Analysis: Office of Transfer Services Paper

University of Missouri – St. Louis
IS: 3810 Systems Analysis
OFFICE OF TRANSFER SERVICES
Final Systems Analysis by The Hopper Group – Team H
Joseph Gebken, Chris Niehaus, Nicole Gaehle, Ashley Hoskins

Office of Transfer Services Final Analysis 2017
1The Hopper Group – Team H
Table of Contents
Definition of the Problem………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 3
Narrowed focus of the problem………………………………………………….…….………………………………. Page 3
Current System Description……………………………………………………………………….….………………………………..Page 4
History of the Office of Transfer Services website and Recruitment………….………………………. Page 5
Current web design methods……………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 5
Current Recruitment methods……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 6
System and Policy Strengths and Weaknesses……………………………………………………………………Page 6
System Requirements………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….Page 7
Clients and Stakeholders……………………………………………………………………………………….……………Page 8
Exploring Solutions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 9
Two-part approach to the solutions………………………………………………………………………..………….Page 9
Part1: Website………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………..Page 10
Solution 1 - “External Help | Content Manager” …………………………………….……………Page 10
Solution 2 – “Using WordPress instead of Cascade” ……………………………………………Page 11
Solution 3 – “Utilizing available tools”....................…………………………………..………….Page 12
Solution 4 – “Design Management……………………………….. ………………………..………….Page 13
Par2: Recruitment………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………..Page 14
Solution 1 - “Do Nothing” …………………………………………………………………….……………..Page 14
Solution 2 – “Focus on the public sector” …………………………………………….……………..Page 14
Solution 3 – “Focus on the private sector” ……….…………………………………………………Page 15
Solution 4 – “Miscellaneous markets” ………………………………………………….……………..Page 17
Solution 5 – “Resources for recruitment opportunities” ……………………………………..Page 17
The Hopper Group’s Recommended Solution………………………………………………………………….……………Page 18
Website Utilization and Design Layout……………………………………………………………..………………Page 18
Recruitment Focus and Resource allocation……………………………………………………………………..Page 20
Final Justifications………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..Page 23
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..Page 31
Appendix A: Data Dictionary……………………………………………………………………………………………..………….Page 31
Appendix B: Diagrams of Current System …………………………………………………………………………………….Page 32

Figure 1 – Context Diagram ……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 32
Figure 2 – Current Level 0 Data Flow Diagram ………….……………………………………………………Page 33
Figure 3 - Current Level 1 Data Flow Diagram ……………………………………………………….……….Page 34
Appendix C: Interviews and Surveys Conducted
Initial Interview……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 36
Prototype Interview…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……Page 36
Cost Benefit Interview…………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 37
Website Stakeholder Surveys………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 38
Appendix D: Recruitment Deliverables…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 48
Appendix E: Test Cases
Website Design ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 49
Recruitment ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….Page 50

Definition of the problem
The Office of Transfer Services has expressed an interest in redesigning their website in
order to accommodate the recent acquisition of the off-site program at the University, while
simultaneously increasing transfer student recruitment. The complication with the current system
is that specific tools, training and market focus has limited the capabilities of the Office of
Transfer Service’s resource utilization for acquiring and retaining new transfer students.
Narrowed focus of the problem
The recent merger of the off-site program at the University with the Office of Transfer
Services has caused a segregation in the website deployment. There are currently two websites
being used by the same office for similar services. The OTS offers services to students that are
wanting to transfer to the University of Missouri - St. Louis from other educational institutions.
The Off-site program offers current University of Missouri- St. Louis students essentially the
same service but in reverse, were a student could attend another educational institute for credit at
UMSL. The OTS has stated that the off-site program’s website does not get anywhere near the
number of visitors as the transfer services website does.
Recruitment methods in the OTS are narrowly focused to include specific events in order
to acquire transfer students to the University, some of these markets include community colleges,
job fairs, and professional conventions. By investigating resources being utilized for this narrow
market groups, it can be determined that if the same resources were directed toward different
markets that are within the constrained system, then an increase in new potential transfer
students could be acquired at the same cost or cheaper.

Current System Description
The Office of Transfer Services provides crucial information and services to various
types of stakeholders with the primary objective of recruiting new students to the University of
Missouri – St. Louis, that have attended other educational institutions. Potential students and
recruitment components initialize the system of the OTS, were the website and the office
provides this information and services to the possible recruit. The context diagram of the system
in Appendix B figure 1, shows this relationship were a potential student responds to recruitment
methods or initializes contact with the office or course equivalency database. The other major
components of the system are then activated in order to better serve the student, such as:
information off the website, further detailed comparison of the course equivalency database,
advising, articulation agreements and interfacing with other educational institutions on behalf of
the recruit.
Constraints in the system provide limitation to the possibility of solutions. The budgetary
constrictions consist of a limited annual budget for recruiting and managing the website. Policy
constriction for potential solutions include the use of the website platform CASCADE for all
department website modification. Other constraints that could limit the potential of acquiring and
retaining potential students is in the acquisition of articulation agreements, were external systems
limit the capability of the OTS to create these agreements with other educational institutions with
an expedited time frame. The geographical and market focus restraint limits any solutions to the
Missouri and Illinois states, while not directly focusing on other four-year Universities.

