Rend Lake College (RLC) needed a more accurate, efficient, and scalable way to collect student data required for Illinois state reporting while eliminating a manual, paper-based process.
- Ellucian Student powered by Colleague provided a modern SaaS foundation that enabled RLC to revamp fragmented data collection practices within an integrated, student-centered ecosystem.
- The Ellucian Platform allowed the college to streamline its digital workflows for staff and students through central workspace, data orchestration, and reporting & analytics capabilities.
- Replaced a paper-based reporting process with a fully digital workflow.
- Improved data accuracy and consistency through automated validation and integration.
- Established a scalable framework that could be extended to additional institutional processes.
increase in student responsiveness
increase in data collection reach
weeks of staff time reclaimed through automation
This shift lets staff move from tedious data entry to higher-level, solution-based support, dramatically improving their job satisfaction and quality of work."
Community colleges are frequently expected to collect detailed student information to satisfy state reporting requirements, secure funding, and better understand the needs of the populations they serve. For Career Technical Education (CTE) programs in Illinois, that responsibility includes collecting Special Populations data — a state-mandated reporting requirement that helps institutions identify students who may face barriers to educational access and success.
At Rend Lake College, a community college serving some 2,000 students in Ina, Illinois, gathering this information was a burdensome undertaking. Students completed paper forms, staff manually entered and verified responses, and institutional teams spent valuable time preparing data for submission to the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB).
"The process for collecting data for the Career Technical Education Special Pops form was strictly limited," said Mallory Howell, Bursar & Director of Accounting at RLC. "Our legacy system was outdated and required a lot of manual processing."
As the college continued modernizing its technology environment, leaders recognized an opportunity to rethink the entire workflow. Rather than simply digitizing a paper form, RLC wanted to create a more accurate, efficient, and scalable approach to collecting, validating, and reporting student data across campus.
Building Connected Workflows for Better Reporting
Rend Lake College leveraged a comprehensive set of capabilities within Ellucian Student powered by Colleague and its underlying SaaS platform to create an end-to-end workflow that connected students, staff, institutional data, and state reporting requirements.
"The solution delivery was simple for the user," Howell said. "We put a dedicated, visible card, named 'Special Pops Form Submission,' right on the student's central workspace dashboard."
Leveraging the Ellucian Platform's central workspace, the college created a highly visible, mobile-friendly entry point that enabled students to submit required information through a personalized digital experience. The new process eliminated paper forms while making participation more convenient and accessible.
Behind the scenes, the college developed an integrated architecture that automated the movement, validation, and management of information throughout the reporting process. Through data orchestration and integrations, the college connected systems and workflows that previously required manual intervention. The institution also leveraged the Platform's reporting & analytics data warehouse to gather, organize, verify, and prepare data for submission to the Illinois Community College Board.
"This approach was chosen specifically to automate processes and ensure accurate data collection and reporting, which is particularly necessary for regulatory compliance," Howell said.
By creating a centralized reporting process supported by trusted institutional data, Rend Lake improved both the accuracy and efficiency of its compliance efforts. The solution was also designed to be reusable—the same framework can now support future data collection initiatives and operational improvements across departments.
Delivering Value Across Campus
What began as a compliance initiative quickly became an opportunity to improve the technology experience for students, faculty, and staff across the institution.
"The Special Population Form Submission card didn't just solve a problem; it turned a required report into a major institutional win, delivering immediate, measurable benefits for all stakeholders," Howell said.
For students, the new process replaced a time-consuming paper workflow with a streamlined digital experience accessible from their mobile devices. The convenience of the solution facilitated quicker, easier access, driving student response rates by 13% campuswide.
"The simple, user-centric design drove high participation," Howell said. "This success allowed RLC to expand data collection from 1,290 Career Technical Education students to the entire 1,871-student headcount."
By improving the quality and completeness of Special Populations data, Rend Lake College gained stronger visibility into student needs, enabling more informed decisions about student support and resource allocation.
Faculty also benefited as data collection activities were moved outside the classroom, preserving valuable instructional time. And by eliminating paper collection, manual transcription, and repetitive verification activities, administrators could redirect their time toward more strategic and student-focused work.
"This shift lets staff move from tedious data entry to higher-level, solution-based support, dramatically improving their job satisfaction and quality of work," Howell said.
The measurable impact was substantial. The redesigned workflow eliminated approximately two weeks of manual work, generated $3,200 in salary and fringe savings, and reduced overhead costs by an additional $1,500. More importantly, college leaders gained greater confidence in the quality, consistency, and completeness of the data used to meet reporting obligations and support institutional decision-making.
Creating a Foundation for Future Innovation
While the initial objective was to streamline Special Populations reporting, Rend Lake College sees the project's success as a blueprint for broader transformation.
"This solution will serve as a framework for future applications in other departments; enhancing, automating, and streamlining their collection of data pertinent to supporting students," Howell said.
Combining the Ellucian Student SaaS environment with the extensibility of the Ellucian Platform, the solution provides a scalable foundation for future innovation without introducing additional administrative complexity. The workflow can be adapted for other use cases, enabling the institution to continue improving how it gathers information, serves students, and supports staff campuswide.
"This modern, high-efficiency infrastructure from Ellucian is now the backbone for growth, helping RLC support a 5% overall enrollment increase from Fall 2024 to Fall 2025," Howell said. "With this growth, our staff is already analyzing how this card and the [central workspace] app can better serve our students and advance our mission in the years ahead."
