9 Things You Need to Consider in Choosing a Catalog Management System

A university’s course selection is one of the top reasons to choose a school. In terms of recruitment, then, a university course catalog can strongly affect a student’s decision to apply to a school or not. However, it’s not like you can hand out a printed course catalog to every student that visits the campus; not every student can afford to visit the campus, anyway.

We’re in a world where everything is done online. If students can apply online, take a tour of your campus online, and meet their roommate for the next year online, why shouldn’t they be able to check out the course catalog online?

A simple-to-use, interactive and informative online course catalog can make a huge impact on a student’s decision. Here are some things you need to consider before choosing a catalog management system.

9 things you need to consider when choosing a Catalog Management System

1. How difficult will the transition from print to online be in terms of the mindset in your office or department?
2. How flexible do you want the system to be?
3. How flexible will YOU be with the system?
4. How many users will need to update the catalog (i.e. workflow and approval processes)?
5. How are you currently managing your print and/or online catalog and how satisfied are you with that process?
6. Do you intend to continue producing a print catalog?
7. How interactive do you want the online catalog to be?
8. Do you want to incorporate Web 2.0 aspects in your online catalog such as social media, audio and video?
9. What aspects are most important to you? I.e., search capabilities, style and design, ease of use (both from your perspective re: catalog updates and a student perspective), tracking history of changes, etc.
   

There are a lot of considerations to be made before choosing the right catalog management system for you, these are only a few questions that should go into your decision-making process.

Our Newest Addition to our Higher Education Product Offering: CatalogM

CatalogM aims to help you meet your goals, however specific they may be, because it was built to be flexible enough to support unique needs. We will also work with you to make the process very streamlined to save you time and make the process as painless as possible. We'll be releasing more and more information over the next couple of weeks, but please contact Katie at kbrosious@allofe.com if you're interested in learning more.