A quick enrollment snapshot

• Which role are you answering for today? Options: VP of Enrollment, Director of Admissions, Enrollment Marketing Manager, IT/System Admin, Other
• Give a one-line summary of your enrollment target for the coming admissions cycle.
• Walk me through last fall's funnel, listing counts at inquiry, application started, application complete, admitted, and deposit.
• How many seats short of target was your entering class last year? Options: 0-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-200, 200+
• Describe the immediate budget or program impact of a 50-student shortfall at your institution.
• Which of these best describes your current contact and outreach stack? Options: Legacy SIS plus spreadsheets for territories, SIS for records + separate email platform, CRM that handles outreach alongside SIS, Mostly spreadsheets and ad hoc tools, Other

Where the funnel truly leaks

• Name the single conversion point where you lost the most students last cycle.
• In the stage you named, who owns outreach and how is activity tracked today? Options: Individual counselor spreadsheets, Shared CRM task lists, SIS notes/flags, Mixed approaches
• How are counselors assigned territories and how often do those assignments change?
• If you had to assemble a counselor-by-territory conversion report for the last cycle, how long would it take and how confident are you in it? Options: Same day and reliable, A few days and mostly reliable, A week and partly reliable, Longer than a week or unreliable
• Point to one reporting gap that creates the most uncertainty in your enrollment forecast.

Who's accountable when enrollment goes off script

• Who would need to sign off on a pilot and fast-track production if it hits targets?
• List the roles who will use the platform daily, weekly, and occasionally.
• How quickly can your IT or systems team typically approve API access to your SIS, in business days? Options: 1-3 days, 4-7 days, 8-14 days, More than 14 days
• Are there governance bodies or committees that must review communications for TCPA and privacy before a pilot runs? Options: Yes, compliance/legal committee, Yes, IT/security committee, No formal committee, ad hoc review, Unsure
• If the VP of enrollment asks you for a recommendation after pilot results, which single data point would you lead with? Options: Deposit lift, Application completion increase, Contact-to-application conversion, Counselor coverage and response time, Other

SIS, integrations, and data that must be right

• Point to the one integration whose failure would stop go-live.
• Describe your primary SIS, the module that stores application and enrollment status, and whether an API endpoint exists. Options: SIS exposes full API endpoints, SIS exposes limited APIs or exports, No API, CSV exports only, Unsure
• How many separate data sources feed a prospect record in practice, including events, inquiries, paid channels, and the SIS? Options: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7+
• Who owns the data extracts and who can provide a sample contacts export within five business days? Options: Admissions operations, Institutional data team, IT/system admin, Third-party vendor, Unsure
• Are there data retention, FERPA, or state privacy approvals required before we can ingest prospect records? Options: Yes, formal approvals required, Yes, but routine and quick, No formal approvals, Unsure
• Should API access not be available, would scheduled CSV syncs be an acceptable fallback? Options: Yes, acceptable, Only temporarily, No, APIs required, Depends on fields available

Risks that could derail a pilot

• Identify the one unresolved risk that would make you pause the pilot.
• How often in the past three admissions cycles have SIS synchronizations failed and required manual fixes? Options: Never, Once, 2-3 times, More than 3 times
• Tell me about the last time counselor resistance slowed an operational change, what happened, and how long it took to resolve?
• When compliance or TCPA questions arose historically, who resolved them and how much delay did that add to projects?
• Do you have procurement deadlines or board cycles that will restrict when work can begin? Options: Yes, strict windows, Some constraints but flexible, No formal windows, Unsure
• Should the pilot miss acceptance criteria, what is the most likely leadership response—pause, redesign, or cancel? Options: Pause and reassess, Redesign and retry, Cancel, Depends on the gap

Other paths you are weighing

• Name the alternatives you are actively evaluating, including the incumbent or any internal build plans.
• List the capabilities an incumbent would need to add for you to keep them instead of switching.
• Do any internal teams believe they can build the same automation and territory workflows in-house? Options: Yes, confident, Possible with investments, No, not feasible, Undecided
• How quickly would an internal build need to show measurable results to be considered viable—within a semester, an admissions cycle, or longer? Options: Within a semester (3-4 months), Within a full admissions cycle (6-9 months), Longer than one cycle, Not viable
• What contractual or switching costs keep you tied to the incumbent today?
• Imagine we demonstrated parity on the three most important capabilities, what would still tilt the decision toward an internal solution?