History of the office of Transfer Services website and recruitment
The website of the Office of Transfer services has grown and changed over the years. In
October of 2011, the OTS website contained six tabs of information and two paragraphs
including the missions statement on the front page. Recruitment and information available to the
students was incredibly limited and narrowly focused. In 2013, changes began to take place were
more information was provided on the website and easier to obtain contact information was
presented on the front of the page. Finally, in 2015, the OTS included pictures of each of the
recruitment and transfer specialists on their website, these subtle changes have increased the
number of recruited students throughout the year. Now in 2017, the OTS is presented with the
challenge of making themselves whole by incorporating the off-site program website in their
own and still offer the increased numbers they have seen in 2016.
Current Web Design Methods
UMSL currently uses a content management system (CMS) tool called Cascade by
Hannon Hill. This tool allows UMSL’s web managers to use standard and uniform styles, logos,
and templates to maintain the UMSL brand identity.
The current website that the Office of Transfer Services and Offsite Services are
maintained by the web managers. According to UMSL’s CMS Site Manager List, Douglas
Hettich, Krystal Lang, Lindsay Pickering are the assigned web managers. This was confirmed in
the interview with Krystal Lang. During that interview, Krystal talked about her current web
skills are limited to basics. She expressed that she could use Cascade and she was able to make
updates to the site.

Current recruitment methods
The recruitment methods currently being used by the Office of Transfer Services expands
through social media, printed media, website information, and on-site information forums. The
OTS currently uses twitter, skype, face book, tumbler, printed flyers, informational packages,
mailed postcards, posters, and face to face contact when it comes to making contact to recruits
for transferring to the University, these methods are solid and have provided the OTS with
sustainable numbers over the past four years. The current market focus of these methods includes
educational institutions and job fairs that are within the constrained objectives. Below is a chart
that emphasizes the costs of some of these printed items that are used in the recruitment process
•Flyer Costs for 20 copies approximately $18 dollars
•Postcards for 500 copies is approximately $129 dollars
•Oversize Posters for 3 is approximately $73 dollars
•Transfer folders for 2000 is approximately $2100 dollars
•Per diem/mileage cost for specialists to travel more than 50 miles
System Policy Strengths and Weaknesses
There are numerous strong points with the way the current system and policies are being
used. Some of the strong points are: website traffic, standardized coloring and logos on the
website, articulation agreements with educational institutions, specific advisors for specific
institutions, and the aforementioned current recruiting methodologies being used. While
interviewing stakeholders, it was determined that the OTS website sees a large amount of web
traffic, and this was confirmed through personal interviews with the OTS staff. Articulation
Agreements with the University from other educational institutions streamline transferring
processes were students have little and sometimes no contact with the transfer office at all when

they decide to attend the University of Missouri- St. Louis. Focusing a specific advisor for a
specific institution or market shows provides potential recruits with a personal feel with someone
who is experienced in the process from that institution.
The weaknesses of the system can be related to some of the strengths, for example with
the website being standardized by University and ITS policy, there leaves little in the area of
creativity to re-designing the website completely. As described in the history of the website,
there has been more and more information put on this single page for potential recruits to go
through, this can be intimidating and could provide confusion in services provided. Transferring
students without pre-determined articulation agreements with their educational institutions could
have a more difficult process in transferring to the University, this is because the system would
investigate all courses taken by the recruit and determine if there is a matching course in the
program that the student is transferring too.
System Requirements
The requirements of the system can be best described by the mission statement of the
Office of Transfer Services, were they strive to offer the best possible services to current and
future students of the University.
“The Office of Transfer Services and Articulation (OTS) will promote and facilitate the positive
engagement and successful integration into the UMSL student body of all transfer students. The
Office offers support services to meet the unique needs of the transfer students; serves as a
clearing house for prospective, new, and current transfer students, returning students and
nontraditional students seeking assistance with campus referrals and campus resources; and
demonstrates a friendly welcoming and empathetic atmosphere to all visitors.”

Clients and Stakeholders
Clients and stakeholders can consist of junior college students and/or local community
members or any student from other educational institution. The advising process of transferring
has become difficult for transfer students as they have answered our conducted questionnaires
stating it was hard to keep up with the process. The website has been determined hard to navigate
for the students as they are having a hard time getting to the course equivalency. Most of the
stakeholders that are involved in this process are junior college students because they are
wanting to further their education beyond an associate's degree. The only other stakeholders
would be those in the community that would want to go to school to further their career or to get
a better job.
These clients and stakeholders can initiate the advisement process by requesting
information pertaining to the transfer process or other portions of the system. Some of the
methods currently being deployed for this process are: sending graduation cards for community
college graduates, letters from transfer specialists to initialize a relationship with a potential
student, social media engagements (Facebook, twitter, linked in), weekly presence at community
colleges, and the OTS and Off site program websites with an abundance of information for
recruiting. Most inquiries from potential students get a response from the various sources of
involvement within 24 hours. Some constraints and limitations on this important process are that
they do not focus their recruitment methods at other 4-year universities, they do not compete
with other universities in the University of Missouri system, and their primary market of focus is
the community colleges in the states of Missouri and Illinois. Krystal has stated a couple times
that the population is down across the targeted markets so recruitment is down at most
universities.

