Issue 1 | Volume 150 | September 4, 2018
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Eliminating the Runaround with ERNIE Central
Brandon Collins/Business Manager
The Central Place for Student Services Brandon Collins Business Manager Last semester, the Avion reported on the opening of a new department on campus, at the time known as the “one-stop shop” (which has since been named ERNIE Central). The main premise of ERNIE Central is to eliminate the infamously known “Riddle Runaround.” As most of our readers know, the “Riddle Runaround” is when a student is sent to various departments around campus to take care of an issue that students should have no problem completing, this process usually taking over an hour or two to complete. In an effort to eliminate this issue, the Embry-Riddle administration created a new department known as ERNIE Central. ERNIE Central will hopefully improve the experiences of students by conveniently housing multiple departments in one location. At this time, it is currently home to four major departments: Student Financial
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ERNIE Central will hopefully improve the experiences of students by conveniently housing multiple departments in one location.
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This Week’s Waves
Services, the Office of the Registrar, Financial Aid, and parts of EAGLEcard. Students will be able to go here if they need help with account balance questions, academic records (registering for classes, add/drop, evaluations, and transfer credits), financial holds (paying bills, flight deposits, and making payment plans), financial aid (status, loans, awards, verification documents, and scholarships), or issues with their EAGLEcard. In the future, the department would like to add other services for students, such as First-Year Programs, Student-Advisor Relations, Document Input, and Student Employment. The departments have cross-trained all of their employees so that the staff of the ERNIE Central will be able to answer most, if not all, of the student’s questions when they visit, eliminating the runaround students experienced in prior years. If the staff member is unable to answer the question, they will call or Skype a staff member in the necessary office to get an answer for the student. They currently use a similar method if the student’s advisor needs to approve something for the student. The office utilizes a queue management system to help the flow of students. Much like the one in Student Employment, students will sign-in, and when it is almost time for them to meet with a person, they will receive a notification. From here, students can either say they are ready and available to
Daytona Beach, FL
attend, or they can ask if they can delay for a few minutes if they are preoccupied. Students are not be obligated to stay in the office, and if time allows, they could go and grab food, or even run to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee if they felt like it. The department has also made themselves app friendly, and students can find them on Qless, which when students use, they will be added to a queue of students so that they can join while sitting in class or eating lunch. There will also be a kiosk located at the Welcome/Info desk situated at the front of the new UC so that they can join the queue right after they walk-in. The department is currently located in the Tomcat Annex and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and it plans on keeping the same hours when they open in the new UC. When that happens, they will also be relocated to the first floor in the southwest corner of the new student center in Room 161, next to the bookstore’s new location. During peak times of the semester, i.e., registration, they plan on bringing in more staff members from the three departments to help out. They currently have student employees at all times to help with simple questions and tasks much like most departments on campus do already. ERNIE Central was able to have a soft start over the summer, opening their doors on June 25, and they saw
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great success, having already serviced well over 3000+ students since they have opened their doors. They were able to work out some of their smaller kinks during this time and became more efficient for the students. They currently have about a 10-minute turnaround time to help resolve issues for students who walk-in. Their turn around for e-mails is presently less than 24 hours, which they hope to improve as the semester progresses. You can currently contact them via phone at (386) 226-6280 or via e-mail at AskErnie@erau.edu. For students who do not have the time to stop, they can go online to https://daytonabeach.erau. edu/ernie-central/ for self-servicing. ERNIE Central’s online presence allows students to request transcripts, view course catalogs, apply for graduation, access payment methods, and much, much more. At this time, the current plan of action is for the department to improve over time. They will fix any issues as they come up, and if they find that they are the source of the problems, they will do their best to change. The ultimate goal of the department is to improve the students’ experiences and end the runaround. They are always open to suggestions and love to hear feedback from students about what they do well, and things that you think they should change.
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