Streamlining Campus Systems

Challenge

The University of Mount Union, a small liberal arts institution in Ohio, prides itself on its strong community and personalized approach to education. But behind the scenes, managing operations across multiple disconnected systems had become increasingly difficult.

Each department used its own software, creating inefficiencies and data inconsistencies that made even simple tasks cumbersome. For example, student’s address required notifying several people across campus to ensure the update was reflected everywhere.

These redundant processes slowed productivity and diverted staff attention away from serving students. The university recognized it was time to modernize its infrastructure and unify its data through a single, cloud-based system.

Solution

Mount Union chose to move to Ellucian Student powered by Colleague, taking advantage of a fully integrated, cloud-hosted environment that connects data and processes across campus.

The migration was driven by collaboration between Mount Union’s internal teams and Ellucian’s implementation experts. Together, they tackled data clean-up, identified system needs, and ensured a smooth transition.

“Our team from Ellucian was there with us all the way telling us what we needed, helping us clean up the data, and pushing us to keep making progress,” said Mark Kolenz, Director of IT for Operations at University of Mount Union. “It really was an end-user-led process.”

Results

The move to Ellucian Student has delivered several immediate benefits:

• Unified Systems: Eliminated redundant software and created a single source of truth for institutional data.
• Improved Efficiency: Reduced manual coordination across departments, saving time and minimizing errors.
• Streamlined Registration: The first registration cycle post-deployment ran smoothly and successfully.
• Enhanced Student Focus: Staff now have more time to focus on supporting students rather than managing data silos.
• Data-Driven Confidence: Reliable, accurate information now supports better decision-making campus-wide.

“Our deployment was very successful,” Kolenz said. “The first time we went to registration, it worked—that's all that I cared about in our world.”

Looking Ahead

With Ellucian Student, the University of Mount Union now operates on a modern, connected foundation that supports agility, collaboration, and innovation. By eliminating system silos and empowering teams with accurate, real-time data, the university continues to enhance both the staff and student experience, today and for the future.