can build with our form builder and workflow automation software.

Interested in learning more about how to automate paper and PDF processes at your institution? Take a closer look at what you can build with our form builder and workflow automation software.