Engagement Score
Student CRM keeps getting smarter. Now over 60 different student interactions build each student’s engagement score. Applications score 10, enquiries score 1, with dozens of other tracked events in between. Calculated in real time, the Engagement Score lets you target the highest value students to increase your conversion rates.
Each new student starts at zero and goes up and down every second depending on their engagement with you (or lack of it). Remember: engagement scores can go up as well as down!
Student Personas
When you know that 25% of your prospective students are ‘Wise Owls’ whilst 43% are ‘Money Bees’ you are using student personas. Personas are your own fictional, generalised groups of your ideal students. You can even merge in appropriate, different messages to your ‘Wise Owls’ and your ‘Money Bees’ in the same campaign.
Schools flexibility
Your Pre-app Open Day forms can collect the attended school of your visitor. This update allows then to pick from the pre-built list or add another school, so you get accurate data on feeder schools.
Daily updates to your BI data packs
For the data junkies, we now offer daily BI data updates. Your BI analysis can now work from the very latest available bookings, applications and enquiries data.
Consents now in public forms.
Another step forward for GDPR - we’re adding a custom consent feature to Prospectus Requests, Mobile Event Capture, Rapid Response and Enquiries. This new feature works with Privacy Centre and Web Form Manager to allow you to get the right consent from your students.
Residency Status, now in Applicant Open Days.
Use Residency Status as a condition on your Applicant Day communication. This field means you can tailor communications to Overseas or Home applicants, making sure everyone feels comfortable and gets the right message about your Applicant Day.
Pre-app Open Days, now even zippier!
We’ve fine tuned Pre-applicant Open Days so it now runs super-fast even during the peak of Open Days season.
Four new fields to filter by.
Brand new Application and Student Database fields to use in your Segments and conditions. Four new fields allow greater flexibility when targeting your Campaigns and automated communications.
Web Form Manager to manage your web estate
The second part of our GDPR compliant framework, this app allows you to keep track of all of your web forms. Know where they are, when they were last updated, their privacy impact, consent status and much more. Essential work for the May 2018 deadline.
Privacy Centre for consents.
As part of our preparation for GDPR compliance, this new privacy portal will give your students visibility on the consents they have granted to you, plus the option to contact you to make data requests.
Massive speed boost for the whole platform!
A huge boost to the underlying speed of the whole CRM. Load time on each page click is now super snappy. Every action you do in the CRM is up to 700% faster.
Multiple subject selections in Prospectus Request downloads
This release improves the visibility of multiple subject selections in your Prospectus Request downloads. When a student has selected more than one subject, you can analyse those trends offline in a snap.
Levels of study available in downloads for Event Manager
This update means you can analyse your Event Manager bookings by Level of Study, as well as course!
New email reports for your campaigns, ad-hocs and touchpoints
This latest release of our email reports includes clear KPI bars and boxes, and now lists the students who did/did not open/click, bounced and unsubscribed.
Walk-in Pre-applicant Booking Forms
When unexpected visitors arrive at your Open Days, your events officers can just pass them an iPad and they self-register then and then. Each registration saves into your on-the-day bookings and triggers your touchpoints.
Use the new “Dynamic Known As” for Applicant emails
Applicant Robert prefers to be known as “Robbie”, and this data arrives in Student CRM via your UCAS feed. Now you can also collect this in any web form, and merge it into any email (touchpoints, campaigns, letters etc). Robbie will be pleased.
Responsive Event Manager Theme Previewer
Now you can safely preview different themes & headers on different devices (iPhone, smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops) without making changes to live. No more seeing tiny booking form text on a smartphone and giant text on a laptop. Preview 16 built-in free responsive themes, or Custom CSS your own. Preview Event Manager forms a bit like Litmus, but for your multi-part open day booking forms.
Responsive Event Manager Booking Form
Your Event Manager booking forms are now fully responsive. They work on desktops and now tablets and smartphones too. Text now appears 100% readable on a smartphone, use chunky buttons to go to the next page, and enjoy a lovely, easy booking experience.
