NOVA leads the way on innovative configurations of ERP

March 14, 2025 / Faculty/Staff Highlights

Higher education user group session recap—Simulating if/then logic in advisement reports. Two case studies: Allison McElfresh, Matthew Dreitlein and Tiffany Chau, from NOVA, presented at the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) this month, speaking to 15 institutions representing both four-year and two-year colleges to explore innovative strategies for degree audit reporting in PeopleSoft Academic Advisement.

The presenters tackled a critical challenge: PeopleSoft’s lack of built-in If/Then logic for academic advisement reports. NOVA’s team demonstrated how they overcame this limitation by leveraging line item parameters and display controls, creating an adaptable and intuitive framework that enhances advisement efficiency. The session outlined the curriculum challenges that led to this approach, the resulting design patterns and real-world applications of this methodology.

Throughout the interactive workshop, participants analyzed curriculum scenarios, worked through structured exercises and considered how these strategies could be applied at their own institutions. The discussion also included alternative approaches and hands-on configuration demonstrations.

Participant feedback: The session received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, highlighting its practicality, efficiency and potential impact:

  • “I haven’t come to the Alliance Convention in 5 years, but when I saw your session, I knew I had to be there.” – Salisbury University (Maryland)
  • “The amount of time this will save our advisors and our students is massive, and I think this is beautiful.” – Loyola University (Chicago)
  • “This is great, I have a bunch of problems I can apply this to, it’s a great framework.” – University of Houston
  • “We have a pretty simple configuration, it gets the job done, but it’s not this sophisticated.” – University of Michigan

NOVA was excited that their proposal was accepted, and looks forward to bringing more content with design frameworks of this nature to the conference of peers in the future.

—Matthew Dreitlein, data architect, ITSS