Case Study - SUNY Ulster

Suny Ulster Website (www.sunyulster.edu)

THE CLIENT

SUNY Ulster is a two-year college that is part of the State University of New York system. It offers a full range of liberal arts courses as well as an associate's degree program in Individual Studies that can be taken online. The college is recognized for its excellent computer and technology facilities.

THE CHALLENGE

SUNY Ulster has been growing so fast it has challenged the capacity of the facility and its existing infrastructure. Along with dramatic growth, there have been increasingly dramatic communication challenges. The college prides itself on the accessibility of its faculty online as well as in person. A new generation of students and parents are consulting the Internet almost exclusively when searching for college . Once enrolled, students look to the Internet for everything from assignments to book orders. In addition to keeping up with communication demands, there was an image demand as well. The college boasts exceptional courses in computer skills and technology. Its own website needed to be a shining example of all the college can do. Unfortunately, the former website had become unwieldy and wasn’t up to speed with current demands.

The college undertook a very difficult assignment, one that had to be an A plus job, turned in on time, and on the money. “We had to redesign the website from the ground up to accommodate our number of end-users — students, parents, faculty, adult education attendees, our community, potential donors, and many more who needed timely, accurate, detailed information from the Web,” explains Jack Murphy, SUNY Ulster Web Coordinator. SUNY Ulster sent the project out to bid.

THE SOLUTION

Oxclove Workshop came to the interview with an overview of the project along with projected costs. While a number of details changed in time, the initial conceptual work Oxclove completed, even before the contract was awarded, greatly facilitated the future progression of the website’s development. “At the early stages, they had clear ideas about what we needed to do to accomplish our goals,” Murphy explains.

Thorough research from the start is the cornerstone of Oxclove Workshop’s work ethic.

Key members of Oxclove’s team met with designated personnel at SUNY Ulster for a year-long project that entailed researching the needs of stakeholders, end-users, faculty, and administration officials, among a host of others. From their interviews, Oxclove constructed a website of infinite complexity loaded with public information and packed with links enabling students and faculty exclusively to access forms such as those necessary for registration and financial aid. Thanks to Oxclove’s technology, this information was made easily available only to those who should have it rather than to the public at large. The navigation built into the site make it easy for users to arrive at the information they need — sometimes from very different directions.

“We believe that technology exists to make work easier,” comments Ric Dragon, CEO of Oxclove Workshop. “Unfortunately, it’s typically the case that the more complex the website, the harder it is to navigate—that is a condition we know how to avoid and therefore refuse to allow.”

THE RESULTS

Oxclove became an integral part of SUNY Ulster operations as the team worked to build the site and instruct individuals on how to use it. SUNY Ulster now has a site that will grow along with them.

As the site continues to grow, so does the relationship with Oxclove Workshop. “We fulfill our contract, but in that contract is the very important clause that says we’re not finished with the site when it’s completed,” says Dragon. “We remain available for consultation on the site so it continues to function tomorrow as quickly, easily, and efficiently as it does today.”