Clone a whole season in Pre-applicant Open Days
This year your Pre-applicant Open Days setup just got a whole lot easier. Want this year to be a copy of last year, but with a few little tweaks? Just like in the Applicant Open Days app we have now added a new Clone tool into Pre-applicant Open Days too. So, again you just click 3 buttons and watching Student CRM does all the heavy lifting for you, in a few seconds. The new Clone tool strikes again.
See how to clone a Pre Applicant Open Day here: https://studentcrm.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115000456912
Users app tune-up
We tuned up the Users app - we added a new, useful A-Z Directory tabs (find all your "F" or "G" or "H" users), and separated out inactive from active users. Oh yes, and we made it 10 times faster.
Event Manager is now open to multiple years of entry
Manage on-campus events for students interested in studying this year, next year or the year after. A single event in Event Manager can now be open to multiple years of entry. This means you can take bookings on the same event no matter which year of entry those students select.
Responsive Pre-Applicant Open Days Theme Previewer
Now you can safely preview different themes & headers on different devices (iPhone, smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops) without making changes to live. Forget seeing tiny booking form text on a smartphone and giant text on a laptop. Preview 16 built-in free responsive themes, or Custom CSS your own. Preview Pre-Applicant Open Days a bit like Litmus, but for your multi-part open day booking forms.
Responsive Pre-Applicant Open Days Booking Form
Your Pre-Applicant Open Days booking forms are now fully responsive. They work on desktops and now tablets and smartphones too. Text now appears 100% readable on a smartphone, use chunky buttons to go to the next page, and enjoy a lovely, easy booking experience.
Residency Status filter now available in Student Database
Want to target just your Home applicants, and not your Overseas applicants? Easy - create a segment in Student Database filtered by Residency Status. You can also use Residency Status as a condition for touchpoints in other apps.
Special Requirements field in Pre-app Open Days
Need to know whether your open day visitors need wheelchair access so you can meet your obligations under your university's Campus Accessibility Policy? Easy - collect individual special access requirements on your Pre-app Open Day booking form. Those requirements can then be viewed against each booking in your event downloads.
Short and sweet course lists
Do you offer hundred of courses but want to display only a handful of them on your Pre-Applicant Open Days booking form? This is just for you. Now your students can choose from a short and sweet dropdown of course lists on your pre-applicant booking forms.
New Template Builder app
Release your inner Picasso! You can now send great looking emails from Student CRM. What do you mean - "at last!"? Import free email templates or create your own. Upload images, add tables and control layouts like never before in our new Content Editor. Clone templates, test in Litmus and share beautiful email templates with your users. Perfect for email touchpoints and campaigns.
Data Packs ready
Come and get 'em whilst they’re still hot! Available in the Dev Centre these 9 data packs are going to make your BAs tremble with excitement. Really.
Student CRM Roadmap updated today
This is the 6th version of our Public Roadmap in 10 months. It feels like we’ve delivered more product than Sainsbury’s in Q1. This new roadmap continues to confirm our transparency and direction. Join us.
Share and archive your segments
Segments is a billion and one times more useful than (old) search for building lists. Even moreso now we have upgraded it. Tidy users can now archive old test segments and results. Clever users can now even share their (genius, smart and elegant) segments with other users to leverage their hard work.
Responsive Applicant Open Days Theme Previewer
Now you can safely preview different themes & headers on different devices (iPhone, smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops) without making changes to live. Forget seeing tiny booking form text on a smartphone and giant text on a laptop. Preview 16 built-in free responsive themes, or Custom CSS your own. Preview Applicant Open Days a bit like Litmus, but for your multi-part open day booking forms. Could this be the start of something beautiful (looking)?
Responsive Applicant Open Days Booking Form
Your Applicant Open Days booking forms are now fully responsive. Who said "about time too"? They work on desktops and now tablets and smartphones too. Text now appears 100% readable on a smartphone, use chunky buttons to go to the next page, and enjoy a lovely, easy booking experience.
Chat added for in-CRM Customer Support
Want to ask a quick question but would rather not submit a ticket? Now you can start a chat with a DH Customer Support agent inside Student CRM. Afterwards it magically appears as a ticket in your support history. Easy.
