Student Management

Temple U Adopts Management Software for Non-Credit Programs and Students

• By Leila Meyer
• 10/18/16

Temple University in Philadelphia, PA has implemented a university-wide software platform designed for managing non-traditional education programs.

Temple University offers more than 100 non-credit programs administered through more than 50 offices and supporting more than 43,000 students each year. Previously, the university had no centralized repository for storing data related to these programs and students, and the administration wanted to provide students with a more consistent experience while improving business processes.

The university selected Destiny One from Destiny Solutions because it "fit our wide range of programs and requirements" and "gave our staff the tools to administer those programs with very little central overhead," said Nicole Westrick, associate vice provost of University College at Temple University, in a case study published on the company's site. At the same time, the university opted for Destiny One's Conference Manager tool to support branded registration sites for conferences, customized schedules and group-pay options for attendees.

According to the company's site, Destiny One supports automated workflows for enrollment, curriculum, system administration, marketing, finance and reporting, and it integrates with other campus systems, including student information systems (SIS), learning management systems (LMS), authentication, payment processing and financial systems. Individuals can access the system through portals for the public, students, faculty, staff and administrators.

The university is rolling out Destiny One in phases. Eight departments, including the Intensive English Language Program and the Office of Non-Credit and Continuing Education implemented the system in phase one. Since then, 55 additional departments have implemented the system. According to Destiny Solutions, "it only takes seven weeks to get a full noncredit program up and running with Destiny One, and only three weeks for a single course or conference."

Implementing Destiny One has made it "easier and quicker" for staff to respond to student inquiries, and students, faculty and staff now have "consistent and structured access to the information they need across the institution," said Westrick in a news release. She added that the implementation has also "eliminated many lengthy manual procedures" and provided "integration points with our existing backend computing infrastructure." The system also allows students to browse, enroll in and pay for courses from their mobile device.