In order to provide the very best support to help DePaul students successfully complete their degrees, DePaul is moving the BlueStar advising tool from Starfish to Salesforce software. The move has been in development for almost a year. Now training sessions and materials will be offered to DePaul faculty, staff and student users in February and March to prepare for the switch, which is scheduled to happen in mid-April.
"It's more important than ever to bolster the efforts of our many dedicated staff in supporting student success at DePaul," said Caryn Chaden, associate provost for student success and accreditation. "Moving BlueStar to Salesforce will allow advisors to easily collaborate to assist students, which means students can get the exact help that they need right when they need it."
Faculty and staff advisor training
Staff and faculty advisors currently using BlueStar will need to watch online training videos between Feb. 13 and March 13. Those needing to complete the training will receive an email soon.
"The new system will be quite a change for faculty and staff advisors, and completing all of the training will be important to their ability to do their work and to student success," said Registrar Michael Wright. "We understand that it's a significant time investment, but the more you become familiar with the system, the more smoothly this transition will go. We urge advisors to plan accordingly, and make sure they watch the online training videos prior to March 13."
All faculty, whether or not they serve as academic advisors, will have easier access to the Attendance Verification and Academic Progress Surveys and to the process for raising an "Alert" (formerly called a "flag") on an individual student outside of the regular surveys. Faculty's D2L homepage will include a link to the surveys for the given term, and from there the process will be much the same as before. No additional training will be necessary for completing these surveys.
Other training
Peer mentors and calendar managers will also need to watch online training videos between Feb. 13 and March 13. Additional training and materials will be offered between March 13 and April 6. Access to materials and opportunities for more training will continue after the system goes live. More information about these will be shared in the coming weeks via email to those directly affected by this change.
BlueStar down time
During the transition scheduled for April 6-13, the BlueStar system will be unavailable as data is transferred from Starfish to Salesforce. Further guidance on this down time will be shared soon with all BlueStar users. Students will be instructed by their advisors on how to contact them during this time.
BlueStar access
Students will access BlueStar through Campus Connect, as they always have. The interface will look slightly different, but Salesforce is designed to be quite user-friendly, so students will be provided with PDF instructions on how to navigate the new interface.
The new system will allow offices to work together more seamlessly and make it easier for advisors, other staff who support and advise students and faculty advisors of record to connect with one another. This will provide BlueStar users across the university a consistent experience and the ability to have a fuller understanding of a student's academic journey, including their successes and challenges.
For questions and more information, please contact
BlueStar@depaul.edu.