Event Manager Booking Form extra texts
Now you can add extra texts to your Event Manager booking form. Help your users navigate through their booking journey with editable header and footer texts on each page of your Event Manager booking form.
DHMobile new version 1.3.1 available on the AppStore
Now with extra security, user logging, a speed boost and in-app messaging to keep you ahead of the game when collecting student details at events.
Developer Centre upgrade
Read through new content - SITS connection, APIs, Data Packs for BI Services, Reporting Services, Data imports, Sandboxes, Web Analytics.
Applicant Open Day booking form speedup
Continuing our early code spring clean, we speeded up your Applicant Open Days student booking forms, making it lightning fast to increase completion rates.
Courses app speed up
This core app just got 276% faster. With thousands of courses to process, we added slimmed down some flabby code and found a racehorse underneath.
Multiple tabs detector to the rescue
Copying Open Day settings from one tab to another is now much easier, with the new Multiple tabs detector in Pre-Applicant Open Days.
Updated Contact Preferences Centre
With GDPR on the way, the updated Contact Preferences Centre starts your journey towards GDPR compliance.
New Opt out merge tag for transactionals
Want to add an opt-out link to some transactional emails too? Sure, this new merge tag makes it a breeze.
Surfacing your Enrolments in Student CRM
Enrolments are now visible (and searchable) in Student CRM in Student Database and Applications.
User Directory released
Someone at your University has the knowledge you need. Now your colleagues can share their subject matter expertise with you and your colleagues.
Added Mx Titles to forms
Update to all your public forms to include the Mx title. ‘Mx’ is a gender neutral alternative to the traditional gender options of Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms; for students who do not identify with male/female traditional genders, are non-binary, or transgender. Read more
Pre-Applicant Open Days Speed Up
Pre-Applicant Open Days gets a speed boost. The same great functionality that you’re used to just got even faster. Not using our Pre-Applicant Open Days app? Head over to our Apps page to see how this can work for your University
New Training Needs Assessment process
A Training Needs Assessment helps us to understand exactly what you want to achieve from your training so you make the most of time you’ve invested. Whether you’re new to Student CRM or need a refresher contact one of our customer service specialists to book in your training
Clone a whole season in Applicant Open Days
Last year’s Open Days season was a masterpiece of planning and config in your Applicant Open Days app. Blood, sweat and tears doesn’t even start to describe the work you did. So this year, we have made it much easier and faster for you. How about clicking 3 buttons and watching Student CRM do all the heavy lifting for you, in a few seconds? That’s the new Clone tool. You deserve it.
Student CRM Roadmap updated today
In the last ten and a half weeks (since 15 Jul 2016): under ‘New Functionality’ we have delivered Workflow Controls and Editing your Booking and are about to ship Clone an Open Day Season. In ‘New Apps’ we shipped the new Calendar app, and the new Schools app is going to MoSCoW. Under ‘Support’ the App Champions project has been completed (to be launched at the User Group meetup tomorrow) and new Support initiatives are underway. It’s been a productive summer.
URLs and Tags in Courses app
Link back to your own website course information pages with a URL - easy to merge into your touchpoints.
Add tags to identify a group of courses which can then be dealt with separately in Student CRM - great for workflow conditions.
Applicant Open day bookings available to all
Now you can choose how applicants book onto your Applicant Open Days - we have added two more options for you.
That means that all applicants (whether via UCAS or not) can now book onto your Applicant Open Days.
Mobile Ticket Support
Login page gets a facelift, and adds a cool new support feature for smartphones too. Read all about it
Power BI upgrade
Connect to your selected CRM Data Packs in our fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service in the cloud, from your chosen BI tool - Power BI, Qlikview, Tableau, IBM Cognos, SAP BusinessObjects BI, Pentaho and many more. How is your University handling BI?
Workflow Controls (UCAS Results Embargo)
New controls give you the ability to shut down all outbound communications from your Applications app (APS) during your own selected Embargo Periods. You can now pause Workflows for an hour, a day, a month or forever. (Workflows)
Editing Open Day bookings upgraded
A small improvement with a big impact. Editing your existing Open Day booking is now as smooth as silk.
