shifted from hard copy to targeted, digital geo-fencing; specific group and programs; and from print to digital marketing. Website: CWU’s website has been revised twice in ten years by an in-house team of designers and programmers, with the last update in 2015. The website now has expanded to more than 130,000 pages; three staff people are assigned to “maintain” these. It is difficult to search and to navigate and is constructed on old freeware, Drupal, that will cease to be supported in 2022. Just about anyone can publish to the website; there are no controls for quality or content. In order to provide an optimal experience for prospective and current students, as well as for employees, CWU needs to create and maintain an innovative website with bold, user-friendly design and compelling content. A modern and compelling website will help to attract and retain the interest of new students and serve the needs of CWU employees, customers, stakeholders, and existing students. The investment required for this important marketing and business tool will be both one-time construction and ongoing maintenance: design, programming, hosting, training, and technical support. The investment serves every employee and every student, as well as key stakeholders, including community members, alumni, business partners and policymakers. The new site will position CWU as a cutting-edge university in the forefront of technology, innovation, and design, and tells potential students and their parents that Central understands what they’re going to want to study in order to succeed in today’s world. Current students use the website to request transcripts, monitor degree completion, and apply for graduation. Disabled students engage services through the web; students use cwu.edu to access medical and mental health counseling, as well as academic advising. The website supports key business functions including the annual budget Summit Process and governance activities of the trustees, the President, Faculty Senate, and student government, among others. Employees request facilities maintenance, sign up for moving services, and report accidents through the website. The website engages philanthropic organizations and individuals and guides visitors, employees, and students with interactive mapping. In short, the website is the university’s most critical business tool and the one most in need of investment. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Migration: “ERP” systems use software to integrate information and business processes and to enable sharing throughout an organization of information entered once in a database. While ERP had its origins in manufacturing and production planning systems, the scope of ERP offerings expanded in the mid-1990s to include other back-office functions such as order management, financial management, asset management, and human resources management. The range of functionality of ERP systems has further expanded in recent years to include more applications, such as grants management, marketing automation, electronic commerce, student systems, and supply chain systems. Examples of ERP systems include those from Oracle, SCT (Banner), SAP, and PeopleSoft, which is the system CWU uses.
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