Case Study — Moving SWAU to a Modern, Dynamic Digital Catalog

An easy-to-use solution for managing graduate and undergraduate catalogs in one system.

We recently launched the academic catalog for Southwestern Adventist University, a modern, dynamic catalog that lets them easily manage their content while providing an easy-to-use front-end for their students and potential students. Here's the rundown on what we did.

The Goals

Affordability

As a small liberal arts university, SWAU — like many colleges and universities — didn't have an unlimited budget for a course catalog solution. We were able to work with SWAU to come up with a solution that met all of their needs for an annual cost within their budget — and a fraction of what other catalog software providers quoted them.

Easy Editing

SWAU already had a digital version of their catalog connected to their website, but it was difficult to make changes, and they couldn't always ensure that their content was accurate and up-to-date. Clean Catalog comes with modern editing systems that let you edit any content, track changes, clone content, and a host of other features that make managing your catalog content fast and easy.

Automate Everything

Staff at SWAU wear multiple hats, and the catalog, though important and an essential part of accreditation, often can't be their main focus. Clean Catalog automates as much of the catalog work as possible:

Course information only has to be entered in one place and can be used throughout the catalog.
Elective groups — groups of courses or requirements — can be created once and used on degrees throughout the site.
Total credits for degrees and certificates are automatically calculated and updated if any information changes.

Digital First, With Print Options

Every piece of content has a digital version that looks great on any device — phones of all sizes and ages, older browsers, and so on — but also comes with a downloadable PDF that's re-created whenever content changes.

Process

Creating the Catalog

We created an initial draft of the catalog with some of SWAU's content, and we worked with them to get the look and functionality just how they wanted it. As part of that, we built a multiple catalog solution so they could manage their undergraduate and graduate catalogs. We also built out a system for them manage their general info content to break it into sub-sections and easily manage the order.

Importing Content

For SWAU — as with most colleges — we built out their catalog with their current content, which they then edited to create their next year's catalog. Once content was imported, SWAU had a fully functional catalog site to work with.

Users and Training

After building out their catalog, we created user accounts for the SWAU staff responsible for editing the catalog, and trained them on how to edit and manage catalog. Training is usually quick — the software is easy and straightforward to use — and the staff at SWAU caught on quickly and ran with it. We've worked with them along the way to answer questions or as adjustments come up, and we'll continue to work with them to ensure that Clean Catalog is a success at their university.