New Calendar app launched
In Student CRM you can see your CRM activities in one place in the CAL app. In your work calendar (Outlook or Google) see the same CRM activities alongside your regular meetings, etc. (Calendar)
Student CRM Roadmap updated today
In the last five and a half weeks (since 6 Jun 2016): under ‘New Functionality’ we have prioritised Editing Bookings, and are putting the finishing touches to Workflow Controls. In ‘New Apps’ the new Calendar app is about to be released. Under ‘Support’ we have delivered In-app Notifications. (See the Roadmap here)
Download your Subjects and Courses in a CSV
Need to see which courses have been mapped to which subjects, for any or all years of entry and levels of study? Go to your Courses app and click the download link. Easy.
Product notifications released in Student CRM
Our CRM User Group voted for in-app notifications as the most effective way to stay informed of our regular product updates. This was a hit from the day it shipped!
Improved searching in Pre-Applicant Open Days, Applicant Open Days and Event Manager
Want to register a booking not showing in your Open Day’s listing? Now you can also search the entire Student Database to find and book them. Quicker, easier.
Student CRM Roadmap updated today
In the last month (since 5 May 2016): under ‘New Functionality’ we have delivered 2 items and started working on 3 new items. Under ‘Support’ we have delivered 1 item and started working on 1 new item. This month we also started working on our new Calendar app. (See the Roadmap here)
Segments & Filters in Student Record Card
Users can now create some truly detailed segments, with filters like this:
Prospective domestic UG students who:
were previously interested in Law AND
recently switched to being interested in Engineering AND
want to start in 2017 AND
are currently 21 years old AND
currently live in Manchester AND
have opted in to SMS messages AND
were last contacted over 30 days ago.
(Segments & Filters is now available in the Student Record Card.)
500+ articles in new Help Centre
This new look to our Student CRM Help Centre is super clean.
It’s so easy to search the 500+ articles, videos, checklists, and ideas available. There’s also a new dedicated forum for those users who are interested in the Student CRM User Group.
Lots of goodies to help you become a CRM black belt. The Student CRM Help Centre is available 24:7:365 so you can get help during the hours that suit you.
"Customise my apps" released
It looks the same but different. How come?
After 5 years of full colour icons, we have now replaced them here and throughout Student CRM with drop-dead gorgeous new charcoal-coloured icons in this new ‘flat design’. Design is a fickle thing; like fashion, never stands still.
But that’s not all. This page is also more useful because now you can:
- Drag and drop apps around the page
- Move your favourite apps to the top
- Move the ones you rarely use to the bottom
New fields for Data Importer tool in upgraded Data Manager app
This runaway hit new app just got an upgrade to its Data Importer tool. Data schemas have been expanded to their maximum including every possible field you might want to import. If you wanted multiple subjects, that's included too. (Data Manager)
Student CRM Roadmap published
As a company we are transparent about where Student CRM is going. We publish, and update monthly, our Public Product Roadmap for all to see. Our open dialogue builds a stronger product. (Data Harvesting publishes Product Roadmap)
Instant email reports for Ad-hoc, campaigns and now Touchpoints too
Our next generation email reports are now available in email Touchpoints, as well as in Ad-hoc email and email Campaigns. Now you can work on increasing those open and clickthrough rates. (Workflows)
DIM web service end of life
At 14:00hrs on 31 March 2016 we waved goodbye to our DIM web service. We can no longer support this (old) code, and are unable to make any further manual changes to customers' settings. Any customers who are still using DIM will need to use our newer alternative service Applications (Passive) API V1 before Monday 20 June 2016 at 14:00hrs. Contact Customer Support for help.
Data Importer tool in new app Data Manager launched
By matching the columns in your CSV files to the fields in Student CRM (and we have made that really easy) you can quickly import thousands of new students into your Student CRM in only a few clicks. Yes, it matches existing students if they already exist, or creates new students if they don't. (Import 10,000 student records in just a couple of minutes)
Student Record Card gets facelift
We have saved you time by making it ten times faster to view, revealing vital information in quick tabs. The new and improved student record card layout has twelve new features to enhance student recruitment. (Student Database)
Upgraded Sandboxes provisioned upon request
Each new Sandbox is completely separate from your live Student CRM, and is provisioned to let you run your tests in a safe environment without affecting any data or settings in your live Student CRM. Request, provision, test, clear out and start again. Our upgraded Sandboxes give you peace of mind.