In addition, the stakeholders have confirmed that it would be easier if the Office of
Transfer Services and Off-Site Services would be better combined on the website. As most
stakeholders consider universities to attend, they review the website of the transfer services
department at each university before applying to the university. When they get on this website
they look for key factors like course equivalency. The course equivalency they are looking for is
based on the articulation agreements the community college sets with the university. Courses can
either be approved for a transfer student or denied. In which case, if the course does not transfer
then they university would essentially not get the transfer student they are looking for. The
articulation agreement is one way to make the transfer process smoother and little to no
complication for the stakeholders.
Exploring Solutions
Two-Part Approach
In reference to the context diagram of the current system in Appendix B, it can be
concluded that anything impacting the website or recruitment would greatly affect the other.
Each of these major components influence each other in order to meet the system requirements
of the Office of Transfer Services. It is because of this reason that we considered solutions as a
two-part investigation technique, were solutions to the website could be derived with recruitment
in mind and recruitment solutions would be taken into consideration with the website in mind.
There would ensure that any solutions justified and recommended would take into account the
entire system and its directly influenced major component. Below are five solutions considered
for the website portion of the solution and five solutions taken into consideration for the
recruitment portion.

Part 1: Website
The Office of Transfer Services can update their website in multiple ways or just do nothing. The
options available to them are as follows: hire a webmaster, use WordPress instead of cascade,
utilizing the available tools in cascade, design management, and to not do anything. These are
some solutions that we will be covering on what could possibly be done.
Overall the website needs to be improved and desegregate the Office of Transfer Services
website and Off-Site Campus website. The options need to be considered for multiple reasons.
One is because the department is not getting many new transfer students because of content
availability. Second, would be to consider getting a service through WordPress versus cascade
since it simply offers a free service and is easy for anyone to use. Third, the cascade service
limits to certain usage and that can be improved by utilizing tools that it offers. The fourth reason
is because the current design is not very easily implemented and functionality of the design
management is poorly done. Finally, the options could be consolidated in such a manner where
they do not have to do anything at all because it is a simple easy process to manage an
educational website.
Website Solution 1 – “External Help | Content Manager”
This solution explores hiring a content manager to maintain the website full time. The
major benefit to this is that the individual would has the skills and devoted time to maintain the
website. This would allow the current web managers to delegate that work and allow them to
focus on other areas of their work.
According to glassdoor.com the average salary for a Content Manager in St. Louis is
between $57,675 and $62,000.

Another advantage to hiring a web manager would be consistency. The person hired would
adhere to the style and logotype policies and would be able to make changes quickly and
timely.
The disadvantages are mainly cost and time utilization. Hiring a content managers would
be a major addition to the budget unless it replaced another position with a similar cost. Another
factor to look at is time. Could the addition of a content manager be justified with enough
work? The website is relatively simple and does not need to be updated at a frequent rate. This
could potentially lead to a lot of downtime for the content manager.
Website Solution 2 – “Using WordPress instead of Cascade”
Content Managers such as Cascade can be difficult for some users to be able to use
especially if they have never used the item. Cascade allows you to edit items and is mainly used
on educational websites. Utilizing this tool limits, you to only using certain things on the content
server. Cascade is a more complex server for the content to be hosted in. This server has an
inline editing process that allows the user to customize the material on a page and still keep the
page as it is.
WordPress which is an online content manager is easy to use and provides additional
services one can use. Utilizing this tool allows one to be able to add on many items including
blogs, testimonials, and widgets for calendars or other items. In such a way, WordPress is a
much easier tool to work with because you get more out of it. The other thing though is that the
menu options is easily manipulated so you can have it the way you want it. This allows a website
to be maintained in one of two ways which is the open source CMS and a hosted service. The
hosted service has less options and less control but is easy to use. The open source CMS gives

you more plugin options at an additional cost but it gives you more out of your money than the
hosted service offers which is free.
Between the two content managers, WordPress seems like an easier one to work with
because it allows more options available to an end-user. WordPress allows an altitude of themes
to be used where Cascade does not allow that.
Website Solution 3 – “Utilizing Available Tools”
This solution is focused on staying with in the available tools that are already available. The
website solution and design changes that are explained in this paper adhere to this style guide
and logotype policies by using the required CMS (Cascade) to make the changes. Since
Cascade’s server maintains and stores templates, logos, and styles the individual making the
changes has all the proper tools to make a robust and appropriate changes that have been
developed in this solution. The changes made are three parts and are designed to be simple;
1. Make the links to both sites quickly accessible and easy to find by adding two
names to the site name link on the pager header. The names Office of Transfer and
Office of Offsite will link to their own website.
2. Remove redundancy by changing the display name to a greeting.
3. Adding a calendar to the right side call out to quickly show upcoming events.
4. Utilizing Cascade Site Manager Workshops that UMSL offers to build skills
This solution has many benefits, it easily stays with in policy by using Cascade, it’s simple, and
has a low cost that is already with in the department’s budget.
Website Solution 4 – “Design Management”
The design of the site could be laid out in more of an efficient way. The current system is
laid out based on the current system requirement being the Cascade Content Management Server

which is by Hannon Hill. This management system can be used to manage the design of the
website. The end product is what all stakeholders will see. Thus, the design of the website would
need to managed in such a way that is easy for anyone to use. According to the stakeholders, the
design is not very easy and compatible to use because of the availability of the items on the site
itself (see Appendix D: Stakeholder Survey - Improving Website). The availability of items
would include adding a calendar of events on the website. Further research concluded that many
individuals would benefit from having a calendar on the website (see Appendix D: Stakeholder
Survey - Improving Website). Keeping up to date with the website and managing the
functionality will help students be able to have a better guidance on the webpage. According to
multiple students, the current design management is not effective and is not done in an easy
convenient way. They believe that updating the management to have a calendar of events would
benefit them more. One other item the students mentioned was that some of the material was
hard to find based on the current design management. By improving the design to be more
functional students will have an easier time navigating the site.
An advantage of a well-managed design allows you to better your resources and spend
less time fixing the items on the website constantly. For example, if the video you uploaded is
not running correctly you can simply go in and within a couple minutes have it fixed based on
the location of the video itself. The video should only be on the initial page that welcomes the
end-user versus being in another spot.

