ACS News

ACS Athletics and GradesFirst Collaborate To Better Service the Athletics Community

ACS Athletics and GradesFirst are excited to announce the companies are collaborating to better service their mutual customers and provide an enhanced experience to collegiate athletics staff, coaches and academic advisors.   Details of the agreement are being finalized, but this partnership will provide additional value to institutions currently using the ACS Athletics InControl^TM software to manage the student-athlete life-cycle, as well as GradesFirst technology to manage and track student-athlete academic progress.  The partnership will allow systems integration of these two innovative software systems and give users greater control and access to critical student-athlete information.

“ACS Athletics has been fortunate to become the premier system within collegiate athletics to centralize student-athlete records and enhance communication among coaches and administrators with our department-wide notification tools,” said Kevin Bresser, VP Sales at ACS Athletics.  “We have also encouraged campuses to consider our product integration options to better connect InControl^TM with key administrative systems such as campus student information systems and CAi. We are pleased to respond to our customers’ requests to collaborate with GradesFirst to further consolidate information and increase access to critical student-athlete data.  GradesFirst is an exciting addition to our partnership channel due to the high-level of respect and customer satisfaction they have earned in the industry. This collaboration is a big win for coaches and athletics staff around the country.”

“As our partnership with ACS progresses, we look forward to providing even greater efficiencies to our customers,” said Mario Moore, CEO at GradesFirst.  “Making more student information available in GradesFirst enables us to continue our mission of improving the lives of academic advisors. Having integration with the ACS InControl system makes it easier for advisors to share information and communicate more easily with students, coaches and other athletic staff.”

To learn more about this groundbreaking relationship, please find representatives from ACS Athletics and GradesFirst at the NAAC Convention in Anaheim (June 21-22).   Questions may also be emailed to ACS Athletics at info@acsathletics.com or GradesFirst at sales@gradesfirst.com .

About ACS Athletics

ACS Athletics flagship product, ACS InControl™, centralizes document and information management in one system for the key operational areas that drive the Student-Athlete Lifecycle™, allowing stakeholders across an organization to see a holistic view of student-athlete records, recruiting, compliance monitoring, student-athlete forms, CARA logs, complimentary admissions, and much more.

About GradesFirst

GradesFirst is a leading web-based student support system that provides athletic advising departments an easy and efficient way to automate progress reports, study hall management, tutor management, attendance tracking, and reporting.  GradesFirst also improves communications between advisors, students, coaches, and faculty with tools like text messaging and automated email.  The school-branded Facebook application provides integration with the most popular social networking site; facilitating yet another method of student-athlete communication.  GradesFirst  works with athletic departments across the country to help advisors and coaches monitor the academic performance of their student-athletes so they can stay on the team and remain competitive.

The Compliance Group Conducts Review of Industry-Leading ACS Athletics InControl Compliance and Student-Athlete Information Management Software

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To better service their customers and the athletics compliance community, ACS Athletics has contracted with The Compliance Group (TCG) – a leader in the NCAA compliance consulting business – to conduct a thorough review of the InControl^TM product suite.  InControl™ is a comprehensive student-athlete life cycle management software system comprised of integrated modules for managing student-athlete records, compliance monitoring, recruiting, equipment management, complimentary tickets, CARA logs, athletic forms and other key processes.

TCG’s review of the ACS InControl^TM software was intended to determine the likelihood that implementation of this system would assist in reducing both secondary and major violations of NCAA legislation on an institution’s campus.  The basis for this report was information provided to TCG staff by ACS during in-person presentations and interviews with experienced ACS Athletics customers.

“As a company, we have a responsibility to make sure our customers have the best solutions and services possible, and that they’re proactively positioned to meet compliance related challenges head on,” said Phillip Engle, CEO of ACS Athletics. “Due to its extensive experience in conducting on-campus compliance reviews and inquiries, we chose TCG to provide an independent and objective analysis of our product.  Contracting with TCG helps us maintain high performance standards and continue to deliver the types of proven solutions our collegiate customers have come to expect over the last seven years.”

To learn more about this extensive product review and how ACS Athletics can improve an athletics department’s compliance operations, you can find a member of the ACS Athletics team at the NCAA Regional Rules Seminar in Dallas (June 14-17) and the NAAC Convention in Anaheim (June 21-22).   A copy of this review may also be requested by emailing ACS Athletics at info@acsathletics.com or by calling (800) 343-6220 x302.

About ACS Athletics

ACS Athletics flagship product, ACS InControl™, centralizes document and information management in one system for the key operational areas that drive the Student-Athlete Lifecycle™, allowing stakeholders across an organization to see a holistic view of student-athlete records, recruiting, compliance monitoring, student-athlete forms, CARA logs, complimentary admissions, and much more.

About The Compliance Group

The Compliance Group, founded by former NCAA  Major Case Coordinator in 1999 Chuck Smrt, provides an array of quality and cost effective compliance services to intercollegiate athletics departments and conference offices. These include conducting a compliance review on behalf of conferences and institutions, and assisting NCAA members in major case processing, waivers, academic services reviews, strategic planning, etc.   TCG has assisted numerous Division I, II, and III institutions and conferences.  TCG personnel have extensive on-campus, conference, and NCAA national office experience in various capacities, including NCAA major infractions case coordinator, university general counsel, and director of compliance.

Tennessee Volunteers to Manage the Student-Athlete Life Cycle with ACS Athletics!

