Introduction

Georgia Southern University is one of the top four universities in Georgia and offers a wide variety of health science programs, including Nursing, Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Sciences, and more.

However, despite its reputation for sending top-quality students to clinical rotations, the university faced a significant challenge in managing the contracts and MOUs necessary for its health professions programs.

The process was cumbersome and time-consuming, leading to delays and frustration for university staff and their healthcare partners.

The Challenge

Jennifer Hoopes, Executive Assistant to the Dean of the Waters College of Health Professions at Georgia Southern University, faced several challenges when it came to managing multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs):

Managing Multiple Contracts

Georgia Southern University truly believes in providing its students with the best field experiences. To enable that, there needed to be quick responses to requests which had short deadlines. At certain times, Hoopes needed multiple MOUs executed quickly. With the school’s limited resources, keeping up with the changes and revisions (from sites as well as the internal legal team) and signing new MOUs was a slow and frustrating process.

Lack of Transparency

The Office of the Dean, the Faculty, the Office of Legal Affairs, and sites often experienced delays of several days when trying to interpret what a contract said about a single change in the process. Although all the stakeholders believed in complete transparency with their teams, there was no easy way to enable that.

Search and Cataloging

Most contracts were paper-based, with details logged in a Master Excel sheet. This was a fragile system, as a single mistake or hard drive issue could negatively impact the entire list of contracts. Additionally, sifting through it to find data, cataloging, and remembering renewals was time-consuming and slow.

Information Security

All the contract data was confidential and sensitive, but relying on shared servers and Excel files was not secure. This added a layer of opacity when sharing the data with other stakeholders.

At the time, Hoopes was managing over 500 MOUs by herself, and these challenges took up much of her time. With virtually no time to spend on community engagement, it was imperative that a solution was found to address these issues.

“Previously, we had to manage large binders filled with paper when re-accreditation agencies visited us on-site.

Now, I prepare the files for the program directors, they upload it, and boom, it’s finished.”

Jennifer Hoopes,
Executive Assistant to the Dean,
Waters College of Health Professions,
Georgia Southern University

The Solution

After researching potential solutions for months with colleagues, Jennifer Hoopes discovered Exxat and set up a call with them. She had specific requirements for a cloud-based platform that could address the challenges she faced with managing MOUs:

Hoopes was thrilled when she saw a demo of Exxat’s platform. It was “Exxat-ly” what she was looking for and had more configurable features that she had not even thought of.

Choosing the Right Platform

Choosing the right platform is critical for any institution. Implementing a newsystem can be costly in terms of both time and resources. If you're in the market for a platform to manage clinical education, Jennifer Hoopes has some recommendations.

First and foremost, she suggests choosing a scalable platform. When Georgia Southern University merged with another University, which also had a college of health professions, Exxat was able to scale with the university's needs and incorporate all contracts seamlessly.

Hoopes also emphasizes the importance of flexibility and adaptability when it comes to the successful adoption of new technology. Simple things like being able to call annually renewing contracts "auto-renewals" instead of "evergreen contracts" can make a big difference.

With Exxat, Hoopes was able to easily customize all terms, labels, contract names, and more right from the get-go. This meant that the learning curve was very short for her and the college’s clinical coordinators, who now use the system.

“I will not go back to any kind of system that is not as well set up as Exxat.”

Jennifer Hoopes,
Executive Assistant to the Dean,
Waters College of Health Professions,
Georgia Southern University

The Impact

Choosing the right technology platform can have a transformative effect on a program, affecting not just staff and faculty but also the success of its students. Here's how choosing Exxat helped Georgia Southern University:

Seamless Implementation of Strategic Initiatives

One of Georgia Southern University's key initiatives was to increase community outreach and engagement. With Exxat, Hoopes was able to execute more agreements faster and reduce administrative tasks, freeing up her time to focus on building and deepening relationships with partner sites.

Improving Student Outcomes

Better community relationships and smoother execution of MOUs have resulted in more contracts with new sites across the country. This provides better opportunities and learning outcomes for Georgia Southern University students.

Uncovering New Opportunities

Exxat's dashboard also helps Hoopes identify new opportunities for outreach. Actionable reports from Exxat’s platform show where gaps exist, allowing her to plan accordingly. The dashboard also helps her answer requests from the Dean of the College of Health Professions or other administrators because she can produce that data in seconds.

Saving time and valuable resources

Jennifer Hoopes single-handedly manages over 1,000 contracts without additional resources. Tasks such as drafting a new 12-page Memorandum of Understanding that used to take half a day, now only take 15 minutes!