Clearing
Providing Staff and Students with a central location for clearing information
Many of our students got their dream place at Queen's through Clearing and consider it one of their best moves ever.
Project Overview
Clearing has traditionally been a pressurised time as Admissions call centre staff are inundated with phone calls and emails from potential students desperately trying to secure a place in Queen's. The new system will alleviate some of the pressures by digitising many of the processes and providing staff and applicants with a central location to interact and share necessary information. Integration with Course Finder will help to ensure everyone has up-to-date information on the places and courses available through Clearing with managers having access to real-time information throughout the period.
"The speed of response was the biggest positive in comparison to other universities. Everything was clear and simple to follow. The availability of the hotline was also a big positive as QUB ended up providing more than one way to contact them which opens up possibilities and chances to more people/potential applicants.” Enquirer perspective
Clearing
Objectives
Enhance the Experience
With a mobile-friendly interface and streamlined and consistent processes, we will deliver an improved experience for applicants.
Improve Efficiency
We want to reduce the burden on staff and ensure applicants no longer have to rely on telephone calls and emails to secure a place.
Increase Visibility
Applicants will be able to track the progress of their application and staff will have access to real-time data.
Deliverables
1. Project management documentation.
2. A new online interface to submit Clearing and Admissions Support enquiries, including:
- Access via Multi-Factor Authentication
- Application form
- Self-service portal
- Progress tracker
- Notifications
3. A new interface for the Call Centre to log enquiries and for Admissions to process Clearing and Admissions Support enquiries.
- Real-time Power BI reporting for management
4. Feedback from Clearing 2023 evaluated and enhancements added for Clearing 2024.
5. Handover documentation including:
- Reducing the number of manual activities required to process enquiries.
- User guides
- Training resource
Benefits
Improve the experience of prospective students by:
- Replacing a paper-based process with an online Portal to align with users’ expectations and allow Queen’s to compete in the global Higher Education market.
- Delivering a seamless experience for prospective students providing them with access to information and support when they need it.
- Allowing prospective students to track the progress of their enquiry and receive notifications or reminders as required.
- Providing an accessible interface compatible with mobile devices.
Improve the Admissions staff experience by:
- Enabling real-time analysis of enquiries through dashboards and reports, allowing for enhanced decision-making.
- Reducing the number of email and phone queries and the associated cost.
- Enhancing data security, reducing compliance risk.
- Reducing the number of manual activities required to process applications and enquiries.
- Reducing duplication of work by introducing more robust tracking of interactions between prospective students and Admissions staff.