How AWIS Simplified their Award and Scholarship Processes
Category
Scholarships
Industry
STEM
How AWIS replaced Google Forms with one platform, and saved 25% of their administrators' hours.
Overview
RQ Scholarships streamlined Association for Women in Science (AWIS) operations, efficiently saving administrators significant hours.
Program impact
25% decrease in manual working hours
Process change
31% increase in Final Doctoral Research Scholarship Applications
Scalable growth
53% increase in Final Undergraduate Scholarship Applications
Introduction
AWIS is dedicated to driving excellence in STEM by achieving equity and full participation of women in all disciplines and across all employment sectors.
Each year, the AWIS awards and scholarships provide visibility and recognition of the contributions of brilliant scientists. They also offer role models and encouragement to the next generation. AWIS provides a doctoral research and undergraduate scholarship in addition to a career re-entry scholarship for AWIS members with a bachelor's degree in a STEM-related field.
Challenges
The utilization of Google Forms as the existing application system burdened administrators with managing many tasks as well as lack of security.
Administrative Overload
Administrators had difficulty managing incomplete applications and submission complaints. During the review phase, inefficiencies made aggregating scores and comments from reviewers challenging.
Challenges in Committee Reviews
The review process involved manual assessment of folders, reference letters, and attachments, resulting in subjective evaluations. The absence of a mechanism for group reviews added complexity to the process.
Difficulty Tracking Applicants and Yearly Winners
Managing and tracking winners and applicants across different years posed significant operational challenges, lacking an efficient system for year-on-year tracking.
Membership Requirement for Access
The necessity of AWIS membership created a hurdle as verifying memberships became a crucial and intricate part of the application process.
Challenges in Data Reporting and Accuracy
Ensuring efficient reporting and maintaining data accuracy across multiple sources presented a significant hurdle.
Solution
RQ Scholarship revamped AWIS's application process, introducing a user-friendly online form, customized review interface, and collaborative engagement with a customer success team. They also implemented efficient winner and applicant tagging and an advanced reporting system for streamlined tracking and analytics.
User-Friendly Application Process
Introduced an online form with organization-branded simplicity, streamlining the application process and enhancing applicant awareness of their status.
Customized Review Process
Simplified reviewer access to applications with a side-by-side view, integrating reference letters, uploaded content, and a scoresheet based on program review rubrics.
Collaborative Customer Success Engagement
A dynamic customer success team actively contributed to enhancing system functionality. Through collaborative brainstorming in the multi-review phase, RQ refined questions, improved scoring rubrics, and clarified review group intricacies.
Efficient Winner and Applicant
Tagging Implemented a robust tagging system for efficient winner and applicant categorization into cohorts, ensuring streamlined tracking and insights. This enhanced visibility into historical data facilitates data-driven decision-making, strategic resource allocation, and ongoing program improvements.
Advanced Reporting System
Eliminated the need to export data from Google Forms. By integrating advanced reporting features, tracking incomplete or draft applications became effortless within the system. Streamlined follow-ups and accessible charts for quick analytics and key metrics were introduced, simplifying reporting processes without the need for external data management.
Results
Increased Number of Applications
31% and 53% increase in the number of doctoral and undergraduate final applications with intuitive online forms.
Increase in Visitors to the Scholarship Page
10% increase in the number of visitors to the scholarship landing page.
Decrease in Manual Working Hours
Shifting to the RQ Scholarship Platform allowed AWIS administrators to decrease manual hours worked by 25%, enabling a more impactful focus on applicant applications.
Enhanced Reviewer Experience
Enhanced Reviewer Dashboard led to improved completion rates by offering better oversight of assignments and proactive follow-ups on incomplete assessments, ensuring more timely evaluations.
Streamlined Management
Simultaneous management of three scholarships in RQ Scholarship eliminated the need for back-and-forth processes, streamlining operations and enhancing overall efficiency.
Increased Engagement
The robust tagging system allowed easy winner tracking and seamless year-to-year follow-ups, ensuring ongoing engagement with awardees.
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