The Data and Applications Services team has been working feverishly to add several significant my.SMU enhancements this year. Here are a few you should know about.
The team kicked off the year with updates to the navigation of my.SMU lending to a streamlined experience, including quick access to favorites and recent pages and alphabetizing the navigation menus.
New Student Checklist Coming Soon
The team has also collaborated with Student Affairs to streamline manual processes to develop a new student checklist in my.SMU. Students will begin onboarding tasks before they matriculate, with the goal of having them completed before the first week of classes. This will allow them to go to one place to check on their tasks and provide the ability to upload photos, schedule advising appointments, and more. These enhancements will also enable staff to track student milestones in one centralized location. The new student checklist is scheduled to go live by June.
Student Financial Upgrades Underway
To utilize modern features and streamline processes, the Data and Application Services team partnered with Student Financials through last fall and the spring to implement Payment Applier, a required foundation to use new features for Student Financials that we plan to roll out later this year. Implementing Payment Applier will allow the university to more efficiently process charges, payments, refunds, and financial aid. Another benefit of Payment Applier is that it will set the stage to automate the IRS 1098-T tuition statement form.
Payment Applier verifies that charges and payment priorities are applied correctly. It also allows the university’s Item Types to be organized and grouped, enabling us to define business rules further.
Round 2 of testing begins April 12, 2023, with an estimated Go-Live date of June 24, 2023. OIT will send future communications upon system testing completion as item types will be changing. Please keep your eyes out for emails about this exciting enhancement coming to my.SMU!
