Microsoft Dynamics centralizes everything including course management

NHL Stenden is now more than just a provider of regular education. In addition to higher professional education programs, the university has developed a growing range of courses and training. Think of refresher courses for professionals in healthcare and education or training focused on personal development. This commercial branch, which is not publicly funded education, responds to the growing demand for Life Long Learning.

A growing market demands innovation

With this growth also came challenges. The various programs worked with their own systems and processes. This led to inefficiency, a lack of overview, and increasing complexity. "Each program worked in its own way. This made it difficult to maintain an overview. Some courses were on the website, others were not. Additionally, we worked with different (financial) systems. That's why we sought a solution to organize everything centrally," says Sylvia Wiener, data and information specialist at NHL Stenden and project leader for the implementation of the CRM system at the university.

Time for change

Ultimately, it was the Finance department that signaled the start of change. Non-publicly funded education must be administered commercially, which differs from regular education streams. The accountants emphasized that the current system was no longer sufficient. This was the decisive factor in seeking a future-proof solution. "The financial administration was an important reason for the change, but we soon realized that there were many more benefits to be gained. Such as consistency and overview on our website, a more uniform process, and better collaboration between departments," explains Sylvia.

Why Axelio, formerly BEND?

Axelio was already a trusted partner of NHL Stenden due to previous successful projects. Sylvia explains: "The biggest advantage for us was that Axelio had a ready-made solution based on Microsoft Dynamics. This meant we didn't have to start from scratch and could build on their experience. We also consciously chose the Microsoft system. Microsoft continuously develops itself, and we benefit from those innovations. That gives us the assurance that we are working with a future-proof solution."

The solution: everything in one system

Together with Axelio, a standard blueprint was developed to map and streamline the processes of NHL Stenden. With input from a working group consisting of staff from various programs, wishes and requirements were carefully mapped out. The result: an implementation of Microsoft Dynamics that centralizes everything, including course management.

Each program can now fill in course information such as start dates, class times, and contact information themselves in Dynamics. This data is automatically linked to the website, ensuring that information is always current. This not only makes the provision of information to (potential) students more efficient but also improves the professional appearance. "Previously, everything had to be done manually. Now programs can adjust their data in Dynamics themselves, after which everything is processed automatically. That saves a lot of time," says Sylvia. "The financial administration has also become much clearer. Our financial department now has much better visibility into cash flows, which leads to faster and more efficient administration and less chance of errors."

More efficiency and personalization

With the implementation of Dynamics, NHL Stenden not only works more clearly and efficiently but also sees improvements in marketing and communication. "Data from Dynamics enables automated emails and campaigns. We utilize this for popular courses," says Sylvia. "For smaller groups, we make personal contact to answer questions and support participants. This way, we combine automated processes with a personal approach. Additionally, we now have more insight into the popularity of courses. This helps the marketing and communication department to direct and optimize their communications."

Looking to the future

Although the biggest steps have been taken, NHL Stenden continues to innovate. The collaboration with Axelio helps with this. "Further development is important to ensure that users remain satisfied with the support of the system," says Sylvia. "It is not a project with a beginning and an end, but a continuous process. For example, we are now looking at collecting leads, automated certificates, and web pages that provide specific information per course. With more than 300 programs and a growing offering, we continue to work on accessibility and efficiency."

Thanks to the flexibility of Microsoft Dynamics, NHL Stenden can integrate new processes and subprojects at relatively low costs. This allows the system to grow with changing needs, keeping the university at the forefront of offering professional and future-proof non-publicly funded education.