Part 2: Recruitment
Recruitment Solution 1 – “Do Nothing”
As mentioned in current system recruitment methodologies, the Office of Transfer
Services utilizes functional methods when targeting focus groups with recruitment tactics in
order to increase the number of recruits each year. This solution would not change any market
focus or methods used in recruitment but react solely from the first part of the solution with the
website which ultimately could be no potential solution at all. However, if any of the other part
one solutions would be chosen, then recruitment would have to adapt to depending of the OTS
were to use word press for their website, hire a web master, or modify design management of the
website. This solution would be completely dependent upon the first part solution being utilized
by the OTS.
Recruitment Solution 2 – “Focus on the Public Sector”
The OTS could focus recruitment efforts on are within the public sector; specifically,
public safety (Police, Fire, EMS) agencies of which most require some college credit prior to
taking the positions or to be even considered for these positions. There have been efforts made in
the constrained market areas of Missouri and Illinois by competing Universities in order to draw
in transfer students and new admissions. For example, St. Louis University and Webster
University target the St. Louis City and St. Louis County Public safety workers with information
and incentives to transferring or attending these colleges. Appendix A shows a flyer that was sent
out to all of St. Louis City public safety and civil service agents from St. Louis University, in
order to meet their requirements for promotion and admittance into their respective positions.
Appendix B is a memo that was sent out to the same target market from Webster University

offering a 20% incentive on tuition rates, which as a result would be still more expensive than
the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
An Investigation into the outlook of public safety and civil service jobs in the constrained
market of Missouri and Illinois has provided with some interesting statistics that could prove
profitable if the OTS were to focus efforts on recruitment in this area. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) reports the number of Police Officers/Sheriffs in Missouri are 13,420 and in
Illinois 32,780 with a national projected growth rate of 4% annually from 2014 until
2024. Similarly, the BLS reports the number of Firefighters in Missouri is 6,790 and in Illinois
17,170 with a national projected growth rate of 5% annually from 2014 until 2024. Finally, the
BLS number of EMT/Paramedics in Missouri are 6,230, in Illinois is 12,610; which has the
largest growth rate of any public service industry with an annual projected growth of 24% per
year until 2024.
Recruitment Solution 3 – “Private Sector”
In order to target recruitment efforts toward multiple types of private sector industries
there must be a focus toward the network that the businesses are a member of. One of the most
important networks that most businesses become a member of are the local, state, and regional
chambers of commerce, were business owners and stakeholders come together on behalf of their
businesses as a single entity. The primary objective of these organizations is for businesses to
organize efforts to reach and impact the communities they are a part of. Many lobbying
organizations, trade groups, and non-member businesses associations discuss commerce related
activities that could benefit the businesses entirety.
In 2012, the American Business magazine published an article entitled “Why join your local
chamber of commerce”, this article provided some promising statistics for businesses to be able

to reach out to new potential customers and grow as high as 50% increased revenue from being
members of the chamber of commerce. Below are 3 bullet points on why joining or
communicating with a chamber of commerce in a target market could benefit the business, in
case the OTS/University.
•Most consumers (59 percent) think that being active in the local chamber of commerce is
an effective business strategy overall. It’s 29 percent more effective, however, for
communicating to consumers that a company uses good business practices and 26 percent
more effective for communicating that a business is reputable.
•If a company shows that it’s highly involved in its local chamber (e.g., sits on the
chamber board), consumers are 12 percent more likely to think that its products stack up
better against its competition.
•When a consumer thinks that a company’s products stack up better against the
competition because the company is highly involved in its local chamber of commerce, it
is because he or she infers that the company is trustworthy, involved in the community and
is an industry leader.
The Universities of Missouri Columbia and Springfield are members of their local and
regional chambers of commerce, however the University of Missouri – St. Louis is not part of
any chamber of commerce located in the target market areas. The St. Louis Regional Chamber of
Commerce, on their primary page shows a graphic that states “Increasing educational attainment
is a priority for the region”, however the University of Missouri – St. Louis and the OTS is not
mentioned once in any of the documentation pertaining to members or collaborators of the
chamber, see appendix C. It would benefit the OTS to influence these business societies in the
major cities of their target markets by at least providing information to the chambers members

that the transferring services are available and what events would be available to the members
and their employees.
The potential for recruitment growth from the private sector by using chambers of
commerce is unmeasurable because of the reach that these organizations have increases with
every membership. For example, 16% of the members of the St. Louis Regional Chamber of
Commerce have more than 250+ employees, the pedigree of membership includes Fortune
1000s, non-profit, government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare, and labor
organizations. Below is the list of some of the largest chamber of commerce networks in the
target markets of Missouri and Illinois that the OTS would benefit targeting recruitment towards.
Recruitment Solution 4 – “Miscellaneous Markets”
Through prototyping and investigation current recruitment methodologies were attempted
to be utilized in the areas of job fairs, job specific conventions, and industry specific seminars. In
this solution, current recruitment methods would be used at these specific locations in order to
target new potential recruits. Because the miscellaneous markets would target working
professionals, there would be little to no guarantee how resources expended to this solution
would result in an increase in recruitment or if it would dramatically impact the website
performance for students. The cost for joining some of these markets in order to recruit was far
too dramatic for system budgetary constraints.
Recruitment Solution 5 – “Resources for Recruitment Opportunities”
The Office of Transfer services focuses its current markets at educational institutions and
other educational related areas in Missouri and Illinois. One of the most lucrative markets for the
Office of Transfer Services for potential transfer students is the St. Louis Community College –

