Scaling Academic Operations at SEU Through Modern Workflows and Trusted Jenzabar Integration

Challenges:

Disconnected Systems Created Data Inconsistency and Weakened Efficiency

Before partnering with Coursedog, Southeastern University relied heavily on spreadsheets and manual processes to manage their academic operations. Information lived across multiple files and folders, with no reliable way to know which version was the most up to date.

“Before we implemented Coursedog, our academic operations looked like a lot of spreadsheets, a lot of faculty not knowing how to use the spreadsheets, and our staff getting frustrated when some of the information lived outside of those processes because people didn't know how to operate within them or just refused to.” - Jill Giddens, Registrar

Because critical data lived in spreadsheets, SEU struggled to maintain a single source of truth across scheduling, curriculum, and catalog management. Information was easily overwritten or lost, making it difficult to rely on data for timely decision-making. Over time, this eroded faculty confidence and created even more manual work to make sure everything was correct for students.

“We were having challenges with the input of our processes in spreadsheets and not being standardized from a UI/UX perspective. Spreadsheets can be confusing, as it is hard to know where to input data, and data can often get overwritten or inadvertently changed. Some [faculty and staff] would download the spreadsheet and make changes and then our data was out of sync.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

Communication Gaps Disrupted Access to Reliable Course Information

Beyond the technical challenges, SEU lacked a centralized system to manage communication and approval tracking. Faculty and staff weren’t always aligned on when or if changes had been approved.

As a result, some courses or updates were implemented without proper oversight, leaving teams scrambling to understand how changes had been made.  This introduced organizational risk, slowed decision-making, and impacted students by limiting access to accurate, up-to-date course information.

“Sometimes faculty and staff were unintentionally excluded and then something was approved and it was taught and [faculty and staff] ask ‘what happened here? When was this course title changed?’ We needed a system that centralized all communication to the necessary people.” - Jill Giddens, Registrar

Solution

From Spreadsheets to a Centralized System That Scales With SEU

SEU needed a system that could evolve as quickly as their academic and operational priorities. With Coursedog, the university can now configure workflows and update processes in real time, ensuring information stays accurate, approvals move efficiently, and faculty and staff aren't slowed down by outdated tools.

“We move fast at SEU and it is very important that our business processes and workflows can keep up with that pace.  When stakeholders can do most of their work in one system, that dramatically increases our productivity and efficiency. This also contributes to a healthy personnel culture because the staff feel less burdened and held back by the systems that are required for their business processes.“ - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

By moving from spreadsheets to a secure, centralized database, SEU eliminated version control issues and improved data accuracy and protection. Faculty and staff can now confidently rely on a single system that safeguards information and ensures everyone is working with the same, most up-to-date data.

“The data has moved from spreadsheets that live on multiple network and local drives to a centrally protected database. This directly lends to better data accuracy, security, and ability to access consistent data upon request. There is no more trying to figure out if this is the latest spreadsheet or not with the risk of end-users deleting or changing data when they shouldn’t.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

Modernized Workflows and Communication Strengthen Student Success Initiatives

Coursedog has enabled SEU’s faculty and staff to move beyond the burdens of maintaining complex, manual processes. Instead of spending hours updating spreadsheets or troubleshooting approvals, teams can now focus on supporting students and building the experiences that drive retention and completion.

“Coursedog is helping us be more modern by consolidating our processes and workflows. When our staff spend less time monkeying around with inefficient systems, they have more time to spend directly with students and Coursedog helps with this because there is so much automation in the workflows that are built directly into the system.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

Coursedog’s unified platform brings faculty, staff, and administrators together under a single source of truth and streamlining communication and improving visibility across departments.

“Coursedog helps us address our biggest concerns which are bringing communication together across faculty and staff and giving visibility to everyone that's involved in the process so they can look at information at any time. We are eliminating the time spent navigating those spreadsheets so that staff are able to handle things that are higher level thinking tasks versus tedious and redundant tasks.” - Jill Giddens, Registrar

Best-in-Class Implementation & Seamless Jenzabar Integration

Coursedog’s implementation process and integration with Southeastern University’s SIS, Jenzabar, stood out as a defining strength of the partnership. From day one, SEU’s leadership emphasized the responsiveness, accountability, and technical precision that set Coursedog apart from other vendors.

“We deal with a lot of vendors and most are okay, but the team at Coursedog was excellent. Coursedog held to timelines, pushed us when we were dragging behind schedule, and the team knows their system very well. The integration with Jenzabar was the easiest and most accurate integration we have ever seen from a 3rd-party vendor.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

Coursedog’s integration with Jenzabar enabled real-time data accuracy and eliminated manual workarounds. For SEU’s IT department, this resulted in significant time savings and freed up critical resources to focus on initiatives that directly support students and  institutional initiatives.

“With Coursedog having a realistic and accurate integration with Jenzabar, our IT department saved  30-40 hours of development work and we were able to focus on other mission critical projects.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer

Looking Ahead

Building on their success, SEU plans to expand their use of Coursedog across even more of their academic operations. The partnership’s proven reliability and measurable impact have earned the confidence of SEU’s faculty and IT teams.

“Stakeholders are already asking about modules that we don’t currently have. The value of Coursedog is quickly being seen and users want to capitalize on additional features. Our experience with Coursedog from a support and implementation perspective has increased our trust for other solutions provided by Coursedog. The staff know their stuff and are easy to work with. The solution just works and adds immense amount of value to our business processes.” - Neal Dyer, Chief Technology Officer