Your University’s CRM Needs Salesforce’s Education Data Architecture

Salesforce’s Education Data Architecture (EDA) is the foundation of Education Cloud.

Rather than pairing your Salesforce org with a managed package or creating your own custom object framework, EDA provides an out-of-the-box data model that can be tailored to your university’s specific needs.

In addition to preconfigured objects, EDA also comes with its own set of standard automations designed to streamline your university’s CRM processes and maintain data integrity.

Think of EDA as a layer on top of your Salesforce org that automatically makes the CRM structure more relevant to your institution:

Source: Salesforce

EDA gives your institution a jumpstart in building out a CRM that truly works for you.

Whether you’re new to Salesforce or have an existing org, here are four reasons why your university should implement EDA:

1. Made for higher education professionals, by higher education professionals: EDA was designed by Salesforce in collaboration with education partners and the higher ed customer community, meaning it has built-in industry expertise and best practices. By using EDA, you can capitalize upon your peers’ knowledge and skip the mistakes they may have previously made.
2. Consistent, automatic enhancements: EDA’s bi-weekly releases are automatically pushed to your org (with detailed release notes and open-source code available to customers). This consistent release schedule ensures that you’re always working with the most up-to-date product and eliminates the need for manual updates and enhancements by your admin team.
3. Collaboration with peers: With EDA, gone are the days of fruitless Google searches and feeling like you’re on an admin island with no support. Customers can use the Power of Us Hub, a robust online customer community, to ask and answer questions, collaborate, and share ideas. You can even get involved in EDA’s open-source community sprints and directly influence the future of the product.
4. Lay the foundation for game-changing products: EDA serves as the framework for several Salesforce products designed to enhance the staff and student experience, including:

• • Salesforce Advisor Link: Simplifies the student scheduling process and helps advisors engage with students by proactively identifying risks, creating degree plans, and more.
  • Admissions Connect: Streamlines the application review and decision process with endless-scrolling document readers, applicant and reviewer checklists, and more.

Interested in discussing how your institution can make the switch to EDA? Contact us today.

Go to Part 2 of this EDA implementation series: How to Make the Switch to Salesforce’s Education Data Architecture (EDA).