Florissant were in 2015, 122 students were transferred and in 2016, 102 students were
transferred.
However, looking at the numbers from a few of the less advantageous focused markets of the
OTS shows resources being used for little to no potential transfer students. (First column is 2015
transfer, second is 2016 transfer, third is the difference).
This solution proposes the re-allocation of resources being expended at less than lucrative
markets and refocus these resources toward markets that prove to be highly valuable for
recruiting new potential students to the University. There would be no change to the current
method in which the recruitment component would conduct its business, however the resources
would no longer target these markets, but be better spent at the example above – St. Louis
Community College – Florissant.
The Hopper Group’s Recommended Solution – Team H
Part 1: Website Design – Utilizing Available Tools and Design Management
Our recommendation is to use existing tools to add features to the current web site to make
accessing both sites easily and displaying a calendar that allows users to quickly see upcoming
events. Using Cascade will allow the solution to adhere to current policy and allows for easier
access to tools like logos, templates, and styles.

According to UMSL’s Policy & Style Guide, the University is known by its name and symbols
that represent the organization. UMSL uses words, colors and the university logotype as visual
tools to identify and distinguish itself, forming a brand identity (page 4). To maintain standards,
the policy was made by making this branding uniform across all mediums. In policy 5, Website
and Electronic Communications policies, we find this in section 5.1 Introduction;
The following policies apply to the University of Missouri–St. Louis Web presence and
other forms of electronic communications. The policies help maintain consistency in
presenting university information and ensure the university’s Web presence accurately
reflects the university’s brand identity.
Official and publicly viewable unit (e.g., division, college, school, department, center and
program) websites must adhere to the following policies. All policies apply to unit sites
with internal and external audiences. Some policies only apply to sites for external
audiences.
This introduction tells us that any of our webpage solutions must adhere to the UMSL Policy and
Style Guide when the webpage is available to the public. In section 5.3 of the policy guide we
find that any updates to division, college, school, department, center and program websites must
be made through the content management systems (CMS).
5.3 Updating content through content management system (CMS)
The CMS application (Cascade by Hannon-Hill) provides a tool for creating, editing, and
publishing Web pages without having to know any HTML or other coding languages. The
tool ensures that all navigation, headings, font, and style sheet information remains
consistent for all UMSL pages.

After the website is created through Cascade, any new website unit must be follow all to the
policies and must be approved prior to launch by the Assistant Director of the Marketing and
Communications. That request will be reviewed for compliance. A trained site manager is
required before any site may go live (UMSL Policy and Style Guide, Section 5.6, pages 11-
12). Exemptions can be requested through the Chief Marketing Officer, and other exemptions
may need to be requested through the Web Executive Officer or Chief Information Officer. Our
solution will not require exemptions to be made.
Part 2: Recruitment - Public Sector Recruitment and Resource Allocation
When focusing on four of the largest markets in the constrained areas of Missouri and
Illinois, it can be determined that all of them require some form of college credit in order to be
considered or keep the position after formal public safety training. With the growth rate numbers
from the BLS reports, it can be determined that these markets could contain up to 80% of all
potential growth annually based on their agent per capita report for each state.
Missouri
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
Education: High School diploma or equivalent and completed all requirements and performance
standards for graduation from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Academy. Within 24 months of
graduation Police Officers are required to complete 30 college credit hours.
State of Missouri – Trooper for Missouri State Highway Patrol
Education: Possess a minimum of 30 college credit hours from an accredited college or
university OR a minimum of two years’ federal active duty military service with an honorable

discharge OR a minimum of two years’ experience as a full-time POST certified peace officer
when recruit training begins.
Kansas City Police Department
Education: Within 18 months of graduating the Police Academy; Police Officers are required to
complete 24 college credit hours.
St. Louis County Fire Protection Districts
Education: St. Louis county consists of 23 fire protection districts, of those 14 require some
form of college credit for a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic position in the district. All of them
require formalized education requirements to be considered for promotions to management
positions that range from a specific number of credits to a completed Bachelor’s degree.
Illinois
Chicago Police Department
Education: 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) from an accredited college or university, or 3
years’ active duty, or one year active duty and 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours).
Illinois State Police
Education: Below is the chart that is provided to those who wish to become a State of Illinois
Police Trooper with educational requirements.
Option
1
A Bachelor's Degree.
Option
2
An Associate of Arts or Science Degree or equivalent course work* AND meet one of
the following two job experience requirements: 3 consecutive years of continuous, full

time service, as a police officer, with the same police agency OR three consecutive years
of active military duty.
Option
3
An Associate of Applied Science Degree, ONLY if the degree is in Law
Enforcement/Criminal Justice AND meet one of the following two job experience
requirements: 3 consecutive years of continuous, full time service, as a police officer,
with the same police agency OR three consecutive years of active military duty.
City of Chicago Fire Department
Education: The City of Chicago Fire Department only requires a High school diploma for
entrance into the fire academy however, it is recommended specific fire science courses be taken
in order to be off of a probationary requirement, and mandatory college requirement for
promotional considerations.
City of Champaign-Urbana Police Department
Education: Cities of Champaign and Urbana recommend that applicants for an experienced
police officer have a minimum of 30 credit hours in order to be considered for the position. Entry
level police officers are required to have this by the end of their probationary period.
Re-allocating resources from a less productive market to the public-sector market would
prove to be a more efficient use of budgetary resources for the Office of Transfer Services. The
cost for reaching out to these markets would be identical to what would be expended to have a
focused specialist and utilizing current recruitment methods for this market.

