Multi-Function Academic Support Software

The Vendor is required to provide multi-function academic support software for include:
•    Degree audit and student planning
•    Course demand and analytics
•    Adjunct faculty availability
•    Faculty credentials and qualifications
- Degree audit and student planning
1. Information technology, network security and compliance
•    Language support: describe how the system supports multiple languages.
•    Public portal: must allow easy updates to public-facing pages, including pricing, text, images, and class availability. 
•    The portal should be searchable and user-friendly.
•    Branding control: must have full control over the application’s look and feel to ensure consistency with its student-facing tools.
•    Custom messaging: ability to configure messages on screens and within classes to guide users, provide links, and offer support information.
•    Email customization: staff must be able to customize automated emails for class confirmations and reminders.
•    Electronic signatures: indicate whether an e-signature tool is included
•    Self-service features: include capabilities for registration and class search.
•    Role-based access: support for role-based administration with customizable roles.
•    Clarify any limits on role creation and how this affects pricing.
•    Third-party licenses: list all required third-party licenses and software. 
•    Explain these systems are monitored for uptime.
•    Test and prod environments: include both test and production environments in the proposal, with licensing details.
2. Systems integration and integration resolution  
•    "Integration with colleague: the solution must integrate with colleague to support student enrollment, grades, attendance, holds, room and faculty scheduling conflicts, chosen and preferred names, faculty pay, and general ledger and project accounting. 
•    Integration should ensure accurate data sharing for academic records.  
•    Anything listed that would not integrate."
•    "Bookstore system integration: the proposed solution must integrate with a bookstore vendor system to enable students to access and purchase-required course materials. 
•    It must support the ability to charge bookstore purchases to third-party accounts and facilitate data sharing with the bookstore vendor, including real-time updates on available course sections, student registrations, and related enrollment data."
•    Reporting system compatibility: pre-built reports, does the solution support integration with reporting tools such, bi, and power bi.
•    Integration issue resolution: tools and processes are provided to resolve data integration issues with our student information system
•    Ticket resolution and help desk support: include information about average ticket response times when reporting system issues, how you process and communicate break and fix and resolved issues, and how third-party interfacing systems are monitored to make sure they are up and running
•    Solution lifecycle: the service environment being proposed (on-premises, cloud, or software-as-a-service), when the proposed solution was first developed, the current version of the solution, the next scheduled major release and upgrade, and how upgrades to the technology are handled.  
•    Provide a cadence for planned updates and outages including time zone considerations for Eastern Standard Time.
- Course demand and analytics
1. Course demand forecasting and analytics
•    The solution must provide robust analytics to support data-driven academic scheduling and long-term course planning.
•    Analyze historical enrollment, fill rates, waitlists, cancellations, and completion data by course, section, modality, location, and part of term.
•    Incorporate student declared programs, intended degree plans, and guided pathway requirements to inform future demand.
•    Identify demand trends and seasonal patterns at the program, department, and institutional levels.
•    Provide predictive analytics to forecast course and section demand across multiple terms.
•    Support configurable forecasting horizons (e.g., next term, academic year, multi-year planning)
•    Highlight under-utilized, over-subscribed, and at-risk courses or programs.
2. Comprehensive schedule creation and optimization
•    The solution must support both automated and manual creation of academic schedules across the institution.
•    Enable automated and assisted schedule creation across multiple programs, departments, campuses, and parts of term.
•    Support manual overrides and adjustments by authorized users.
•    Ensure consistent cohort progression and course sequencing aligned with guided pathways for both full-time and part-time students.
•    Support block scheduling, cohort-based scheduling, and specialized tracks (e.g., clinical rotations, certifications, accelerated programs)
•    Optimize schedules to balance student demand, faculty availability, and facility constraints.
•    Identify and resolve schedule conflicts across programs and departments.
3. Student-centric planning and pathway alignment
•    The solution must prioritize student progression, completion, and time-to-degree.
•    Map student pathways and course sequences aligned to program requirements and graduation timelines.
•    Identify scheduling gaps or bottlenecks that may delay student completion.
•    Support proactive planning for high-impact and gateway courses.
•    Provide analytics on how schedule decisions affect student momentum, retention, and completion.
•    Support planning for multiple modalities, including in-person, hybrid, online, and accelerated formats.
4. Predictive analytics for faculty workload and staffing
•    The solution must support planning and forecasting for faculty assignments and instructional capacity.
•    Forecast faculty workload and staffing needs based on projected enrollment and course demand.
•    Analyze historical faculty assignments and teaching patterns filterable by discipline and faculty status (i.e., full-time vs. adjunct)
•    Leverage faculty profiles, including credentials and qualifications, in predictive scheduling analysis.
•    Identify potential staffing gaps, overload risks, and under-utilization.
•    Support planning for full-time and adjunct faculty across multiple departments.
5. Real-time scenario modeling and what-if analysis
•    The solution must allow users to evaluate multiple scheduling and resource scenarios.
•    Simulate multiple scheduling scenarios to assess impact on students, faculty, and facilities.
•    Support what-if analysis for changes in enrollment, staffing levels, modality mix, or curriculum updates
•    Compare scenarios side-by-side using configurable metrics (e.g., fill rates, faculty load, room utilization)
•    Provide visual and data-driven insights to support informed decision-making.
6. Cross department and institutional coordination
•    The solution must support coordination and visibility across the institution.
•    Facilitate collaboration across departments for shared courses, faculty, and facilities.
•    Provide institution-wide visibility into schedules, resource usage, and conflicts.
•    Support centralized and decentralized scheduling models
•    Enable role-based access for academic leadership, deans, associate deans, department chairs, and scheduling staff.
7. Reporting, dashboards, and data visualization
•    The solution must provide flexible reporting and visualization capabilities.
•    Deliver role-based dashboards for administrators, academic leaders, and advisors.
•    Provide configurable reports for course demand, scheduling efficiency, faculty workload, and student outcomes.
•    Support ad-hoc analysis and export of data for institutional research and planning.
•    Allow institutions to define and track key performance indicators (KPIS) related to course demand and scheduling effectiveness.
8. Integration and data interoperability
•    The solution must be integrated with the institution’s existing technological ecosystem.
•    Integrate with the institution’s student information system (sis)
•    Integrate with degree audit and student planning systems.
•    Integrate with learning management systems (LMS) for enrollment and modality insights.
•    Integrate with HR systems for faculty data, credentials, and availability.
•    Support near real-time data exchange and scheduled data refreshes.
•    Provide documented APIS or standard integration mechanisms.
9. Compliance, accreditation, and institutional reporting
•    The solution must support compliance and reporting needs.
•    Support alignment with accreditation and regulatory requirements.
•    Track and report instructional hours, course offerings, and faculty qualifications.
•    Provide audit-ready reports to support accreditation reviews and internal audits.
10. Scalability, flexibility, and future readiness
•    The solution must support institutional growth and change.
•    Scale to support future program growth, additional campuses, and new modalities.
•    Adapt to changing student demographics, enrollment patterns, and institutional priorities.
•    Support configuration without excessive reliance on vendor customization.
•    Allow the institution to evolve analytics models as planning needs mature.