100% Student Participation from 5 Schools in Endicott’s Unified Internship Platform
Endicott College faced significant operational challenges with their internship management process. For decades, they relied on a homegrown system for tracking student internships, but when the college decided to transition to Workday, their IT department announced they would no longer support their legacy system. This forced them to seek an external solution that could maintain or improve their existing capabilities.
While they were previously another platform for job postings, its experiential learning component didn't meet their specialized needs. They were operating across multiple disconnected platforms – "working off two if not three different" systems according to Dale McLennan, Dean, Internship and Career Center – which created inefficiencies for students, faculty, and administrators. The fragmented approach made it particularly difficult to encourage student engagement across multiple platforms.
The Solution:
After evaluating several options, Endicott College selected Symplicity's comprehensive platform for its customizability and superior customer service. The setup and configuration process was "fantastic" and "very smooth," due to the attention of a dedicated Symplicity team member.
Symplicity offered Endicott College a unified platform that connects students, internship faculty, and potential employers all in one place. The experiential learning platform streamlined communication through integrated email capabilities, while robust analytics features provided administrators with instant access to critical program metrics. The system allowed for customization to reflect Endicott's existing terminology and workflows, ensuring a smooth transition for faculty across different schools.
The Results:
The implementation of Symplicity's solution has transformed Endicott College's ability to manage their internship programs. "Every single student uses it," notes Dean McLennan, a significant metric since all students must complete multiple internships. This comprehensive adoption has enabled powerful data collection and tracking capabilities.
Adrienne Bell, Manager of Operations, highlights that they can now track "a student from the start point when they may be drafting their idea of a proposal for experiential learning all the way through the approval process, the actual experience, and then completing a site evaluation all in one spot." This complete lifecycle visibility enables them to analyze program performance and make data-driven improvements across different majors and programs.
The analytics features have dramatically improved administrative efficiency, with Adrienne noting, “I can answer Deans’ question pretty quickly if they happen to call and ask… Most of the numbers I need are usually at my fingertips or within a two-to-three minute report run in a download Excel, so that's really helpful for me.”
Key Results:
- 100% student participation from 5 of 7 of Endicott College’s schools
- Complete visibility from proposal through evaluation in a single platform
- Streamlined communication between students, faculty, and employers
- Reduced response time for administrative data requests from hours to minutes
The Experience:
The Endicott team describes their experience working with Symplicity as "very, very positive." Adrienne has found the ongoing support particularly valuable, noting, "The access to the Help Center is amazing. I have monthly check-ins with Bryan, which is probably the most helpful part of my role here in terms of technology." When technical challenges arise, the team has been impressed with Symplicity's responsiveness, with Dean McLennan emphasizing that "when I've had to put in a ticket, the responsiveness has been really, really good."
During their recent integration with Workday, establishing both inbound and outbound data flows, the Symplicity team provided exceptional support. "The whole team chipped in on that. It was a big undertaking and it's going—this is week two—and it looks very smooth so far," Adrienne reported.
Looking Forward:
Endicott College plans to further leverage Symplicity's capabilities as they grow. They're exploring the CRM features for their employer relations team and considering more customized configurations for each school based on recommendations from an internal and external program review. Additionally, they're working to recreate a rich database of past internship sites within Symplicity, utilizing the student evaluation feature to build a searchable resource for future students.
"The most significant benefit has been the streamlined process for students within the experiential learning platform. We connect our students and our internship faculty directly to potential employers and internship sites all in one place, which is very convenient." - Adrienne Bell, Manager of Operations, Internship and Career Center, Endicott College
Ready to streamline your institution's internship and career management? Contact Symplicity today to learn how our customizable platform can connect your students, faculty, and employers while providing powerful analytics to drive program success.
