Continuing education and lifelong learning programs in an effort to reduce their cancellation rate and increase their enrollments, revenue and customer satisfaction have been reviewing their go/no-go process and timeline. Some programs decide earlier, such as seven to ten days prior to the start of the course, while others wait up until two days prior.
Kirkwood Community College’s Continuing Education & Training Services Operations Team decided to streamline their go/no-go process and timeline and gather data to determine the impact of the change.
Old Go/No-Go Process/Timeline Completed Once a Week
- The Operations Team ran Go/No-Go Reports on Tuesday for courses that would start the following Monday-Sunday.
- Information on all courses was shared with the Course Programming Team on Tuesday.
- Go/no-go decisions were made by the Course Programming Team on Wednesday by 12 noon and then communicated back to the Operations Team.
- The Operations Team would cancel courses and notify students and instructors on Wednesday, thus cancelling courses starting six to twelve days out.
- The Operations Team would alert students by email and prepare instructor course packets and send to instructors for go courses on Thursday.
New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline Completed Twice a Week
- The Operations Team ran Go/No-Go Reports on Monday for courses that would start Thursday-Sunday and Thursday for courses that would start on Monday-Wednesday.
- Courses that had already met their go/no-go number were automatically processed by the Operations Team by notifying students and instructors by email and instructor course packets were in the mail by 1 pm on Monday and Thursday.
- Information on courses not meeting their go/no-go number was shared with the Course Programming Team first thing Monday and Thursday morning.
- The Course Programming Team would respond by 12 noon on Monday and Thursday regarding what courses to run or cancel.
- The Operations Team would cancel courses directed by the Course Programming Team on Monday and Thursday and notify students and instructors and for go courses notify students and instructors and mail instructor course packets by 1 pm on Monday and Thursday.
NOTE: Most importantly the Operations Team along with the Course Programming Team reviewed and reduced the number of steps required to cancel and run courses, thus allowing them to review courses twice a week.
The Data
The Operations Team monitored registration numbers on the day that the Old Go/No-Go Process/Timeline decisions were made compared to the New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline. The following is their data analysis.
Following the New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline 2,069 courses ran and generated 10,593 registrations.
If the Old Go/No-Go Process/Timeline had been followed registrations generated would have been 8,096. Following the New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline there was an increase of 2,497 registrations or 31 percent.
Of the 2,069 courses, 560 reflected an increase in registrations using the New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline, so 27 percent of the courses had an increase in registrations due to the additional days before cancelling.
Of the 2,069 courses, 110 would have been cancelled. Using the New Go/No-Go Process/Timeline the cancellation rate was reduced by five percent.
Process/Timeline Streamlining Actions
Congratulations to the Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education & Training Services Operations Team for streamlining their existing go/no-go process and timeline and for tracking the data demonstrating the impact of their actions.
Some actions they took:
- Ensure go/no-go numbers were built into their software system so the Operations Team was aware if a course had met the go number, thus allowing the Operations Team to move forward with the process of notifying students and instructors by email and mailing out instructor course packets once the go number was met.
- Decreased paperwork that was sent out in the instructor course packet by providing information online.
- Using their software system to keep course rosters updated.
Continual Improvement
With our business becoming more complex, competitive and important to the success of our institutions and communities, taking time to review policies, processes and procedures is critical. This Go/No-Go exercise is a perfect example of taking the time to be customer-centric, thus improving your customers’ experience and your performance.
For more information on policies, processes and procedures contact [email protected] to get a copy of LERN’s Policies, Processes & Procedures Special Report.