New Partner Onboarding

One of the questions that our new partnerships team receives during their conversations with prospective partners is about onboarding. Our new partners are often curious about what it looks like to implement Upswing on their campus. Questions like “How long does Upswing’s onboarding take?” “What will be expected of me and my team?” “Who will I work with during the onboarding process?” 

These are great questions and ones that we hope to be as transparent as possible about. We pride ourselves on our customer support. In fact, the majority of the 100+ current partners have worked with Upswing for over 5 years. Onboarding is a key part of the experience of our customers. It’s our first opportunity to make a major impression and one that we know is key to partner success. 

Our objectives throughout the onboarding process are simple: 

• Focus on understanding our partner’s goals 
• Provide support from start to finish
• Make the process as easy and efficient as possible 
• Ensure our partners have the resources and training they need to be successful

At Upswing, we have multiple teams who work together to ensure the best possible onboarding experience including our New Partnerships team, Product and Engineering teams, Customer Support, and most importantly our HERO team. Everyone at Upswing is committed to the mission of not just supporting our partners, but also our partners’ students, tutors, and administrators. 

Read on to learn more about our onboarding process through the most commonly asked questions that we receive from prospective partners. 

Who will I work with during the onboarding process? 

You’ll primarily work with your HERO (Higher Education Retention Officer). They’ll work behind the scenes with the rest of the Upswing team to ensure your onboarding is simple and smooth. Once you have signed your contract, the New Partnership team member will introduce you to your HERO and ensure a smooth handoff as you begin the onboarding process. 

How long does the onboarding process take? 

Depending upon which products and services you purchase, onboarding can take up to 7 weeks. That timeline is variable and dependent upon how quickly we can work together to set up your platform (we offer a lot of customization based upon your needs!) and your users within the platform. 

Who should be involved in the onboarding process from my campus?

This is also variable on the products and services you purchase, but in general, we like to involve all key stakeholders (e.g. Director of the Tutoring Center, IT Specialist, or VP of Student Affairs) at least in the beginning of the onboarding during your initial kick-off meeting. This ensures that everyone who needs to be involved or informed about the process can be part of the conversation, understand the timeline, and the necessary deliverables. 

Does Upswing provide any training during the onboarding process? 

We understand that training is a huge part of product adoption and engagement. Your HERO will ensure that synchronous training sessions are scheduled for all users including administrators, campus tutors, and advisors. 

We also offer a library of asynchronous resources through our Onboarding Kit and Knowledge Base. Administrators, campus tutors, advisors, and students can access onboarding materials, support articles, and videos to help address commonly asked questions. 

Our customer support team is also available to answer questions and help troubleshoot issues. They can be reached through the Support bot on our website as well as the platform. 

What is expected of me and my team during the onboarding process? 

We understand that as administrators you are very busy and have a lot of competing priorities. It can also be daunting to learn a new system! In order to make sure your onboarding is successful, we ask that you be as communicative as possible (ask us as many questions as you need!) and learn the platform using the resources available. 

Depending upon your platform needs, you may also be asked to provide student, course, or tutor data lists, exchange SSO metadata, and help our team organize training for campus stakeholders. 

What sort of technical support do you provide during the onboarding process? 

Upswing has a dedicated Technical Support Specialist who will work with you and your HERO to ensure that your students can access our platform easily, your data is received properly, and all of your requested customizations are set up to meet your needs. We also have a lot of technical support documentation available for new partners as they go through the onboarding process which can be found on our Onboarding Kit. 

If you have any more questions about the onboarding process at Upswing or would like to learn more about what needs we can help you solve, please reach out to us. Together, we can reach, support, and retain more students.