Scaling Smart: How the Texas Tech System Unified Multi-Campus Admissions with Axiom Elite

Their Need

The Texas Tech University System (Texas Tech University, Texas Tech Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas Tech Health Science Center in El Paso, Angelo State University and Midwestern State University), encountered a challenge by supporting five different institutions - each with their own Ellucian Banner instances, different enrollment sizes and academic focuses. Faced with managing data integration across diverse and growing admissions platforms, Dale Ganus, Associate Managing Director for Information Systems at the Texas Tech System office, explained, “Back in the day, I started off with eight different admissions areas, and now we’ve grown to 15.” Individual admission departments had their own distinct requirements and processes, which made manual data entry and management completely unsustainable. "Each admissions area was loading data in a different way," he noted. “It was a lot bigger task than we really wanted to do or could do.” Furthermore, on top of admissions offices, the legacy processes involved a manual and cumbersome matching of records. “Matching student data...wasn't really working for us and we were still getting a lot of duplicate records.” With limited staff and growing demand, the Texas Tech System needed a solution that could simplify, scale, and customize data workflows across multiple campuses and through a variety of CRMs, such as Salesforce, Slate, and Ellucian Recruit.

Axiom Solution

The Texas Tech University System chose Axiom Elite to power their data integration strategy. “Axiom was one of the best out there, and so they were the tool that we chose to go with.” The decision was made due to Axiom Elite’s flexibility and customizability, which were critical for a system as complex as Texas Tech’s. “Axiom brought a new customizable solution to the table for each of our institutions.” What truly excited Ganus was Axiom’s advanced record matching algorithm. “Matching records was more customizable and advanced than other companies...This is actually one of the things that excited me the most about the Axiom Elite product.” Additionally, Axiom made it easier for the Texas Tech System to visualize and manage student records through a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which significantly reduced errors. “It’s very difficult to actually push through a duplicate record if you're paying attention to the data in the system” Ganus added. Moreover, Axiom streamlined integration by aligning seamlessly with Ellucian Banner. “We really worked hard to make sure we’re using all the Banner packages and procedures…to make sure all of our data is supported in the best manner possible.” The local-vendor hybrid support model was another major benefit for the Texas Tech System. “We heavily depended on Axiom when we put in new sources…But we also are very fortunate to have learned quite a bit about Axiom too, so I’m able to help our customers much more quickly.”

The Result

With Axiom Elite, the Texas Tech University System experienced a dramatic improvement in efficiency, scalability, and data accuracy. What started with 10 data sources in 2009 has expanded to over 60 in2023 and continues to grow. “If the other schools move over to Slate, then we’ll probably have closer to 75 to 80 sources,” Ganus noted, praising Axiom’s ability to keep up with the growth. Processes that were once manually intensive and prone to error are now streamlined. “Axiom frees me up to be able to work with [our schools] on those types of things and support everything that we do.” The Texas Tech System has gone beyond the typical admissions integration and has begun to leverage Axiom for other innovative data applications, from building reformulated transcripts to integrating online placement exam results. “It helps students get those grades much more quickly.” Texas Tech System is now exploring Axiom for even broader use cases. “Through working with Axiom, we’ve been able to do things that probably weren’t originally intended. They’ve been a great partner to us.” After nearly two decades of partnership, Ganus summed it up best: “There’s been a lot of great work we’ve done over the years as a partner with Axiom and it’s been good because we’ve been heavily involved with them as we continued to grow and grow and grow.”

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