Union University

Union University in Jackson, TN, has students from more than 45 states and 35 countries and is named one of the top 500 colleges by “Time” Magazine. Its 7-member University Relations department handles about 1,000 projects per year and its 7- member Enrollment Services Department handles enrollment counseling for the schools 3000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Before the University Relations Team started using WebEx WebOffice in 2003, it took a lot of time and energy coordinating individual calendars. That 7-member team includes a manager, photographer, graphic designer, web designer, news director, marketing person, and associate vice president. Each one needs to know what the others are doing.

“Before WebOffice, it was all very work-intensive. Team members were never sure what anyone was doing unless they crosschecked all of those calendars. Sometimes that involved running from one office to another. They had to check in 3 or 4 different places to be able to clear any dates for anything extra that came up. So it took a lot of time and sometimes things did not get done and there were a lot of conflicts in the office,” says Dr. Kathie Chute, Associate Vice President for University Relations, Union University.

Besides the University Relations Department, Dr. Chute also now has responsibility for Enrollment Services. “In the first meeting I had with Enrollment Services, they were bemoaning the fact that they had no comprehensive calendar. They were maintaining two major calendars — one for visiting students who come for special programs and the university’s 11 “Preview Days,” and one master staff calendar. In addition, each of the 7 enrollment counselors was maintaining his or her own separate calendar.”

The University Relations Department had adopted WebEx WebOffice in 2003, and then introduced Dr. Chute to it when she joined the department. Dr. Chute in turn introduced WebOffice to the Enrollment Services Department, when she became head of that group.

“I wasn’t the one to discover WebEx WebOffice. When I joined the University, my staff told me they had already found this perfect solution — WebOffice — to all their calendaring problems. They invited me to join, and I’ve been keeping my calendar exclusively there ever since. WebOffice allows each of us to view and administer each others’ schedules, while still maintaining privacy for our personal appointments.”

When Dr. Chute was subsequently given responsibility for the Enrollment Services Department, she told that group: “‘I have just the solution for your calendar needs.’ So we subscribed to WebEx WebOffice for them too and they are really happy with it. It has saved them work in crosschecking.

It’s also saved us embarrassment, because we’re not overbooking our time.”

"In University Relations, we work on about 1,000 projects per year and without the coordination power and ease that the WebOffice Online Calendar gives us, it would just be impossible. Our WebOffice master Calendar saves us so much time."

- Dr. Kathie Chute, Associate Vice President for University Relations, Union University

With WebEx WebOffice, both departments save enormous amounts of time and energy by not having to maintain schedules manually on multiple calendars.

For instance, University Relations uses the WebOffice Calendar to maintain the complex schedule of its photographer. “The University Relations office produces two magazines simultaneously. We have our photographer booked back-to-back taking photos for both magazines. When he comes in, first thing in the morning, all he has to do is pull up WebOffice and run off the schedule that somebody else has set for him and he just takes off. It’s not a matter of anyone having to sit down and tell him what he needs to do. It’s wonderful. It’s just invaluable,” says Dr. Chute.

“We have also just started using the notify function on the Calendar and so now anytime anything new comes up, we’re all notified simultaneously and that’s been great.”

“The WebOffice customer care team has been really helpful in showing us how we can utilize all the tools in the Calendar in our particular applications.”

“We’ve recommended WebOffice to other offices within the university, and I would recommend WebEx WebOffice to any business that has multiple calendars to maintain. I don’t know of a better way to do that than to subscribe to WebEx WebOffice.”