Submitted by:
Evan Itle Associate Director, Office of Veteran Success
Experience before using Clockwork:
What challenges were you experiencing prior to purchasing Clockwork Veterans?
Prior to Clockwork, our office had issues with the accountability of the GI Bill requests submitted to our office. Requests were paper copy so there was a possibility of lost/misplaced paperwork throughout the time it was being processed. Another issue was that students had to come to our office to file their GI Bill request. Our office was very small and wasn’t capable of handling 1400 students filing into our office to submit their requests.
What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?
We were introduced to your product from our Students with Disabilities Services (SDS). They also used a form of Clockwork and we saw the capabilities of what it may be able to do for us. We didn’t look at any other products from different vendors.
What did your decision-making process look like?
We had to have our university approve funding from an internal technology fee. This took approval from an IT Committee but was fairly easy to get the approval.
Experience using our product/service:
How long did it take to get up and running? Did that meet your expectations? Who was involved in the process?
From the time we initiated the project, it took approximately 2 years to complete Clockwork. Our office had a lot of turnover during that time and it wasn’t easy coordinating the project with new people trying to take the lead. It wasn’t your company’s fault either because I don’t believe anybody understood the complexity of the project when it was first talked about with the Sales Rep from TechnoPro. The following people were involved in the process:
a. Joey Araniego – USF IT, PM
b. Mary Baddam – TechnoPro, PM
c. Wayne Whitley – TechnoPro
d. Evan Itle – USF Office of Veteran Success, Associate Director
e. Larry Braue – USF Office of Veteran Success, Director
Although the process took much longer than expected, the program itself meets all
expectations.
What is your favorite feature? Why?
The best feature of Clockwork is the capability of students to be able to request their GI Bill benefits using the program from anywhere in the world, as long as they have an Internet connection. With students being deployed or transferred to different duty stations, they can still request their benefits without having to come to our office. It is also extremely fast and students like that it only takes a few minutes to complete.
Results:
How have you benefited from using Clockwork Veterans?
Clockwork Veterans has benefited us in many ways. First, it has helped increased internal benefit processing by at least 20%, even during peak times. Second, it allows us to have 100% accountability of all requests and it ensures no paperwork is lost or misplaced. Third, we have better accountability of our workers completing the requests and allows us to conduct training based on the workers that may be struggling with the program. Fourth, just overall happiness from our students with how easy the program is to work with and how quickly they can request their GI Bill benefits.
How is the product helping you save time and increase productivity?
The product is helping with productivity and time by streamlining our process once the student requests their GI Bill benefits. There is no more duplication of work or workers making errors with paper requests. The system is set up to create an internal workers path once a student requests their GI Bill. This makes it easy for the workers and management oversite to be able to keep the process moving quickly and efficiently.
Recommendation:
What is the single biggest reason you would recommend Clockwork?
Our biggest reason we would Clockwork is the ease for the student making the request. The GI Bill can be very stressful and difficult for student veterans to request or even understand. This program completely simplifies the process for the veterans and allows students to focus more on the academic rigors of school and not the financial burdens that students have to worry about. We highly recommend this software and veterans everywhere will be excited if you bring it to your campus.