Final Justification
Website
The website solution and design changes that are explained in this paper adhere to this style
guide and logotype policies by using the required CMS (Cascade) to make the changes. Since
Cascade’s server maintains and stores templates, logos, and styles the individual making the
changes has all the proper tools to make a robust and appropriate changes that have been
developed in this solution. The changes made are three parts and are designed to be simple;
1. Make the links to both sites quickly accessible and easy to find by adding two
names to the site name link on the pager header. The names Office of Transfer and
Office of Offsite will link to their own website.
2. Remove redundancy by changing the display name to a greeting.
3. Adding a calendar to the right side call out to quickly show upcoming events.
4. Utilizing Cascade Site Manager Workshops that UMSL offers.

The most challenging part of this solution is to create the calendar. It requires time and possibly
training, already offered by Mary Brown at UMSL. The instructions for creating the calendar
are found at Hannon Hill’s website. Below is the quick reference guide that is displayed on that
website.
To build the folder structure we start with a base folder then create sub folders for the years,
categories, and events. The structure will look like this;
• Calendar
• 2017
• event-view
• month-view
• categories
• events
After we create the folder structure we then build the Page Setup.

This solution has many benefits, it stays with in the style policy, it’s simple, and has a low cost
and uses staff already available. The hourly rate came from Krystal Lang in an interview. In that
interview, Krystal said the department has seven hourly employees and their average yearly pay
is $38,000 to $50,000. Based on those numbers an estimate was formed below. The training was
based on the length of one workshop posted on the UMSL Cascade training site.
Rough Estimates Hours Cost Low Cost High Total Low Total High
Hourly Rate $18.00 $24.00
Training 1.5 $18.00 $24.00 $27.00 $36.00
Redesign 8 $18.00 $24.00 $144.00 $192.00
Total Redesign Cost $171.00 $228.00

Based on the simplicity of the solution, this is the solution that is recommended.
Recruitment
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Academy trains on average 100 recruits annually, and
graduates about half that number. Interviews were conducted of both current recruits and post
graduate recruits on how they would meet these requirements from the department. Below are
the following questions asked during these interviews.
1.) Do you meet the college credit requirement after graduating the academy?
▪ 19 of 48 interviewed says Yes – 39.6%
2.) Do you plan on attending a college for promotion or after the academy?
▪ 37 of 48 interviewed said Yes – 77.08%
A series of follow up questions that were focused on the 37 people who said they had intentions
of going to a college after graduation provided some results that could be used to refocus specific
recruiting efforts and resources by the Office of Transfer Services.
3.) What college do you plan on attending?
35 of the 37-people
interviewed knew exactly
what college they had
planned to attend, both
were mixed amongst
current recruits and post
graduates of the Police
10
8
9
2
6
LINDENWOOD
UNVIERSITY
ST. LOUIS
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
ST. CHARLES
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
JEFFERSON
COLLEGE
WEBSTER
UNIVERSITY
Transfer/New Students

Academy. When Asked why did they chose this college, almost all of those interviewed for this
had mentioned that it was recommended to them while they were in the Academy or that fellow
officers have taken courses at these colleges and it wasn’t difficult with their work schedule. The
remaining 2 that were not sure which college they were going to attend, all of them wanted more
information on obtaining a degree or meet the requirements that could be done while they are
working in their probationary periods. Most of the upper ranking members of the department
have college degrees from various fields and backgrounds. The upper command consists of 3
Colonels and 6 majors, of those interviewed all 9 had college degrees from various universities,
but Lindenwood University and Webster University were used by the majority of those
interviewed were 4 of the 9 had either an undergraduate or graduate degree from one of those
two universities. It is imperative to understand that this cost benefit analysis has focused on one
single market in the public sector, prototype suggestions states investigating all potential markets
in the constrained areas provided by the OTS (Missouri and Illinois). Below is the cost in order
to use this market taking into consideration all system constraints and maximum labor costs.
The benefit of the solution could
procure up to 100 new
transfer/freshman students a year
and deliver the information to an
organization which contains
2000 commissioned and civilian
personnel. When taking into
consideration the constrained
markets in Missouri and Illinois
Qty
Cost
Per
Cost
Total
Flyers 100 $0.90 $90.00
post cards 100 $0.26 $25.80
oversize poster 1 $26.33 $26.33
Labor 10 $24.03 $240.30
Transfer folders 100 $0.95 $95.24
Total Cost $477.67