Applicant Open Days app - no more invites when you’re full
You are not a budget airline - you may not want to overbook to allow for no-shows. Applicant Open Days now gives you the option to prevent students from receiving an invite when you hit capacity. (Applicant Open Days)
Student Search wider and faster
One search box now looks in 7 more new fields to find any student. Got a student on the phone or standing in front of you? Just type, search, find. Faster. (Student Database)
Contact Manager app gets Functions feature
Attention all Hotel Managers in Birmingham City centre - come to our University event!” Now you can invite contacts to attend a function, manage bookings, brand your forms and email templates, booking confirmation and post-event follow-up. (Contact Manager)
Dynamic Grab criteria displayed
Who can remember that old criteria you set up two years ago? Well actually, you don’t need to. Now any Applicant Open Days user can now see the criteria behind each Dynamic Grab with the new show / hide feature. Even if it was two years ago. (Applicant Open Days)
DHMobile New version v1.2.6 for iPads released in AppStore
Improvements to DH Mobile included fixing the rotate issue. (Mobile Event Capture)
Microsoft Power BI email stats
This nice and tidy proof of concept gets you hooked up to your Student CRM email statistics on an interactive dashboard with Power BI. This eye-opener helps anyone to ‘get it’ with BI.
Applicant Open Days app - editable booking form texts
Want to help your students book their Open Day? Now you can add helpful texts to drive up completions. Now you can display your own customised text on your Applicant Open Days booking form. (Applicant Open Days)
Data Warehousing ODBC to Microsoft PowerBI released
Using Amazon’s Redshift data warehouse clusters, we can now make your Student CRM data tables available to the BI tool of your choice via ODBC. We have hooked up with Microsoft mainly because their PowerBI product is now the most active BI tool on the market. (BI brings your data to life’)
DHMobile New version v1.2.4 for iPads released in AppStore
Intermittent crash bug fixed and a few other irritations to make DH Mobile even greater. (Mobile Event Capture)
DHMobile New version v1.2.3 for iPads released in AppStore
Fixed a bug that was preventing you from collecting answers to your extra questions. All is good now. (Mobile Event Capture)
Contact Manager app sends letters and labels
Two more methods of sending a campaign in Contact Manager are added. Same say it’s old school, some say they still use snail mail. We are here for you. (Contact Manager)
Courses App now gets new Subjects feature
Now you can group any number of Courses into any number of Subjects. Courses can belong to multiple subjects and vice-versa. (Courses)
Contact Manager app gets parent and child relationships
Want to see all the branches of Barclays from the Head Office Org? Or how about the Barclays Head Office from any branch? Organisations can now have a parent organisation to show hierarchy of relationships between them. Unlimited levels deep. (Contact Manager)
Contact Manager app gets new Merge and Purge feature
Have you got two Cat Deeleys in your Contact Manager database? Or maybe two Wembley Stadiums/Stadia? Easy - just decide which one survives and merge both records into one complete updated record. There’s only one Wem-ber-ley! (Contact Manager)
Pre-applicant Open Days app - gets speed boost
Phew! Registrant listings now load twice as quick in Pre-applicant Open Days, saving you time when managing your bookings. (Pre-applicant Open Days)
Enterprise Reporting raw data available via API in Dev Centre
Do your Business Analysts need to chomp through zillions of rows of your own Student CRM log data stored in Enterprise Reporting? Just hook up via the new ENT API in the Dev Centre. (Enterprise Reporting)
Multiple Locations feature released in Pre-applicant Open Days and Applicant Open Days apps
Usain Bolt alternative. Your students arrive for an Open Day only to discover mid-morning that they need to get to another campus for their next event. How can they possibly run there in time? Our new Multiple Locations feature in Pre-applicant Open Days and Applicant Open Days apps prevents impossible schedules from ever happening in the first place. (Pre-applicant Open Days) (Applicant Open Days)
Contact Manager app gives your Tag Master control
No more alphabetti spaghetti. Tags, dropdowns, checkboxes allow you to store this extra information against an Organisation or a Person in the Contact Manager app. Keep your data tidy by preventing your users from adding new values every time they use it. Nominate your Tag Master and only they will have the power. (Contact Manager)
User Community - ideas forum housekeeping
Your user ideas keep coming in, and we keep reading and evaluating which ones make the grade. Today we improved our process. If you submit an idea, we will ask you to describe the pains you’re trying to fix, and to provide user stories or illustrations. The better the case you make for us building it, the more we can get our teeth into it and make a decision in your favour.
