New SCT Matrix Student Management Suite Helps Universities Connect with Constituents Across Campus Boundaries

MALVERN, Pa. — February 3, 2004 — It is now easier for universities to foster better constituent relationships, target role-based communication, and manage business operations with the latest upgrade of SCT’s (Nasdaq: SCTC) SCT Matrix™ student management suite version 2.4.1.

Large universities face the complex task of balancing the relationships constituents have with individual colleges and departments along with the universal relationship they share with the institution as a whole. The SCT Matrix Student Management Suite is designed specifically for these multi-college or multi-campus institutions to help manage information from multiple sources, translate it into actions that are timely, role-specific and relevant to ultimately promote and cultivate enduring relationships.

The suite’s technologies enable the transparency of applicable information for bridging disparate business and organizational processes to achieve enterprise-wide collaboration while ensuring the security and protection of sensitive information. Individual sections of the institution can conduct autonomous operations that fit the unique needs, culture, and business processes of a particular department or college while at the same time information that is pertinent to relationship management is made available to authorized users throughout the organization.

Ideal for constituent focused organizations (e.g. enrollment management, student services) needing to manage a broad range of relationships, SCT Matrix automates personalized communications coordinated across departments based on institutional objectives. The result is improved departmental efficiency and more relevant, timely communications that foster enduring relationships among the institution’s constituents.

Enhancements delivered in SCT Matrix Student Management Suite version 2.4.1 include:

• Fund Allocation Tracking— Improving departmental management, tuition, fees, and all other transactions can be traced back to, and revenue recognized for, the department(s), college(s), campus(es), etc. that currently have an active relationship with a particular constituent;

  Double-Count Protection—Improving institutional reporting and research, double-counting of students who are enrolled in multiple colleges or departments can now be eliminated;

  Shared Course Offerings and Academic Programs—Improving the institution’s ability to re-use academic assets, all sections, offerings and academic programs can be owned by and/or shared across one or many departments, colleges, or campuses; and

  Self-service enhancements via .NET framework—Improving the institution’s ability to integrate and present applications and services in a structure that is very similar to how constituents use and interact with the Internet on a consumer level. This familiarity assists constituents in accessing information faster and more effectively.

  The backbone of SCT Matrix Student Management Suite is customer relationship management (CRM) principles that are widely used in the business sector. SCT has adopted these principles and developed the SCT Matrix Student Management Suite to meet the specific relationship management needs of higher education, namely: student and faculty service and support, student recruitment, enrollment, and retention.

“We’re going through some profound changes in how the state manages enrollment, trying to increase participation rates while the population is already growing rapidly,” said Dr. Sally Jackson, vice president for learning and information technologies and CIO, The University of Arizona. “For UA, this means a much more complex approach to all of enrollment management, from recruitment through graduation. We are expecting Matrix to provide the information resources needed for this more complex approach, and our development partnership with SCT has helped us both in thinking through our strategy and in planning to implement it.”

“Our collaborative work with the University of Arizona on the SCT Matrix suite has resulted in significant contributions for improving a University’s ability to track and manage the large and diverse number of academic program options and offerings that research institutions provide to students,” said Susan LaCour, senior vice president, SCT business lines. “This ability is especially important where those academic assets are shared across multiple colleges and departments.”

In addition to collaborating with The University of Arizona, SCT works closely with other SCT Matrix clients including The Johns Hopkins University, The University of Chicago, University of New Haven, and Tulane University to continuously improve SCT Matrix as the clear choice for helping prestigious higher education leaders achieve their strategic goals.

“Thirty-five years of experience supporting the technology needs of higher education helps us understand the specific needs of the multi-campus, multi-college environment and the accompanying complexities of serving students with very high expectations,” added LaCour. “SCT Matrix provides an outstanding solution for institutions with a strong orientation towards a high-tech, high-touch approach around providing superior service at every phase of the constituent life cycle.”

The SCT Matrix Student Management 2.4.1 is available now. Built to take advantage of Microsoft® .NET capabilities and XML Web services, SCT Matrix provides information exchange capabilities that enable SCT systems and applications from other providers to communicate in real time to facilitate campus wide interactions and leverage an institution’s existing technology investment.

About SCT
SCT is the leading global provider of e-education technology solutions for institutions of all sizes and complexity. The company supports more than 1,300 client institutions worldwide with administrative and academic solutions, portal and community solutions, content management and workflow solutions, information access and integration solutions, and professional services. SCT works collaboratively with clients and partners to provide the e-Education Infrastructure that enables institutions to fulfill their unique missions. For more information visit.www.sct.com

SCT, SCT Matrix, and the SCT logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Systems & Computer Technology Corporation. All other product and company names referenced herein are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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