ACS Athletics is proud to announce that the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has selected ACS Athletics as its department-wide technology provider for managing the student-athlete life-cycle. With ACS InControlTM, the Volunteers will automate and integrate recruiting, compliance monitoring, student-athlete records and forms, CARA logs and much, much more!

“In evaluating potential technology solutions, it became clear that ACS not only has the most product depth and substance, but the ACS staff also has the most experienced team in implementing these types of solutions,” said Brad Bertani, Tennessee Associate Athletics Director for Compliance. “Being able to organize the volumes of information we are required to keep on a day-to-day and year-to-year basis was a top priority,” Bertani said. “Having a system that integrates several key areas into one centralized location was our primary need, and ACS delivers the most proven solution.”

With ACS InControlTM, all sports on the Knoxville campus will have access to powerful recruiting tools, such as email tracking, reporting features, initial-eligibility evaluation and prospect record organization. The compliance staff will streamline operations via real-time analysis of recruiting activities, such as contacts, evaluations and telephone calls. Coaches will have the ability to enter recruiting activities into their mobile devices helping to avoid pesky violations with proactive alerts. Student-athletes will complete required paperwork and verify CARA logs through a secure student-athlete portal, greatly reducing time demands.

In addition to finding an organizational solution, Bertani was pleased to find a system that generated so much excitement among coaches. “With ACS, all of our sport programs will have access to a top-of-the-line recruiting system, which will allow them to maintain a competitive edge over other schools,” Bertani said. “Purchasing a product with this combination of recruiting and compliance tools was an easy decision.”

Finally, Bertani is already planning for the future by exploring customization options to meet specific needs within the Volunteer athletics program. “We’re very interested in exploring the custom workflow options, such as official visit approvals, for the future,” Bertani said. “The possibilities are really limitless, and going completely paperless is a realistic goal with this system.”

Pioneering Ivy Leaguer Brown University Chooses ACS Athletics

Brown University, the seventh oldest university in America, has selected ACS Athletics as its technology partner to more efficiently manage day-to-day operations within the athletics department.  With ACS InControl^TM software, Brown will manage the student-athlete life-cycle for more than 900 student-athletes participating in 37 sport programs on its Providence, Rhode Island campus.

“The greatest benefit of the ACS software to our staff and student-athletes is that we can now centralize all of the information we collect from student-athletes and we can do that from the time they are prospects right through the length of their careers at Brown,” said Michael Goldberger, Director of Athletics at Brown University.  ”In the past, our staff was bound by inefficient, paper-driven processes which made us more vulnerable to violations and increased the time that both staff and student-athletes spent handling forms.  Now, not only will we improve the student-athlete experience by streamlining this process, but we will also have the data we collect in a usable format, instead of buried within filing cabinets and drawers.”

ACS InControl™ is the industry-leading student-athlete information management system that takes a holistic approach to solving the operational challenges facing athletics departments today.  InControl is a comprehensive, integrated system that simplifies processes and gives coaches and administrators better control of the data and day-to-day operations that drive the student-athlete life-cycle.  InControl helps with student-athlete forms, roster management, CARA logs, complimentary admissions, compliance monitoring, recruiting, and more.   Additionally, Brown has turned to ACS Athletics’ integrated equipment inventory tracking system to provide an increased level of transparency to the equipment on-hand, issued, and on order.   The equipment operations staff will be tied directly into the official rosters for the department, further eliminating duplicate lists and communication as everyday changes occur.

Brown is setting the pace among its peer institutions by adopting this holistic approach in managing its operations.  By bringing student-athlete information into one integrated platform, coaches and staff will have more time to spend coaching and mentoring student-athletes, producing a much more positive experience.  Brown coaches will be more efficient and effective in the recruiting process and gain that all-important edge in attracting the best and brightest talent.  The compliance staff will save significant time and energy by eliminating the piles of paper-based student-athlete forms and manual processes associated with collecting, data-entering, filing, and retrieving this information.   The department will have immediate access to this critical information to better analyze trends among their student-athletes and provide faster and enhanced service to each individual student-athlete.   Compliance will also save time by eliminating incomplete spot-checking of recruiting logs, as well as the collection of such logs from coaches, altogether.  Student-athletes will spend less time completing required paperwork and requesting complimentary admissions so that family and friends can attend competitions.

“With ACS, we have a complete system that is easy for student-athletes, coaches and administrators to use and will allow us to increase our monitoring efforts in a broad range of areas,” said Goldberger.  “Compliance staff will be able to automate certain functions, which will provide the ability to focus attention in other places. And our coaches will use the same tool for recruiting and team management functions, which simplifies their efforts as well.  In this economic climate, when budgets are tight and staff time is a resource that must be maximized, ACS InControl will allow us to reclaim precious minutes and devote that time to improving our programs in other ways.”

If your department’s efficiency and effectiveness is still handicapped by paper-trails, separate systems/spreadsheets and communication bottlenecks, you are at risk and have a competitive disadvantage.  Inaccessible, inaccurate information impedes decision making, slows response time and distracts key stakeholders, like coaches, from doing the jobs they were hired to do.  Adding more staff to shuffle paper, or purchasing software to tackle one area or issue, only perpetuates the problem and creates more costly overhead.

If you are serious about taking that next step to improving departmental operations, please contact ACS Athletics at (800) 343-6220 or via email at sales@acsathletics.com.