Pilot: the hard metrics that will move money

• Suppose a pilot produced a 5 percent lift in deposit rate in targeted territories, who would have authority to approve conversion to production immediately?
• Provide the exact acceptance criteria you require for SIS synchronization quality, contact delivery, and TCPA compliance.
• How often do you need pilot reporting—daily, weekly, or by milestone—to feel confident in results? Options: Daily during cutover, Weekly summaries, Milestone reports only, Monthly review
• Identify the stakeholders who must sign off on the pilot report for the program to proceed.
• When pilot results are mixed—improved contact rates but no deposit lift—what decision rule would you apply? Options: Extend pilot and iterate, Change territories or messaging, End pilot and reassess, Escalate to executive review
• Select the pilot timeframe you can support. Options: Single admissions cycle (3-6 months), Targeted short pilot (8-12 weeks), Event-driven pilot (next 90 days), Longitudinal pilot across two cycles (12+ months)

What must be true before we start work

• Flag the single readiness fact that, if missing, would stop deployment from starting.
• Provide the named data owner role and the expected SLA for delivering initial extracts.
• Estimate the number of full-time technical staff you will allocate to integrations and data validation during the first 90 days. Options: 0, 1-2, 3-5, 6+
• Do you currently have API credentials, sandbox access, and test records available, or will they require procurement? Options: All available now, Some available, some procurement, Require procurement for all, Unsure
• Give the SIS endpoints we will need to integrate with and the technical owner for each.
• Outline any legal or compliance approvals required before data sharing and the expected timeline.
• Do you have a preferred deployment window—summer break, intersession, or rolling—where we must schedule work? Options: Summer break, Intersession, Rolling updates, No preference

Counselor adoption and change management

• Point out which counselors or teams will resist moving off spreadsheets and explain why.
• Estimate how many counselors manage more than 150 high schools each. Options: 0, 1-3, 4-10, 10+
• What training cadence and formats have worked best here—live sessions, recorded walkthroughs, or hands-on clinics? Options: Live instructor-led, Recorded on-demand, Hands-on clinics and shadowing, Mixed approach
• Share an example of a missed follow-up being discovered and how it was corrected.
• Select the support model most likely to win counselor adoption. Options: On-site training + weekly check-ins, Remote webinars + office hours, Peer mentors and shadowing, Documentation + asynchronous tutorials
• Flag the governance trigger—loss of yield, missed SLAs, or counselor complaints—that would escalate adoption issues to executives. Options: Loss of yield, Missed SLAs, Counselor complaints, Other

Decision timeline and next steps

• Assuming the pilot meets acceptance criteria tomorrow, what is the shortest internal timeline to sign and start production? Options: Immediately (same week), Within 2-4 weeks, Within 1-2 months, Longer than 2 months
• Tell me about the key decision dates, procurement windows, and committee reviews that will affect contracting.
• Walk me through the approval steps from pilot sign-off to live deployment, including roles and typical days per step.
• Select the contracting obstacles that most often slow you. Options: Annual budget cycle, Legal review, Procurement process, Executive availability
• How soon can named data owners and technical owners be committed to kickoff after mutual commit? Options: Immediately, Within 1-2 weeks, Within 2-4 weeks, Longer than 4 weeks
• Choose one internal blocker that, if removed this week, would accelerate moving from pilot to production.

• Platform Walkthrough, Live with Your Scenarios

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated workflows eliminate the manual handoffs that cause missed or delayed outreach in pilot territories.
• Provide a CSV export of pilot territories, one week's counselor activity logs, and the pilot acceptance criteria for analytics comparison.
• Run a sample SIS-to-platform synchronization with the provided export and deliver a synchronization health and gap report before the follow-up session.
• Live proof, touchpoint orchestration using your scenario
• You agree that calendar-driven communications shown here would prevent the timing errors you described and meet TCPA constraints for the pilot.
• Live proof, territory management using your data
• You accept that the yield analytics surfaces the enrollment signals needed to take action before census for the pilot territories.
• Identify the stakeholders who must approve pilot-to-production conversion and their decision timelines.
• Live proof, calendar-based communication and TCPA-aware rules
• Live proof, yield analytics tied to your acceptance criteria
• Confirm the future state matches your needs

