Loyola University Chicago Digital Media Services - Education Scheduling - Case Study

Case Study: Loyola University Chicago Digital Media Services (DMS) in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Business Overview

Started in 2007 Digital Media Services (DMS) manages and maintains a number of multimedia and digital media computer labs, as well as services, across both the Lake Shore and Water Tower campuses. Our Multimedia and Digital Media Labs feature advanced multimedia workstations and a host of other professional equipment, including an Equipment Loan Program, that we are excited to share with the Loyola community. In addition to lab locations and services, DMS develops, designs and supports a number of web-based applications, including Adobe Connect, MyITS, TechConnect and many others.

Scheduling Overview

We started with 25 and now we have 65 student workers that utilize this system with 4 full-time staff members reviewing the requests. Working with a staff where the schedule changes on a week to week basis, we needed a system that would allow us to make custom schedules for our specific locations, as well as tracking when the requests are made. With a small full-time staff, managing the process for 65 student workers is critical to ensure that it's a speedy and efficient process.

Previous Scheduling Method

We utilized spreadsheets, in combination with emailing and discussion board postings.

Since ShiftPlanning

We moved away from a paper-based system and encouraged one single-source of truth for our student workers, minimizing shift errors for work schedules. I would very much recommend ShiftPlanning: the team appears to be quite responsive to requests from clients regarding change and open to making modifications to their work schedule maker. There are fewer questions and issues regarding schedule-related issues since it is clear and structured for students as well.

There are fewer questions and issues regarding schedule-related issues. - Adam Smeets - Loyola University