for public safety and the estimation of industry growth based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics
for each field it can be estimated the potential for new recruits are as follows:
Illinois
Current
Total
Growth Percentage Per
Year
Total New
Members
Police 32780 0.04 1311.2
Fire 17170 0.05 858.5
EMS 12610 0.24 3026.4
Total New
Recruits 5196.1
Totaling 9001 new recruits to public safety organizations in the constrained markets of
Missouri and Illinois which would cost approximately $477.62 + mileage for 4 of the 8 focus
points per 100 potential transfer students. Which results in a $12.37 expenditure per recruit.
Based on the overwhelming percentage on the single market focus of the SLMPD, 37 recruits
interviewed that had plans to attend a college after academy graduation, if only 20% of that
Missouri
Current
Total
Growth Percentage Per
Year
Total New
Members
Police 13420 0.04 536.8
Fire 32780 0.05 1639
EMS 6790 0.24 1629.6
Total New
Recruits 3805.4

annual recruitment class (less than the average, 7 people) were to be taken in order to measure
the wider markets of Missouri and Illinois the Office of Transfer Services at the University of
Missouri – St. Louis could have approximately 1800 new transfer students at a cost of $5,820.80
annually for the next 10 years pending inflation costs and assuming maximum expenses and
mileage costs. Appendix D shows other universities using this market focus to gather new
recruits and while their numbers are not available.

Appendix A: Data Dictionary
Data Dictionary
Process Description Inputs Logic Outputs
P.1 Website Interaction Viewable website published by
Cascade. Website is public and
users navigate to find events
and contact information for
the department
User actions Navigate to
clicked link
Display site to
the browser
P.2 Website Maintenance Description Inputs Logic Outputs
Assigned web managers
maintain, create, and edit the
departments web page via
Cascade
any changes
made by the
manager
process,
save and
publish
Display site to
the browser
and publish to
the web
UI Description Inputs Logic Outputs
UI.1 This is the content manager
system Cascade.
Changes made
by the manager.
Requests made
by users
Process
requests
and
changes
Display to the
browser and
publish to the
web
Data Base Description Inputs Logic Outputs
D.1 This is Cascade's server. All
web sites, templates, folders,
files, styles, logos, etc. are
stored on this server.
Requests for
files. Changes
made are
updated and
saved.

Appendix B: Diagrams of Current System

Appendix C: Interviews and Surveys Conducted
Initial Interview
Q1: What would you like done on the website?
A1: To find the best way to merge both departments on the website but have an individual
identity.
Q2: Is there a certain way you want the website to look?
A2: Well it must use cascade because that is a requirement made by the school. Also am looking
for suggestions on how to merge the two departments together whether it would have two buttons on
the site to dedicate to each department.
Q3: Are you looking to have better videos on your website (e.g. how process works)?
A3: I think that is a great idea and am looking for great suggestions.
Q4: Who is currently maintaining the website at this time?
A4: Myself and another employee
Q5: Are you interested in hiring an intern for the website maintenance?
A5: Yes I am because that would allow one person to maintain the site while I and the other
advisors work on the important details of the services we offer.
Q6: Who do you target your events to?
A6: Only to community colleges.
Q7: Is there anything specific you do with the community colleges to ensure students can
transfer easily?
A7: Yes an articulation agreement is made with the colleges so it is easy for potential transfer
students to see what coursework transfers
Q8: What kind of material do you use for advertising about the UMSL transfer services?
A8: Print ads, posters, Facebook
Q9: Are you interested in expanding the material you use for advertising?
A9: Yes i thought of putting this on radio stations
Q10: Do you have any constraints that is holding you back from doing such expansions?
A10: Actually yes my budget is always a complication
Prototype Interview
Q1: How do you like the styled layout of our limited prototype?
A1: The layout is great and I love the idea of adding the calendar in for our events
Q2: Presented Our Prototype for Functionality - How do you like how the website runs when
using it?

A2: I love the smooth transitions between pages. Also like how the menus have a drop down
option when they are scrolled over.
Q3: What is your opinion on how the social media icons appear?
A3: The icons are a better fit than the ones I currently used and believe that it does need to be
updated to make it easier for stakeholders to recognize them.
Q4: Essentially a good short video is a catch, what would you think about having a video of how
the transfer process actually works?
Q5: That is a great idea and would not mind actually getting a video like that going so potential
students have an idea of what the transfer services is like.
Cost Benefit Interview
Q1: What is the cost of setting up a booth for recruitment?
A1: Lot of them are free….some can cost bet 50 and 100 per fair
Q2: What is the cost of having a Transfer Services Specialist speak to a class
about opportunities at UMSL?
A2: Nothing…..getting the professor to let them is hard to do...possibly looking for
alum to do it
Q3: Are there numbers available as to what community colleges transfer
students come from annually?
A3: http://www.umsl.edu/~registration/files/pdfs/EnrollmentReportPDFS/transfer-
by-college/FS16TRANSFERS.pdf
Q4: Who is in charge of making UMSL flyers that are mailed or distributed on
behalf of the Office of Transfer Services?
A4: Marketing department makes it….free design cost (depends on scope of
flyer)
Q5: What is the cost of those flyers to the OTS?
A5: Print cost for 20 copies is approximately $18 (standard poster size);
Postcards for 500 copies is approximately $129; Oversize Poster (like rec center) for three is
approximately $73; Transfer Folders for 2000 is approximately $2100. **All are printing
costs….design is free
Q6: On average if you had to guess how much do you employees make if they
are not salary?
A6: Some are salaried with the 3 academic advisors are salaried; 7 Employees
are hourly; Average 38 to 50