• Platform Walkthrough, Live with Your Scenarios
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Import and Clean Prospect Data
• Connect SIS Application Feed
• Configure Admissions Calendar Automations
• Implement TCPA Consent and Opt-In Workflows
• Set Up Territory Assignment and Routing
• Deploy Email, SMS, and Push Channels
• Configure Application-to-Enrollment Pipeline
• Enable Enrollment Deposit and Payment Tracking
• Track Campus Visits and Virtual Events
• Deploy Yield Analytics and Conversion Dashboards
• Counselor Desktop and Mobile Access Setup
• Migrate Historical Interaction and Event Logs
• Monitor SIS Sync and Reconciliation Alerts
• Train Counselors on Platform Workflows

Import and Clean Prospect Data

• How many prospect contact records do you need to import from your current CRM, spreadsheets, or legacy database? Options: Less than 5,000, 5,000-25,000, 25,001-100,000, More than 100,000
• Which file formats will you supply for the import (CSV export, SIS extract, Google Sheet, other)? Options: CSV export, SIS database extract, Google Sheet, Other
• Do you already maintain a canonical identifier for prospects (email, phone, legacy student ID) that we should use for deduplication? Options: Yes — email, Yes — phone, Yes — legacy student ID, No, we need deduplication rules
• Provide the target data quality thresholds you want the import to meet (e.g., percent valid email, percent valid phone, percent matched school code).
• Are there FERPA or state privacy restrictions on importing inquiry notes, test scores, or enrollment communications that we must honor? Options: Yes, No

Connect SIS Application Feed

• Name the SIS tables or modules that contain applicant status, decision, test scores, and assigned counselor fields.
• What API or extract methods does your SIS provide for application data (REST API, SFTP CSV, SOAP feed, direct database replica)? Options: REST API, SFTP CSV, SOAP, Database replica
• Define the measurable acceptance criteria that will confirm successful application synchronization during the pilot (for example: percent of fields mapped, maximum sync latency in minutes, reconciliation accuracy percentage).
• When will your SIS be able to provide the first full application export for the pilot term (specific date or week)?
• Map which SIS field names correspond to application ID, application status code, decision date, and deposit flag so we can align field mappings.

Configure Admissions Calendar Automations

• Select which admissions calendar events should trigger automated messages in the pilot (application deadline, decision release, deposit due date, event RSVP cutoff). Options: Application deadline, Decision release, Deposit due, Event RSVP cutoff, Other
• Estimate how many distinct calendar-driven message templates you will require for the pilot cycle (reminders, nudges, deadline alerts, confirmations). Options: 1-5, 6-15, 16+
• List the blackout dates from your academic calendar where you do not want recruitment messages sent (term start/end, finals week, campus holidays).
• Assign who in your team must approve message copy and timing for each calendar-triggered template.
• Set the timing rules you want for reminders and follow-ups (for example: 14 days before deadline, 3 days after decision, 48 hours before campus visit).

Implement TCPA Consent and Opt-In Workflows

• List the consent artifacts you currently capture for phone and SMS outreach that must map to the platform (opt-in timestamp, consent source, recorded script reference, channel scope). Options: Opt-in timestamp, Consent source, Recorded script reference, Channel scope
• Confirm whether you want historical opt-in records migrated and mapped to the platform's TCPA consent fields or whether you want to start fresh for the pilot. Options: Migrate and map all historical opt-ins, Do not migrate historical opt-ins, Migrate only records after a specific date
• Provide sample evidence items you will accept for TCPA validation in the pilot (for example: exported consent records with timestamps, opt-in call recordings, call audit logs).
• Upload or paste the exact consent language or phone script you use at the point of opt-in so we can map wording to our consent capture fields.
• Define whether you require dual opt-in or SMS keyword confirmation flows for specific outreach segments. Options: Yes — dual opt-in for all SMS, Yes — only for specific segments, No, single opt-in is sufficient

Set Up Territory Assignment and Routing

• Describe how your territory hierarchy is structured today (state > county > high-school, zip-blocks, counselor cohorts) and any standard codes you use.
• Indicate which source of truth holds current counselor assignments (spreadsheet, SIS advisor table, scheduling system). Options: Spreadsheet, SIS advisor table, Scheduling system, Other
• Explain your routing rules for inbound leads and transfers (for example: round-robin, geography proximity, assigned high-school code, counselor workload).
• Designate who in your organization owns territory mapping changes and what approval workflow is required for reassignments.
• Limit counselor workload: specify any maximums you want enforced in routing (maximum high schools per counselor, maximum active prospects per counselor).

