Orono, Maine 04469
www.umaine.edu

Challenge

Publishing UMaine's undergraduate and graduate catalogs both to the Internet and in print was escalating costs and fraught with inconsistencies. The VP of Enrollment management was looking for a solution that would:

1. provide a single process for updating and publishing both Internet and printed catalogs;
2. reduce the time required to make changes, obtain approvals, and deliver a finished product for publishing;
3. provide a quality Internet version of the catalog that would satisfy both the demands of faculty and the expectations of students, administrators, and accrediting bodies;
4. help reduce the need for printed catalogs, lowering both printing and mailings costs; and
5. help turn the online catalog into a vehicle to help build relationship with prospective students and compliment enrollment management functions.

Solution

Digital Architecture responded with version 1.0 of the acalog™ Academic Catalog Management System™ (ACMS™). After working through a discovery process with key stakeholders from admissions, marketing, registrar, and enrollment management, Digital Architecture consultants determined that there was no commercially available software that could provide a dedicated framework for academic catalog management.

Over a period of 8 months, our team worked closely with administrators at UMaine, as well as other enrollment management professionals, to model a new business process for managing academic catalogs using Internet technology linked to a relational database system. During another 8-month period, our team of usability engineers worked to refine interfaces and workflow based on feedback from catalog managers and other project stakeholders.

The UMaine undergraduate catalog was launched publicly in November of 2002, with the UMaine graduate school adopting the acalog ACMS™ in January of 2003. Both now have been upgraded to the latest version of the acalog ACMS™.