SARS Anywhere

SARS is a must have!

Comments: I started working with SARS in 2007 as a small piece of my job. At the time, we were only using it in 4 locations on campus. Currently, we now have 36 separate and unique locations campus-wide and I have let my other duties go and have become the SARS guru on our campus. It is my responsibility to meet with the various locations, configure SARS to meet their needs, and ensure that everyone is up and functioning efficiently on a daily basis.

Pros:

I like the creativity I get to use in SARS when I meet with various different locations on campus requiring a very different information set. I can do this by creating different schedule and/or reason codes that will meet their needs. One location on campus has a kiosk where 3 different departments are housed so I had to consider numerous scenarios that the students may face in order to make sure it was functional. I also have a set up in another department where certain criteria has to be met before they can log themselves in. This product is very flexible!

Cons:

Every now and then, someone asks for some data that I cannot pull based on their numerous reports. Usually, you can pull the data in one report, export it, and combine it with the data from another report to get exactly what the end user needs. However, any questions I have are quickly answered by the SARS Support team who are very capable and willing to help me out at a moment's notice!

A Very Useful and Useable Product

Comments: We are using the product to track advisors, tutors, students, study room utilization, study hour requirements, lab use, equipment use, counseling, and appointments by prospective students.

Pros:

SARS Anywhere is a very straight forward program, which allows a great deal of customization, but does not require it. Because it's locally hosted the data is in the clients hands, not the company's. But since it's browser based, it has the look and feel of an externally hosted product, which many students like.

Cons:

The reporting tools are a bit lacking. Because of data siloing at this organization the reporting tools provided were insufficient for our users. But because it's locally hosted, we are able to write direct queries and export the data to other reporting tools.

Outdated

Pros:

This software does a good job of accurately portraying when workers are available for scheduling among colleges.

Cons:

It's a very outdated user face that is not intuitive.

SARS Anywhere

Comments: We are using it for student appointment scheduling in our advising and counseling departments. Advisors and counselors can store appointment notes and plan schedules. We are also using it to allow faculty to identify students having difficulties in class which allows for early intervention. We may also use it for lab scheduling.

Pros:

I found the product and its companion products did a great job of addressing the needs of the college. It also met all modern web and accessibility standards. Most importantly, I found the support and implementation staff excellent. They were also willing to listen to new functionality suggestions and customize the product as needed.

Cons:

Some of the documentation was not up to date, but this was not an issue due to the excellent support staff. It would be difficult to implement the product without help from the support staff.

I don't know what I would do without SARS!

Comments: When I first started using SARS, we were only using it for 4 locations; we now have 35! It is wonderful as you configure it to the needs of a particular department. All of the software works together so a student can book an appointment, receive a confirmation text/email in addition to a reminder a few days before the appointment. It also captures all of the student contact credit for state reporting purposes. Not to mention the IT support team are phenomenal whenever I have any questions! I highly recommend this wonderful team and their product!

Pros:

I Like the way everything is integrated. We use SARSGrid to book appointments and pull data for Program Reviews and State Reporting; we use SARSTrak to check students in and notify counselors when the lines are out the door; we use SARSMsg to text and/or email confirmation and reminder verbiage in addition to eSARS to enable students to book themselves online!

Cons:

Sometimes I can't find an answer to an issue quickly enough in the manuals but the support staff is so great, they usually get back to me right away.