This document summarizes the implementation of the Starfish early alert system across Virginia's 23 community colleges (VCCS). It describes the governance structure used, with steering and project teams overseeing implementation at each college. Common practices were established, like standardized roles, flags, and progress surveys. Starfish was branded as SAILS and initially piloted in developmental courses in Fall 2013 before expanding system-wide. Central coordination is provided for surveys, flags, and roles. Colleges have flexibility in customizing aspects like email templates and groups. The partnership between VCCS and Starfish/Hobsons aims to continually improve the system based on evaluation and needs.

2. Managing Starfish Early Alert
Across Virginia’s 23 Community Colleges
Sue Ann Curran, Early Alert Coordinator, VCCS
Colleen Miccolis, Manager, Starfish Implementation, Hobsons
July 28, 2015

3. VCCS Governance Structure

4. Project Governance Structure
Institution TeamsProject TeamSteering Team
Each VCCS
College had
its own
Team.
(23 total)
• Executive Sponsor
• Project Manager
• Functional Leads
• Technical Leads
• Institutional
Representatives
• VCCS Executives
• Institution Executives

5. Team Responsibilities
Steering Team
• Set overall strategy and direction
• Developed communication plan for the project
• Resource management
• Issue resolution
Project Team
• Scope and project definition
• Implementation and configuration
• Integration decisions
• First level testing
Institution Teams
• Served as subject matter experts
• Provided input on implementation/configuration decisions
• Participated in integration testing and workflow testing
• Led training and roll-out at institutional level

6. VCCS Starfish Implementation

7. Multi Institution Best Practices
Common Tracking Items
• Requires common workflows in regards to roles and privileges; requires general
email templates.
• Starfish enhanced email template functionality to allow for VCCS college-specific
messaging.
Common Roles and Privileges
• Institutions should think about roles from a business process perspective rather
than organizational hierarchy/title perspective.
Progress Surveys
• Distinct surveys may be necessary based on different academic calendars.
• Focus on reporting and institutional statistic needs.
Organizations
• Plan to create an organization for each institution for the purpose of establishing
relationships between staff and students.
• This organization will allow access to the features of Starfish CONNECT™ for
institutions that have also purchased CONNECT™.
Communication
• Unified, consistent deployment communication strategy.

8. Project Timing and Goals for Launch
Project Kickoff in Richmond on February 27, 2013
• Steering team and project team members present.
• Kickoff content included goals discussion, implementation methodology review, and
technical kickoff components- architecture, integration, access.
SAILS Launch on September 30, 2013
• VCCS branded Starfish as the SAILS (Student Assistance and Intervention for Learning
Success).
• Pilot of developmental education math and English course sections.
Pilot Goals:
• Allow faculty and staff to identify and provide interceptive guidance to students
demonstrating behaviors, performance, and characteristics that correlate with risk of not
succeeding academically.
• Replace what has typically been a manual, labor-intensive process with an automated
early alert system that seamlessly works to provide a holistic view of students in need of
assistance and provides accurate and real-time records of student interventions.

9. Virginia Community College System

10. SAILS Background at VCCS
SAILS – Student Assistance and Intervention for Learning Success
Achieve 2015 – Student Success
• Triple the number of students graduating, transferring, or
completing a workforce credential, to 91,173, including tripling the
success of students from underserved populations to 39,393.
Department of Labor TAA-CCCT Grant
Started with pilot of developmental education courses in Fall 2013.
Spring 2014 Implementation – Gateway Courses
(All ENF’s, all MTE’s, all SDV’s, ENG 111, MTH 163, BIO 1 and BIO
101)
SAILS Today:
• Gateway courses - CVCC, DSLCC, GCC, JTCC, NVCC, PHCC,
RCC, TCC, TNCC
• All Credit courses - BRCC, DCC, ESCC, JSRCC, LFCC, MECC,
NRCC, PDCCC, PVCC, SSVCC, SWVCC, VHCC, VWCC, WCC

11. Starfish Implementation in the VCCS
College Connect? Spring 2014 Summer 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015 Summer 2015 Fall 2015
BRCC No FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
CVCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED FULL
DCC No PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
DSLCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
ESCC No PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
GCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
JSRCC No PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
JTCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED FULL
LFCC No PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
MECC No PHASED PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL
NRCC No FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
NVCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
PDCCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED FULL FULL
PHCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
PVCC Yes PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
RCC No PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
SsVCC No PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
SwVCC No FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
TCC Yes PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
TNCC Yes PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED PHASED
VHCC No FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
VWCC Yes PHASED PHASED FULL FULL FULL FULL
WCC Yes FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL
Full Roll Out Count 5 6 12 13 14 16

12. Central Coordination of SAILS
• Instructor and staff roles.
• Student groups.
• Flags and Kudos same across the system.
• Progress survey flags and kudos same for each
survey type.
• Continued coordination with Starfish team at
Hobsons to prioritize PeopleSoft integration
changes, product enhancements, etc.

13. Progress Surveys Coordinated Centrally
Initial and Midterm Progress Surveys – for 16, 12,
10, and 8 week classes.
• Initial Progress Surveys – timed around census date.
• Midterm Progress Surveys – prior to withdraw date.
One progress survey for 5, 4, and 3 week classes.
College option for DYN session surveys.
Standard flags and kudos for each survey type.
Automatically generated to open and close.
Reminder email sent if Progress Survey is not
completed prior to due date.

14. College Specific Implementation

15. College Specific
Email templates
• Progress survey emails for each college
• Flag emails – use advance field to manage college
specific text.
Roles/Group membership
• Managed by the college through SIS
Flag response process

16. Starfish CONNECT ™ Implementations
VCCS Colleges independently had option to purchase
Starfish CONNECT ™
• Governance structure put in place for CONNECT launch also.
• Each ‘CONNECT College’ had its own implementation team.
• Necessary collective decisions were made in meetings between the CONNECT
College leads and Starfish implementation manager.
• Additional Colleges have joined this group over time.
Organization-level access to CONNECT™ features
• College specific organizations established via the PeopleSoft integration provides
access to the features of Starfish CONNECT™ for institutions that have also
purchased CONNECT™.
CONNECT™ College integration needs
• VCCS CONNECT Colleges have requested unique integration changes to support
their efforts- such as guest user records so that they may track interactions with
prospective students.

17. Demo of Reynolds Community College Site
Developed training and resource site for faculty and
staff.

18. Business Process Review

19. Managing Starfish
Issue managing the volume of flags.
Develop a process using college specific resources
and prioritize to manage flag response.

20. College Business Process

21. Next Steps
• Continue business process review to manage
SAILS at the college.
• Configuration changes to add new roles to meet
college needs.
• Deploy cohort functionality to assist with flag
assignment and reporting on special populations.
This is improving the business process.
• Deploy delegated admin for reporting
functionality to allow for on-demand reporting at
colleges. This has opened the door for college
specific evaluation of how SAILS is working. IR
staff are beginning this evaluation process now.

22. A Valued Partnership
• Starfish (now Hobsons) has worked very closely with
VCCS system office staff to ensure we understand the
needs of this large, multi-college client.
• Product enhancements have been made (that benefit
many of our clients) to ensure that VCCS Colleges can be
more successful in their use of the system such as email
template changes to allow for college-specific messaging.
• Acknowledging the time investment of VCCS system
office staff to generate reports for the colleges, we’ve
recently enhanced Starfish to allow for designation of
delegated admins for reporting functionality. VCCS will
deploy that functionality soon which will allow for on-
demand reporting at colleges.

23. Questions?