University of Southern Caribbean Selects Disruptive CAMS Enterprise ERP to Manage Student Lifecycle

Online, August 22, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The University of the Southern Caribbean has chosen CAMS® Enterprise, the flagship disruptive ERP solution from Three Rivers Systems Inc. as its new academic enterprise resource planning system to manage its entire student lifecycle.

A disruptive technology is an innovation creating a new market and value network to "disrupt" an existing market by displacing earlier technology.

USC is a private coeducational institution offering undergraduate as well as graduate degrees and has diverse programs in business; education and human science; humanities; science and technology; social science; theology and religion. Located just off the north coast of South America in the English-speaking twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, USC is growing rapidly as demand for excellent institutions of higher education increases in the isle nation.

The university has doubled to more than 3,500 students in less than a decade. Established in 1927 and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Maracas Valley, USC has six satellite extension campuses in Trinidad, Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, St. Lucia and Antigua.

In 2005 the university opted for an "open source" solution for its academic management system. It was soon apparent the system could not be totally integrated to meet the university's growth needs and that the "free" sharing of software did not translate to low total cost of ownership.

As a result, USC formed a selection committee and solicited proposals to evaluate other academic ERP solutions.

While the university reviewed two other proposals, it picked Three Rivers Systems for several key reasons:

-- CAMS Enterprise is a 100 percent Web-based system for easy maintenance.

-- All CAMS functions operate through a single Microsoft SQL server database, so end users can share information easily and in real time.

-- Document tracking and integrated financial aid are strong features competitors do not have.

-- Three Rivers Systems has maintained an excellent record for supporting its users.

According to committee chair Dr. Devon Gardner, "Our goal was to find a comprehensive ERP solution that supports and integrates the business processes of the university. Only Three Rivers Systems presented such a solution. Their longevity in the industry and emphasis on support was evident in both their proposal and their users conference we attended shortly after we signed with them. This system will be a tremendous asset to our planned growth."

CAMS Enterprise is a unique solution for higher education. Totally browser-based and designed from the ground up to leverage the Web, it is unlike older conventional systems that use the Internet as an afterthought. CAMS is fully optimized for mobile apps, so students and faculty alike can interact with their institutions around the clock from mobile devices on the go, anytime and anywhere.

New enhanced user interfaces in CAMS Enterprise reflect the latest in Web 2.0 collaborative and shared applications for greater ease of use and user friendliness. Portals look modern and institutions can save settings to personalize pages while also showing widgets, social networking and other interactive screen elements as part of their portal displays.

CAMS Enterprise requires minimal maintenance and provides information anywhere, anytime, and its complete integration yields unparalleled productivity and flexibility. IT staffing requirements are much lower than with competitive legacy products.
Achieving maximum efficiency and productivity to deliver the ultimate student learning experience is of vital importance and is every institution's goal. With CAMS Enterprise's Business Analytics feature, they can achieve all this along with the lowest total cost of ownership and highest return on investment of any academic ERP.

Powered by advanced Microsoft technology, CAMS® Enterprise Business Analytics empowers faculty, administrators, department heads and others to get precisely the on-demand data they need in attractive easy-to-use dashboards that simplify and enhance the strategic decision-making process.

About USC
University of the Southern Caribbean is a private, coeducational institution with a diverse student body located in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is operated by the Caribbean Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church and is housed on 384 acres of land in the scenic Maracas Valley. Graduates of the university serve the church and society, not only in the Caribbean, but also in many parts of the world. The university's name is honored as many of its graduates have earned advanced degrees in internationally recognized and renowned institutions.

About CAMS Enterprise
CAMS Enterprise's disruptive technology makes it a fundamentally different academic ERP unlike all others that were designed for the past and are incapable of operating efficiently in the modern world. CAMS Enterprise is an easy-to-use and implement, totally integrated, Web-native management system with everything in one place - admissions; student information; financial aid; student services; fiscal management with HR and payroll; fund-raising; alumni relations; document management, learning management, a full suite of portals, and more for managing the entire student life cycle. With an out-of-the-box configuration and self-service customization, CAMS Enterprise removes all barriers to success seen with conventional systems. CAMS' affordable licensing, off-the-shelf configuration and easy implementation translate into the lowest total cost of ownership of any academic ERP while yielding the quickest and highest ROI.