Deploy Email, SMS, and Push Channels

• Declare which sending domains and DKIM/SPF records you will authorize for email delivery during the pilot.
• Specify whether you will provide SMS gateway credentials or need a recommended gateway for pilot delivery. Options: We will provide gateway credentials, We need gateway recommendation, We use an internal gateway
• Separate transactional from marketing: do you require distinct sending profiles for deadline-driven transactional messages versus broader recruitment campaigns? Options: Yes — separate profiles required, No — single profile acceptable
• Clarify the sender identities and reply routing you want for counselor inboxes versus shared admissions mailboxes.
• Project the expected monthly message volumes by channel for the pilot term (emails, SMS, push notifications). Options: Less than 10,000, 10,000-50,000, 50,000-200,000, 200,000+

Configure Application-to-Enrollment Pipeline

• Enumerate which pipeline stages you need between application and enrollment (applied, admitted, deposited, registered). Options: Applied, Admitted, Deposited, Registered, Custom
• Detail which SIS fields or triggers should drive transitions between pipeline stages (for example: decision code change, deposit flag set).
• State the acceptance criteria that will define a successful pipeline handoff in the pilot (for example: percent of applications reconciled to enrollments, max staging latency).
• Formulate the business rules you want applied when moving a prospect between stages (for example: admitted but no deposit -> enter nurture workflow after X days).
• Identify who in your team approves exceptions to pipeline rules such as delayed deposit waivers or counselor overrides.

Enable Enrollment Deposit and Payment Tracking

• Catalog which payment processors or merchant providers record deposit transactions for your institution.
• Confirm whether you have deposit transaction feeds or APIs that include student ID, transaction date, and amount for automated matching. Options: Yes — API/feed available, Yes — CSV batch export only, No — manual upload required
• Outline the reconciliation timing and tolerance you require for deposit matching (same-day, 24 hours, next business day, tolerance on amount).
• Describe how deposit holds, refunds, and scholarship offsets should be represented in the enrollment record and downstream reporting.
• Flag any PCI or payment-storage compliance constraints we must avoid when handling payment identifiers. Options: PCI scope allowed, Avoid storing PANs — tokenization only, Other restrictions

Track Campus Visits and Virtual Events

• Inventory which event registration platforms or systems capture RSVPs and attendance for campus visits, open houses, and webinars.
• Itemize the event data fields you want tracked for each visit or webinar (registrant name, high-school, event date, attendance status, session attended).
• Require segmented automated follow-ups based on attendance status (attended, no-show, registered) after each event? Options: Yes — segmented follow-ups required, No — generic follow-ups only
• Explain how a completed campus visit or virtual event should update an applicant profile and whether it should influence counselor assignment or next-action rules.
• Assign who will own event reporting and specify the desired cadence for visit conversion and attendance reports.

Deploy Yield Analytics and Conversion Dashboards

• Enumerate which yield metrics you require on dashboards (application-to-admit conversion, admit-to-deposit, deposit-to-registration). Options: Application-to-admit conversion, Admit-to-deposit, Deposit-to-registration, Custom cohort metrics
• Select the historical range of admission cycles you want included for trend analysis (past 1 year, 3 years, 5 years). Options: Past 1 year, Past 3 years, Past 5 years, Custom range
• Set the dashboard reconciliation accuracy threshold you expect versus SIS reporting (for example: within 1% of SIS daily counts).
• Specify the primary audiences for each dashboard and the access roles you want (VP of enrollment, admissions directors, counselors). Options: VP of enrollment, Admissions directors, Counselors, Report-only viewers
• Mark any geographic feeder markets or high-school cohorts you need drill-downs for on the dashboard.

Counselor Desktop and Mobile Access Setup

• Outline which core counselor workflows must be available on mobile (call logging, quick notes, territory list, next action). Options: Call logging, Quick notes, Territory list, Next action
• Indicate whether counselors must authenticate with your campus single sign-on provider and which protocol you use (SAML, OIDC). Options: SAML, OIDC, No SSO required
• Document the offline access needs your counselors have for fieldwork and which features must work without connectivity.
• Differentiate the UI or feature access you require for the roles of admissions directors, counselors, and call center staff.
• Name the individual or team who will manage mobile device enrollment and support for counselor devices.

Migrate Historical Interaction and Event Logs

• How many years or months of historical interaction logs do you want migrated (notes, emails, call records, event attendance)? Options: Most recent 12 months, Most recent 24 months, Full historical archive
• Identify which export extracts contain historical notes and whether those extracts are keyed by application ID or contact ID. Options: Keyed by application ID, Keyed by contact ID, Other
• Establish pilot migration window constraints you want applied (for example: most recent 12 months only or last admission cycle).
• Declare any sensitive historical fields you want excluded from migration (for example: disciplinary notes, background checks). Options: Exclude disciplinary notes, Exclude background checks, No exclusions
• Appoint the data owner who will certify migrated records and sign off on archival retention policies.

