Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
Custom Enterprise Accreditation Management and Member Portal Solution
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is a private, non-profit accrediting agency founded in 1895. HLC accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions.
Challenges
HLC committed to replacing its custom-built, proprietary technology system with a more modern and flexible solution built on the Salesforce framework to manage their relationships with member institutions and volunteers. They were in the process of identifying an agency to design, configure, code, test, and deploy a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform while prioritizing functional specifications. HLC had worked with a variety of technology vendors on different phases of implementing the new Salesforce CRM but needed a new experienced development partner to carry out this project.
We’ve built strong working relationships with the Americaneagle.com team members, and there is a lot of trust in their integrity, work ethic, and commitment to quality. This trust helps us feel confident that the end-product will meet or exceed the needs of our organization.
Solutions
After evaluating numerous Salesforce implementation organizations, HLC ultimately chose Americaneagle.com for several reasons: expertise, custom development, and integration experience across multiple platforms, and consultative approach to solving the complex data problems HLC was facing as an institutional accreditor. Americaneagle.com proposed a robust Salesforce-centric solution that took advantage of concepts and technology developed during a previous mutual project.
HLC provided core business process maps and key requirements with a number of project principals in mind. Americaneagle.com reviewed and leveraged the process maps to understand the accreditation management process. The team held a number of workshops with key stakeholders to identify and confirm requirements while holding weekly reviews to discuss development progress.
While implementing the CRM, Americaneagle.com is leveraging Salesforce tools to enable HLC to automate and track membership serving interfaces, accreditation processes, and system integrations of supporting applications. Radix, HLC’s name for the Salesforce instance for Accreditation Management, provides a 360 degree view of all institutions, contacts, locations, accreditation events, and decision outcomes - serving as HLC’s data record of accreditation status. Americaneagle.com is utilizing Salesforce Lightning UI and Web Components to create a modern and dynamic user interface. Using their Salesforce architectural knowledge and skills, Americaneagle.com has modeled Radix to be flexible, allowing for business processes to change while minimizing the need for custom programming in the future.
Americaneagle.com is in the process of developing a customizable, flexible portal for constituents to interact with HLC, manage their accreditation or volunteer relationship and update their own data. HLC chose to use the idev platform to create the portal for Peer Corps members and for institutional updates to maximize the user experience. The new external portal, named Canopy, replaces antiquated and disconnected systems while incorporating the new peer review application and review process. The portal serves as the initial access point for members and volunteers to their interaction with HLC, and provides a Salesforce integration within an idev multisite instance, which gives external users access to the appropriate information.
Americaneagle.com is developing a solution that allows for future flexibility, integrated and balanced processes, minimized hidden data and workflows, and more – all of which improve the institutional accreditation process.
We’ve built strong working relationships with the Americaneagle.com team members, and there is a lot of trust in their integrity, work ethic, and commitment to quality. This trust helps us feel confident that the end-product will meet or exceed the needs of our organization.
