Over the past several months, the Division of Student Academic Engagement and Success (SAES), in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office (RO) and University Decision Support (UDS), has been engaged in a comprehensive review of SAES-managed student groups within the my.SMU student information system.
This audit examined more than 800 student groups to assess accuracy, relevance, and alignment with current business and operational needs. As a result of this review, a number of important updates are being implemented to improve data integrity, employee awareness, and system usability.
What’s Changing?
- Archiving Inactive and Legacy Groups: Many outdated or inactive student groups were identified during the audit. These groups will be archived to reduce clutter, limit confusion, and support more accurate record keeping.
- Updated Group Categories: Group category levels were modified to better reflect evolving institutional and operational needs. These changes allow student groups to be organized in a more intentional and functional way.
- Clear Association of SAES Areas: SAES functional areas (e.g., Student Advising and Academic Success, Undergraduate Education and Academic Success, Honors and Scholars, etc.) are now directly associated with the student groups they manage. These groups will be publicly viewable by employees, making it easier to understand how a student may be connected to an SAES program, initiative, or service.
- Creation of an Administrative Category: A new administrative group category was established for operationally focused groups, such as:
- Students who decline program offers
- Groups used for batch processing
- Other system- or workflow-driven groupings
These groups will be hidden from most employee views to reduce noise and ensure attention is focused on meaningful student engagement indicators.
Why This Matters
This clean-up and permissions project is designed to:
- Improve the accuracy and reliability of student group data
- Better alert employees when a student is connected to an SAES program or initiative
- Reduce visibility of operational or low-importance groups that do not require broad awareness
Ultimately, these updates support clearer communication, better decision-making, and a more user-friendly experience in my.SMU.
Timeline and Support
These changes will be made official in my.SMU by February 1. If you experience issues related to:
- Viewing student groups
- Access to add or remove group memberships
- Changes in permissions or visibility
Please contact Dustin Grabsch (dgrabsch@smu.edu) for assistance before contacting the OIT Help Desk. This will allow our team to first verify appropriate permissions and ensure the new configurations are working as intended. SAES Executive and Operational Teams will be breifed of the changes later in January ahead of them being applied in my.SMU.
We appreciate your time, attention, and patience as we implement these important updates. Thank you for your continued partnership as we work to improve systems that support our students and colleagues.