Q7: What is the biggest cost that you spend on to be able to recruit more
students?
A7: Biggest cost with recruiting is the mileage
Q8: What is your proposed costs for the next fiscal year? When is your fiscal
year?
A8: Fiscal year runs July to June; Transfer (going to be asking for); 1000 in
registration fees; 120 00 for travel (hotel and mileage - if over 50 miles is a rental car);
7000 print ads in school newspapers; 500 for posters
Website Stakeholder Surveys
Transfer Services
Question: Tell me about your experience with the Transfer Service Department here at UMSL.
Responses:
It was very quick, easy, and painless
I had very little contact with the Office of Transfer Services. After I applied online, I had received one
email from Transfer Services congratulating me for my admission to UMSL. I went to transfer Tuesday
orientation, and then met with my advisor.
Good experience, credits transferred easily.
I have had minimal contact with them
I have no experience with it.
The department is well staffed. The hardest part was keeping up to date prior to transferring with what
would transfer.
I have not interacted with the transfer service department as far as I am aware. Only thing that I can
think of is when they computed my transcripts from my other college to credits for UMSL.
It was quick and pretty easy to get everything taken care of.
Quick and easy, don't remember any issues
I used it to connect with admissions and used the unofficial transcript review service

Question: Did you use the transfer services at UMSL? If so, what is your opinion on their website?
Responses:
Yes, I did not see their website, I transferred with the help of a transfer coordinator at the community
college.
It's OK, but I didn't use it too much
Yes, I didn’t go online though, I got my transcripts from the other schools and came on campus.
yes, I do not remember their website
No, I did not.
Yes, at first it was a little difficult to navigate but it's been an interesting transition and I'm glad to have
had their help along the way.
no
It was years ago, but I honestly don’t remember. It didn't strike me as anything special.
Yes, and it's boring
yes. I think the website is helpful but could be reorganized
Question: If you answered to no to the prior question. Please elaborate on why not.
Responses:
N/A
I did not know they had one but also I already knew I wanted to transfer and had been going to college
for more than 3 years so it seemed liked something I could pass over. Though in hindsight, if I had
known about it I might have made contact.
i knew i wanted to come here and just transferred over

Transfer Service Diagram 1:
Transfer Service Diagram 2:

Improving Website
Improving Website Diagram 1:
Question: Did you use the transfer services at UMSL? If so, what is your opinion on their website?
Responses:
No issues that I can remember.
I went into the transfer services, I did not use the website
n/a
Yes, I was able to easily find what I needed.
Yes but I did not really use the website for anything other than contact information
Not easy to navigate
Yes, never knew of website because I worked directly with Christy Hummel.
No
no
N/A
I transferred to Umsl but after that I have no idea what they can do for me.
I used it a bit but from what I did see, it's good.

Not so much, no opinion
It's okay but some information like Affordability which was a driving factor for me is missing from their
site.
yes and there's room for improvement. The off site link could place in a more visible location.
I don't think this office was around when I transferred to UMSL in 1995
website is helpful but could use a rework
Yes I did, it is okay but I went primarily through a transfer coordinator.

Question: Would you recommend the UMSL Office of Transfer Services department to anyone else
looking to transfer from a community college? Elaborate.
Responses:
I would recommend UMSL, but I don't know if I would specifically say "contact transfer services"
Yes, I think UMSL's transfer services are great
Absolutely.
N/A - I didn't transfer from C.C.
Yes because the advisors were knowledgeable and easy to work with
Talk to transfer coordinator
Yes, even though I didn't use it. I think that anyone would benefit from using it.
I don't know
Yes if they are not sure on what they are wanting to do yet
yes, I like the course equivalency
Yes but you have to hound them to get anything done.
Yes. It's a great starting point to gather information.
Yes

It depends on what they are going into as UMSL is not the best bet for everyone however, if you're a
business student like myself I highly recommend UMSL.
yes if they relocated the offsite link.
Sure. That way the can know why to expect when they get here.
yes, I think it was helpful during my transfer process
Yes, they make the process of quick and easy.

Appendix D: Recruitment examples

Appendix E: Test Cases
Website
Anonymous Transfer Student:
I really love the design of the website compared to the current website for the
Office of Transfer Services. The menu being changed to a drop-down menu versus the current
function makes it much smoother. Yours is easier to work with and provides an easier transition
of the material being provided. On the current webpage for the Office of Transfer Services the
menu is not very easy to work with and this one is in a better transitional mode for additional
content under one title.
Krystal Lang, M.A. - Director of Community College Relations and Articulation Officer:
I absolutely love what you have done. The functionality of the website with
combining the Office of Transfer Services and Off-Site Services works in such an efficient way.
The menu you have created looks better and I like how you have changed it to have a drop
down when you scroll over one of the titles in the menu. Initially I was looking at having two
buttons on the site that a stakeholder can select on to be able to go to the correct website.
However, I love the fact that you just put it into the menu rather than having the two buttons
like I wanted it. The addition of the calendar is one thing I have never thought of and would be
interested in adding that onto the site. I know my social media icons are probably not up to
date and I like how your prototype has done a better job on the social media icons.

Recruitment
When contacting all the 4 major public safety organizations in the two constrained
markets, all of them were interested in speaking with a transfer specialist from any University
that could offer good educational opportunities to current and new public safety recruits.
Majority of them had already been approached by other Universities and would not mind
having another university speak to their training classes and their departments in their
organization.

Analysis: Office of Transfer Services Paper

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