Funding Technology Solutions for Your Athletics Department
In an effort to increase efficiency, improve recruiting efforts and maintain compliance with NCAA rules, athletics departments are turning to technology solutions to meet these standards. Progressive, cost conscious athletic departments are now looking to transform their athletics business processes, making communication and information delivery more automated and collaborative. Increased efficiencies means athletics departments can get more productivity out of the staff they already have in place. When athletics administrators and coaches engage in evaluating these solutions, funding is a primary concern. In many instances, individual units of the athletics department are free to explore ways in which to operate more efficiently, but are then responsible for identifying the funding method. For revenue sports, this does not always present much of an obstacle, but for non-revenue sports and other areas within the athletics department that are not self-sustaining, the challenge is much greater. Generally, funds will have to be reallocated from an existing budget line item, such as salaries, travel or other services that may affect the well-being of student-athletes. When this occurs, the institution is too often forced to choose between cutting one area or project to fund another, selecting a technology solution that is inferior or does not meet the needs of the department or sport, or abandoning the technology solution altogether. So, how does an athletics department fund a technology solution without detracting from other areas?
First, evaluate what is being spent on existing software within each individual unit (e.g., football, track, volleyball, compliance, equipment operations) in the athletics department. For those areas that do not employ a software program in daily operations, consider calculating the number of person hours required to maintain appropriate record-keeping, compliance monitoring, recruiting records, equipment inventory and student-athlete information. Follow that exercise by estimating the number of person hours saved by implementing a technology solution in that area. Once the cost of existing operations is determined, consider a holistic approach to a technology solution, whereas, each area improved by implementing such a program is responsible for only a small portion of the total cost.
The ACS InControl product suite provides a department-wide technology solution for all types of athletics departments. In addition, the system helps athletics organizations reach their peak productivity and increase institutional control by automating and enhancing inefficient, paper-driven processes. Coaches maintain a recruiting edge through use of branded email templates, a comprehensive prospective student-athlete database and more efficient record keeping. Through the use of the recruiting and team manager modules, coaches will no longer need to submit recruiting logs or playing and practice season hourly summaries, as this information is entered directly into the system for review by the compliance office. The compliance module contains a rules engine which evaluates recruiting activities in accordance with NCAA rules in real time. Student-athlete forms are pushed directly to the student-athlete for completion prior to beginning of the year team meetings, which saves time and paper! This information is then permanently stored in the student-athlete’s individual system file. Equipment inventory can be electronically tracked so as to reduce the potential for increased costs due to lost or stolen equipment.
This is only a snapshot of the services the ACS InControl product suite provides and with the release of the new “Baseline” product, athletics departments have an affordable solution to address the day-to-day challenges of tracking hundreds of student-athletes, thousands of activities and tens of thousands of records, all of which may be accessed with a few clicks of the mouse.
“Instead of adding more people, athletic departments are adopting ACS InControl™ to help their current staff perform at a higher level,” said Kevin Bresser, Vice President of Sales, ACS Athletics. “It’s exciting to be in a position to offer performance improving solutions that are both budget and environmentally friendly.”
“The mass of paperwork is too much for stakeholders like coaches and compliance administrators to wade through,” said Phillip Engle, President, ACS Athletics. “Through partnerships with the top collegiate athletic programs across the country, we know firsthand that ACS InControl™ helps coaches and administrators do their jobs more effectively, giving their teams and athletic department a competitive advantage.”
Finally, by absorbing the cost of the ACS InControl product suite across the entire department, the effect on individual sport or unit budgets in minimal. In the long run, the system will actually lower operating costs and reduce inefficiencies that stifle productivity by transforming and automating athletic business processes.
For more information on how ACS Athletics can help athletic departments improve performance, visit http://www.acsathletics.com.
ACS Athletics
Phone: 512-343-8811×302
Fax: 512-857-0316