• decision_readiness
• success_criteria
• stakeholders
• gaps
• current_state
• desired_state
• current_state
• desired_state
• stakeholders
• gaps
• success_criteria
• decision_readiness
• stakeholders
• decision_readiness
• gaps
• current_state
• desired_state
• success_criteria
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• Order Form / Subscription Agreement
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Pilot-to-Production Conversion Addendum
• Data Sharing and Integration Authorization
• Communications Compliance Addendum (TCPA and Messaging)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Change Order Agreement
• Mutual Acceptance Certificate and Billing Trigger

• Go-live Health Check
• First Measurement Review
• Acceptance Gate and Incumbent Wind-down
• Quarterly Ongoing Success Review
• Annual Success Review

• Close or advance the top five backlog items in the enhancement and issue log before the next quarterly review.
• Publish the formal acceptance record signed by the named signatory and circulate to stakeholders.
• Execute the incumbent decommission or archive steps and provide evidence of completion.
• Track and close remediation tasks within the agreed timeline and report progress at the first quarterly review.
• Quarterly outcomes versus targets
• Validate that enrollment forecast accuracy (%) and counselor adoption rate remain at or are progressing toward the targets recorded in the Pilot Evaluation stage.
• Ensure the top operational issues and enhancement requests are prioritized with owners and target dates.
• Confirm monitoring and escalation procedures for integration uptime and data sync reliability are active.
• Reconfirm success criteria and owners
• Deliver a short adoption health summary highlighting counselor adoption rate and activity changes.
• Update territory mappings or automation rules if they are identified as drivers of forecast variance.
• Annual outcomes and target comparison
• Confirm that annual enrollment outcomes meet or explain deviations from the Pilot Evaluation targets for forecast accuracy and pipeline coverage ratio.
• Agree on the prioritized enhancement backlog and the operational cadence to manage ongoing adoption and yield reviews.
• Establish the annual summary deliverable and confirm the shared channel remains the single source for issues and enhancement requests.
• Publish the annual outcomes summary with the prioritized enhancement backlog and distribute to stakeholders.
• Maintain the shared issues and enhancement channel and close low-priority items older than six months.
• Schedule the next year of quarterly adoption and yield reviews on the agreed cadence.
• Confirm that integrations and migrations completed without critical errors and that the system is accessible to the counselor team.
• Establish a prioritized list of critical issues with owners and target resolution dates.
• Set the date for the First Measurement meeting and the data extracts needed for that session.
• Publish the go-live validation summary and the prioritized issue list for async review.
• Complete any missing API credential or permission fixes required for full SIS sync.
• Provide the dataset extracts that will be used for the First Measurement meeting.
• Present first-cycle outcome data
• Determine whether enrollment forecast accuracy (%) and CRM data completeness rate are moving toward the targets recorded in the Pilot Evaluation stage.
• Confirm a prioritized remediation plan with clear completion dates to address the top 3 drivers of performance gaps.
• Agree the evidence set and extracts required for the Acceptance Gate meeting.
• Execute the agreed remediation tasks and provide progress updates two weeks before the Acceptance Gate.
• Run a focused data-quality job to improve CRM data completeness rate and report results.
• Schedule and deliver a targeted counselor microsession to raise counselor adoption rate on key workflows.
• Restate acceptance criteria and evidence requirements
• Produce a documented pass or fail for each acceptance criterion and capture the named signatory for the acceptance decision.
• Confirm the incumbent system is either decommissioned or retained read-only, with data archived or migrated and fallback habits closed.
• Agree remediation tasks, owners, and deadlines for any unmet criteria, with a clear verification plan.
• Adoption and activity trends
• Adoption maturity and operational efficiency
• Present outcome data against each acceptance criterion
• Root-cause diagnosis for gaps
• Deployment and migration validation
• Open issues and enhancement request log
• Formal acceptance decision and signatory capture
• Enhancement backlog and issue resolution review
• Agree corrective actions and timelines
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Shared channel and cadence confirmation
• Blockers and open issues triage
• Confirm timeline to Acceptance Gate
• Monitoring and escalation items
• Incumbent system decommission and data archive status
• Agree immediate remediation actions
• Remediation plan for any failed criteria