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�Ļ�ӰԺ’s transition to the NCAA Division II requires more than just stellar athletes, dedicated coaches, beautiful facilities, and robust programs. It also needs technology! Over the last year, the athletics department has partnered with CATLab and the CRM department to develop the technological infrastructure needed to make this huge transition.

While most athletic teams were already using Salesforce to some extent before the transition to DII, IT and athletics staff knew that in order for the transition to be a success, the teams would need to be much more integrated into Salesforce. After many planning meetings, the departments came up with four areas where athletics could benefit from the CRM team’s work.

First, Salesforce Administrator Adae Rehmke and her student worker Sarah Bean gathered all the forms that the various teams used to collect data from alumni, prospective students, and more. They also asked the coaches what forms they could create to replace paper processes. They updated or created nearly 30 forms overall. In addition, through a joint effort with the EMC division, all of the college’s forms now align with brand guidelines and contain one of three attractive layouts. They also created a new process for forms that require liability waivers.

Next, Senior Application Processor & Data Analyst Austin Harmon went to work in the back end of Salesforce. He entered the last twenty years’ worth of team rosters into the system, allowing coaches to communicate with both current team members and team alumni with the click of a button. Austin says that he loved “seeing the legacy that athletics has and what wide reach it has” as he made the rosters—he even saw lots of names he recognized from his time at �Ļ�ӰԺ! Austin also created a dashboard for each coach, allowing them to see their current roster, their overall mailing list (for fans), and other important data like prospect camp registration numbers.

Lastly, Marketing Cloud Administrator Abigail Stadtlander worked to empower each coach with email newsletter templates. Each coach can quickly and easily fill out a premade template in Marketing Cloud to send information about upcoming games, fundraisers, and more to their fans and alumni. “As a cross country and track athlete myself,” Abigail comments, “I love to see how the teams are doing. I also love to create great layouts with images and donation buttons to assist the coaches as much as possible.”

The CRM team’s work has been well received in the athletics department. Athletics Assistant Taylor Racich says, “The data management in CATLab has directly impacted our present and future here in �Ļ�ӰԺ Athletics. I am so grateful to CATLab as they are always available to help & train our coaches who have different requests!”

Rob Ruiz, Director of Athletics, adds, “Salesforce has been a fantastic tool for our department. To have our data linked and to trust that we are accessing, collecting, analyzing and storing important information in a reliable fashion has been a game changer for our work in collegiate athletics. We have also really appreciated how it has allowed us to build a communications plan for each of our programs with access to the robust network of alumni and fans that we have established over time.”

As �Ļ�ӰԺ continues to move towards full membership in NCAA Division II, CATLab and the CRM team will continue to support the athletics programs in order to help them reach their full potential.

Illustration by Creed Bauman