Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Jessica Alba left college before completing their degrees. Universities handle thousands of less famous exits, including transfers to another institution. The workflow matters because withdrawal stops financial liabilities immediately and may trigger credits or partial refunds based on timing and policy.
To address this demanding task, ABCloudz created an automated withdrawal workflow for a university in the UK. It replaces paper forms with a few-click request and automatically applies the correct withdrawal code in the student record. This matters financially, because recording withdrawal stops tuition liabilities and may trigger credits or partial refunds depending on policy and timing.
This blog post shows how the ABCloudz team approached this project. We cover all key steps, from developing an Ellucian Experience card that starts the workflow to configuring secure information flows with Data Connect pipelines. Similar to the flow for managing resit students, we used Ellucian Workflow to complete this automation project.
However, the expertise of our team goes well beyond these tasks. Learn more about other Ellucian-based projects that we completed for other higher education institutions. With this professional experience under our belt, you can trust ABCloudz to deliver your project!
Current state architecture
The following image shows the overview of the current withdrawal process.
Before the ABCloudz team implemented an automated withdrawal workflow, students had to reach out to the administrative staff and fill in the specific form. The conversation with administrative staff usually focused on the reasons for withdrawal, and many students felt uncomfortable during these talks.
After ironing out all the details, including the paperwork, the student got freedom. At the same time, the administrative staff manually updated the student record and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) record in the Banner database to reflect the status change where needed. This task begs for automation, and that’s exactly where ABCloudz is always ready to help.
Creating a reusable workflow
The ABCloudz team designed and developed a scalable and reusable Ellucian Workflow for the withdrawal process. This workflow orchestrates the following business processes.
- The student uses an Ellucian Experience card to initiate the withdrawal process.
- The workflow runs a Data Connect pipeline to get the student information.
- The workflow prefills the withdrawal form template with this information.
- The student fills in the other fields on the form and submits the request.
- The workflow assigns a review task to the student’s primary advisor.
- The advisor receives notifications in an email and on the Ellucian Experience dashboard.
- When the advisor approves or declines the withdrawal request, the student receives notifications.
- For approved requests, the workflow runs a Data Connect pipeline to update the student and HESA records.
With all these elements clearly defined, it all comes down to the implementation and testing of this workflow.
Future-state architecture
The following image shows the architecture of the automated workflow.
The withdrawal workflow starts when a student opens the Student Withdrawal Request form in the Ellucian Experience dashboard. To generate the form, the workflow gets the following information from the Banner SaaS API: student identifier, name, program, and active term. The student can’t edit these fields.
At the same time, the student provides the following information: the date of withdrawal and the last date of attendance. Next, the student selects the reason for withdrawal as one of the options from the dropdown list. The values in this dropdown list come from the Data Connect pipeline and include the approved withdrawal codes. Optionally, the student can include comments in the withdrawal form. After reviewing the summary, the student submits the request.
The workflow gets the information from the Banner SaaS API about the student’s primary tutor or advisor. This person becomes an approver for the withdrawal request and receives relevant notifications. In this project, we implemented email notifications and pop-up messages in the Ellucian Experience dashboard. However, the administrative staff can easily customize the notifications in the workflow.
The approver can start the discussion with the student, which eventually results in an approved or declined request. The student receives all notifications in an email and on the Ellucian Experience dashboard. For approved requests, the workflow runs a Data Connect pipeline to update information in the Banner SaaS database, triggering downstream academic and financial processes, including the correct stopping of tuition liabilities and application of institutional refund policies.
Benefits and results
For students, the biggest benefit is the fact that they can submit the withdrawal request remotely. This option might be crucial, depending on the challenges in the student’s life.
For the university, full automation means accurate and timely updates across academic and financial records in the Banner SaaS database. Withdrawn students are immediately marked as such, tuition-related financial liabilities are stopped on time, and institutional refund rules are applied consistently, alongside access control for campus services.
The ABCloudz team delivered a customizable automated workflow to manage the withdrawal process for one of the universities in the UK. We can easily enhance this workflow by adding other administrative requests, such as temporary interruption, course changes, and so on. Also, we can tailor this proven reusable solution to the needs of other higher education institutions that use the Ellucian Banner SaaS database and the Ellucian Experience dashboard.
Build your automated workflow with trusted experts!
As you can see from this blog post, ABCloudz has a comprehensive expertise in developing projects with different Ellucian software components. From automation to modernization, our team is ready to help your institution with a project of any complexity!
Ellucian trusts the ABCloudz team to deliver projects for multiple universities worldwide. Read these blog posts to learn more about other success stories for higher education institutions, and let us start your automation journey!