RMIT University automates course placement, communication, and reporting

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. With a long history dating to 1887, it continues to educate and innovate in the areas of design, technology, and enterprise.

Several years ago, the School of Media and Communication and School of Design WIL Team set about on a digital transformation journey. “We were inspired by the new tools and platforms, wondering what they could do to help us improve our processes. We wanted to increase our efficiency and introduce more automation into our workflows,” shares Laetitia Shand, Manager of Research Partnerships at RMIT University. Working with many stakeholders across numerous activities in a large institution, the organisation had to navigate a lot of complexity, from delivering reports to organising schedules.

Navigating complex course placements

One such issue was tracking which students were placed in a course at any given time. “While this seems like a simple problem, there are complications—students might be involved in multiple courses at once, their enrollment may change, or they might have placements that are not yet recorded in our system,” explains Shand.

Previously, this was done manually. The university would pull data from different sources, match it against enrolments, and create reports for every course one by one. 

“This process was time-consuming, often taking days, and the information was often outdated and unreliable. We’d need to keep additional notes on the side to track what was really happening,” Shand adds.

An effortless system

Shand decided to rethink the whole process and set up an automated system in Smartsheet. Today, a staff member enters details on the platform and Smartsheet matches this data with enrolments using simple formulas. This consolidates information and generates a live view of where each student is placed at any given time.

With the Smartsheet solution, RMIT University can automatically communicate key information with students and faculty. “For example, students receive reminders when their paperwork isn’t documented in the system. The system also notifies us when there’s a new student or when their status has changed, so we send them automatic welcome emails with their next steps as soon as they enrol, which is very helpful,” Shand shares.

The solution also generates reports by pulling data from multiple sheets and automatically distributes them to academics every week. “This way, our teaching staff know the status of every student in their class,” says Shand.

More efficiency and agility

According to Shand, RMIT University has saved invaluable time with the new solution. 

“Before Smartsheet, we had to manually match everything up and save, label, and send reports to many people. Now, with Smartsheet, we just enter the data once, and everything else happens automatically. Reports go out at 9 a.m. every Tuesday, so it looks like we’re busy sending fantastic reports, but it’s all automated,” she shares. “This has also made our jobs more pleasant. The team is really enjoying interacting with Smartsheet.”

With a single source of truth, it is now easier to monitor changes. With Smartsheet features like conditional formatting, the team can easily spot issues like duplicate entries. Activity logs also alert them of any important status updates. Importantly, the university now works with up-to-date information, enabling course coordinators to identify and respond to issues quickly. “Our data is accurate up to the minute. We no longer have to wait for reports or search for information—it’s always right there. This immediate access to information is an enormous benefit.”

Smartsheet taking root

Soon, Shand’s team started solving other problems with Smartsheet dashboards, forms, and reports. One example is the annual report where the organisation sums up its year for its staff members. “In the past, we would assemble simple PDFs and send them around. Now, we’re easily bringing data from various sources onto one page in Smartsheet, and users can click through different areas and find out more. We can put almost anything in there, it’s very versatile.”

For Shand, one of Smartsheet’s greatest benefits is its ease of use. “When setting up our solutions, I mainly used Smartsheet’s online resources and watched a few videos. It wasn’t hard at all and I really enjoyed the process,” recalls Shand. Thanks to its simplicity, Smartsheet has been finding its way into other departments and teams. “Smartsheet has been taking off at RMIT University, adopted by many different service areas. I think it’s because it’s so easy to get started and adapt to specific needs. You don’t need a development team to set it up just the way you want,” Shand adds.

A steady ship

Crucially, Smartsheet’s user-friendliness—as well as its permissions and controls—also brings peace of mind to Shand. 

“Unlike a simple spreadsheet where it’s easy to mess things up by clicking the wrong formula, Smartsheet is hard to break, which makes it easy for the entire team to collaborate. You know that feeling when you go into someone else’s spreadsheet and think, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this’? That doesn’t happen with Smartsheet. Previously, everything had to be owned by one person who needed to know exactly how to do it. Now, it feels like shared ownership, which is a big game changer for us.”

Looking back on the journey, Shand advises other organisations to start with small problems and work their way up to comprehensive changes. “Before, we’d cross a river with a makeshift bridge. Now, with Smartsheet, we have a robust, practical solution,” she concludes.

For more information, check out our infographic showing how Australian universities drive innovation, compliance, and efficiency using Smartsheet