Transformation

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system helps organisations manage relationships and interactions with people. For the University, it means having a single view of every student’s journey, making communication smoother and the overall experience more consistent and personalised.

We need a CRM to give us a clear view of every interaction with our students, from their first enquiry all the way through to registration and enrolment. It means no more information gaps for staff or repeated questions for students, as everything is captured in one place. 

Although our colleagues work incredibly hard to deliver a positive experience, the onboarding process is complex, manual and spread across multiple systems. This makes it difficult to get a clear view of where each student is at in their journey and can lead to duplication of effort or inconsistent experiences.

By introducing a CRM and streamlining how we manage interactions, we can reduce manual workload for our staff, improve collaboration across teams and ensure every student has a smooth, consistent, and welcoming start to their University journey

Colleagues who need to adjust their ways of working or start using the CRM will be supported at every stage of the rollout. This includes training sessions, step-by-step guides and opportunities to try the system before it goes live.

The project team will also be supported by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These are staff members with in-depth knowledge of how the current onboarding process works and what is needed to introduce the CRM smoothly and make sure it does everything we need it to do. They help guide decisions and advise on the best ways to support colleagues through the change.

We’ll continue to share regular updates, FAQs and practical tips through our website and newsletters for key stakeholders, so everyone knows what is coming and when.

After each release, there will be dedicated support in place to help staff move onto the new system with confidence and embed new ways of working.

For our staff:

• Easier collaboration across teams. With shared information, teams can work together more smoothly, reducing back-and-forth and helping tasks move faster.
• Data-driven insights to improve decision-making. Staff will have better evidence to make informed choices.
• A consistent approach that builds trust. Using the same processes and tools across the University creates clarity, reduces duplication and supports a more reliable service for everyone.

For our students:

• No more having to repeat information. Staff can see your full history, so you don’t have to explain things multiple times.
• A smoother experience. Everything is connected, so your journey through the University feels joined up, not fragmented.
• Faster, more consistent service. You’ll get clear, timely responses no matter which team you speak to.
• A more personal approach. Staff have the full picture of your interactions, so they can better understand your needs.

The University is rolling out the new CRM in stages to make sure everything works smoothly. We’re working closely with colleagues across Marketing, Admissions, and other teams, as well as staff experts who know the current processes best.

• Release 1 - June: Focuses on capturing leads (students who have shown interest) and managing events like open days. There will be testing beforehand to make sure everything works, and support will be available once it goes live.
• Release 2 - Late September: Adds functionality for handling applicants.
• Release 3 - October: Adds scholarship processes to existing functionality.

Each release will have a testing phase and dedicated support afterwards. There will also be decision points throughout the project to check readiness before moving to the next stage.

The Discovery Phase ran from April - September 2025 and was designed to help us build confidence in the benefits, implementation plan and solution design for Phase 1 of the CRM project. It allowed us to understand how the University works today and what colleagues need from the new system. More than 80 staff took part across a wide range of teams.

We engaged colleagues from central teams and the Colleges, including:

• Admissions
• Recruitment and International Relations
• Scholarships
• Marketing and Communications

Their insights helped shape practical, realistic plans for how the CRM will support our work.

We also held workshops to review the requirements we gathered earlier in the year, and confirm they are accurate, complete and realistic, reflecting how teams currently work. These sessions were used to identify anything missing, unclear or needing refinement.

We did this with a focus on:

• Admissions
• Lead management
• Scholarships
• Marketing
• Events management
• Contact data
• Enquiry management

The input gathered helped us understand what staff need from the system and how it should work in practice.

Between July and September, we focused on detailed design work.
The project team ran a series of “sprints,” which are short, focused workshops that examine one area of work at a time. These covered:

• Enquiries
• Scholarships
• Admissions
• Lead capture and nurture (Marketing)
• PGR Admissions

These sessions helped us:

• Explore business rules in more depth
• Map processes in greater detail
• Understand key user journeys
• Begin drafting early design documents and data structures

This work ensures the system we build will meet real operational needs.