Problem
Fragmented tools hindered growth and coordination
A growing academic and performance center within the state’s flagship public university faced mounting operational complexity that exceeded the capabilities of its existing systems. Administrative workflows—spanning inventory management, scheduling, admissions, and event coordination—were fragmented across Airtable, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools. The result: redundant data entry, communication gaps, and inefficiencies across core processes.
The department’s sole information systems lead, was tasked with managing the circulation of over 1,000 tech assets, coordinating event requests, and onboarding faculty—all without a centralized platform. As the college expanded and the information systems lead’s responsibilities grew, it became clear that a scalable, collaborative solution was essential.
The team needed a system that could unify workflows, reduce operational friction, and empower broader participation—without introducing steep learning curves or compromising data control.
Q1
Solution
SmartSuite empowers solo lead to unify operations
The information systems lead implemented SmartSuite to build an interconnected ecosystem that supports internal operations, while laying the groundwork for external access by faculty and students.
- Centralized Workflows: Event requests, funding approvals, tech rentals, and personnel tasks now live in a single SmartSuite environment with relational connections and automations.
- Smart Dashboards: Faculty and staff receive unique dashboards with filtered data relevant to their role—minimizing clutter and maintaining privacy for sensitive funding or scheduling data.
- Integrated Scheduling System: Built a custom calendar-style solution to replace limited university tools like 25Live, giving visibility into room usage, staffing, and program overlap.
- Template-Based Automation: Event request forms connect with funding requests and calendar entries automatically, triggering workflows and reducing manual triage.
- Scalable Architecture: Aims to expand access to all 90 members of the College—20 active staff users and 70 faculty through guest or view-only accounts.
SmartSuite’s permission model, automation flexibility, and dashboard capabilities have empowered the customer to centralize College operations—even while working solo.
Q2
Results
SmartSuite centralizes college ops with solo stewardship
SmartSuite has become the core platform for the Music Department's internal operations. The system powers:
- Circulation of 1,000+ audio/visual tech assets with integrated manuals and due date alerts
- Real-time event request intake, approval workflows, and calendar integration
- Department-wide service coordination, eliminating siloed Google Drives and manual email threads
- Dashboards customized to user roles, with 70+ faculty receiving filtered data without logging into SmartSuite directly
The information systems lead continues to expand the system use case-by-use case, introducing each team or process with a clear functional rollout. With flexible automations, SmartSuite has replaced redundant tools and enabled better collaboration across the College. Its no-code interface also makes it easy for the customer to adapt and evolve workflows—without relying on university-wide IT systems.
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