DHMobile New version v1.2.2 for iPads released in AppStore
We fixed various scrolling issues and other niggles. (Mobile Event Capture).
Mobile Entry Pass for smart phones at Open days
Avoid bottlenecks by scanning barcodes on your students’ smartphones to register them attending at your open days in Pre-applicant Open Days and Applicant Open Days apps. (Applicant Open Days) (Pre-applicant Open Days)
Rackspace UK migration complete
Pizzas and coffee fuelled our all-hands-on-deck midnight migration away from our old hosting partner, (they were great at the time and we truly thanked them for their service over the years). We have worked diligently to ensure that Rackspace UK can support our company plans over the next 5 to 10 years. Better, bigger, faster, more storage, more efficient, more secure, more scalable, resilient, fully managed and altogether awesome. Our new team at Rackspace is now taking care of DH’s infrastructure with their trademark ‘Fanatical Support’. We all sleep better now.
Email templates stored online in the Contact Manager app
Designed a beautiful HTML email template and want to use it over and over again in your Contact Manager app? Just upload it once, give it a name and it will magically appear in a dropdown list next time. Not rocket science but really handy nonetheless. (Contact Manager)
Document Library upgrade
Major upgrade to Document Library lets you store even more file types. Originally restricted to PDFs only, users can now upload these other file formats too: csv, xls, doc, ppt, xlsx, docx, pptx, jpg, jpeg, png and gif at even bigger file sizes, with the ability to mark them as private. (Document Library)
Applications (Passive) API V1 launched
This now allows you to make any required changes without any dependence on DH's developers. All testing is now managed by your IT Dept. This API is faster, more robust, secure, extensible and fully supported with detailed documentation in the Developer Centre. This is a free service.
DIM service launched
Now you can send in an external data file of applicants and their application(s) so they can be automatically invited to attend an Applicant Open Day. This is a free service.
HEIs choose Student CRM by Data Harvesting
The original tech startup had now evolved into an important technology business. As more UK Universities chose Data Harvesting we welcomed new DHers to our team. We added more apps to what was rapidly becoming ‘the UK’s most loved student recruitment solution’.
Student CRM released, dedicated purely to UK Universities
In Oct 2011 we released our new SaaS ‘Student CRM’ to replace our ‘Classic DH’. We migrated our UK University clients over to Student CRM and watched as Officers, Managers and Directors in UK Universities quickly got to grips with the powerful new apps and features.
An alignment of cultures
The more we listened to and engaged with the HE sector’s requirements, the more we realised that we could make a dramatic and positive difference to UK Universities. We assigned resources and built new apps and features from the ground up, just for UK HEIs. Culturally we were now thinking, planning and innovating in ways that played well with HEIs.
HE wants what Corporate and Third Sector have
The UK Universities sector discovered us and told us they needed better Student Recruitment software. Our smart data automation features supporting online marketing campaigns had attracted the attention of HE Recruitment Officers, Managers and Directors in UK Universities.
How it all started
In the summer of ‘97 founder Dom Yeadon bootstrapped the very first web solution to manage customers’ data captured online from web forms. Instant demand came from the corporate and charity sectors. This customer data was then securely integrated with the customers’ own legacy and back-office solutions to increase their own workflow effectiveness. This small tech startup would eventually grow into Data Harvesting as we know it today.