Your first goal in the Preparation phase: establish your Slate team.

Assembling the team

The Slate team builds out new functionality and transitions records from your previous system into Slate. Your Slate team should include:

• up to three database managers, also known as Slate Admins

• staff in roles like event management, marketing and communications

Your Slate team should meet regularly. Frequent collaboration helps your team cross-train and monitor implementation progress.

Selecting your Slate Admins

An effective Slate Admin understands your current admission and enrollment processes to depth.

Yet, despite this deep understanding, they aren’t hidebound by how things used to be done. They should value creativity and flexibility when translating legacy operations into new Slate-based functionality.

Ideal candidates include:

• Directors of Operations

• Associate or Senior Admissions Directors

• Admissions Coordinators

Selecting your steering committee and stakeholders

During implementation, the Slate steering committee promotes your Slate mission, aligns it toward institutional goals, and provides strategic guidance.

After launch, the steering committee continues to provide governance that shapes the development and use of Slate going forward.

Typical steering committee composition

The steering committee typically consists of:

• Leadership: Defines your mission and expedites critical decisions

• Admissions staff: The primary builders and ultimate end-users, admissions staff lead the implementation and provide insight into current processes

• IT: Define current data collection and usage beyond admissions and support integration processes with other external and campus systems

• Marketing: Synchronize with campus initiatives and maintain institutional brand

• Other Departments: Representatives from departments such as Financial Aid, Registrar, and Student Services to develop new processes that benefit applicants and enrolled students

• Preferred Partners: Although third parties are not required for implementation, institutions that desire deeper project management resources and technical expertise benefit from engaging a Slate Preferred Partner. Slate Preferred Partners offer on-campus and remote dedicated services, including implementation, consulting, and support services for your Slate projects and priorities.

Collaboration between Slate Admins and the steering committee

Slate Admins should meet with the steering committee to provide functional advice and gather input. Steering committees often meet on a monthly or quarterly schedule.

Slate as an IT project

Slate is not a conventional IT project. Slate is designed to be administered by its primary users, namely admissions and enrollment staff.

The majority of implementation tasks are focused on business processes and are completed directly by Slate Admins with minimal intervention by IT staff.

That said, we encourage IT staff to lend their voices to the implementation discussion, particularly for integrations. There are resources here in the Knowledge Base that IT staff can take advantage of, in particular our database maintenance tools, which offer high-level database performance information.

Attending a Community Conversation

A great way to dip your toe into the Slate waters is by attending a Getting Started Community Conversation.

Community Conversations are guided group discussions led by a Technolutions Client Success Manager. You can introduce yourself, ask questions, and meet implementers at peer institutions who can share insights.

To attend a community conversation, see Home Slate.

Next up: Getting Slate Certified

With your team selected, you’ll head to Learning Lab and get your hands dirty in your Slate database.

➡️ Step 2: Get Slate Certified with Fundamentals of Admission and Enrollment