Coleg Cambria, a vibrant college with locations across North Wales, UK, faced a common challenge for institutions built through merger: a scattered legacy of information. Formed through the merger of three colleges over 15 years, Coleg Cambria needed a way to bring institutional knowledge across its 5 locations and 1400+ employees into one place.
Seeking a Solution to Support a Growing, Modern College
"We had a lot of information internally hosted," explains Adam Cleaver, Director of Technology at Coleg Cambria. "Finding anything was a chore, and maintaining it was resource-intensive with our limited web team." The college's previous system simply wasn't built to keep information findable at the pace a growing institution needed. The pandemic made the need for connection to colleagues, as well as up-to-date COVID-19 policies, even more important. In 2020, the search for a new system led Coleg Cambria to Happeo.
"We needed a cloud-based solution that reflected our ethos - simple, clean, and organized," says Adam. Happeo immediately stood out with its user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation.
Happeo in Action: Organizing and Surfacing College Knowledge
Since implementing Happeo, Cambria has seen a significant improvement in how institutional knowledge is organized, found, and shared, as well as its communication.
- Centralized Information Hub: Happeo serves as a central repository for vital college knowledge. Departments maintain dedicated content pages, ensuring policies, support resources, and pay & pension information are easy to find rather than scattered across systems.
- Streamlining Communication: Channels dedicated to things like news and notices or focused on student successes and events allow for targeted and engaging communication across departments and locations.
- Distributed Content Ownership: Staff have ownership of their content and the knowledge they share. This has not only empowered staff but has also eased the pressure on the college's marketing team, allowing them to focus their efforts on student recruitment and other key strategic aims.
- Keeping Policy Knowledge Current: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Happeo proved invaluable. "We kept all 1400 employees up-to-date with the latest policies through regular announcements," says Adam. These efforts were recognized during a recent government audit, with Happeo receiving high praise for its role in facilitating information flow.
The college also realized the importance of user education. Coleg Cambria has established a committee to drive platform maturity and launched user campaigns to ensure everyone feels comfortable navigating Happeo. This collaborative approach empowers departments to take ownership of their content, fostering a stronger sense of shared responsibility for the college's knowledge base.
Why Happeo?
Several factors influenced Cambria's decision to choose Happeo:
- Cloud-Based and Google Integration: The cloud-based nature of Happeo eliminates the need for extensive IT support, aligning with Cambria's ethos of reducing resource strain. Additionally, the Google integration ensures accessibility, with built-in translation features, supporting the college's diverse staff.
- Intuitive Interface and Decentralized Management: The platform's simple, yet clean and user-friendly interface makes it easy for everyone to get started. "Happeo's ability to set up and delegate access empowers many hands to make light work," says Adam. Content ownership across departments prevents information silos, while maintaining a consistent brand experience.
- Constant Development and Transparency: The Happeo team keeping the college up to date on the platform roadmap has continued to keep Coleg Cambria informed about upcoming features and ensured the product continues to meet their evolving needs.
- Mobile App Capabilities: Teachers are not consistently at desks. They are teaching classes, collaborating with colleagues, hosting events, and more. The Happeo mobile app keeps them up-to-date, even when on-the-go.
- Translation feature: By law, educational institutions in Wales must have the ability to translate websites from English to Welsh, and Happeo's instant toggle for translation made this requirement a breeze.
- Balance of Top-Down and Bottoms-Up Approach: Happeo provides the governance needed to ensure content quality and accuracy while still providing channels for faculty and staff to share knowledge and learn and grow together as one organization.
Over the past few years, Coleg Cambria's engagement results have shown to be above industry average, with over 800 daily active users and an 85% search adoption rate — a strong indicator that information once described as "a chore" to find is now consistently easy to surface. The college's plans for the future of the platform include implementation of Happeo's AI offerings and ongoing measurement of content performance to align to user needs.
"Happeo is just an invaluable platform for us. It has provided us with a platform to truly connect as one college. We have been able to bridge the geographical gap, streamline communication, and foster a culture of knowledge sharing. We're excited to see how Happeo continues to evolve and support our growth." - Adam Cleaver, Director of Technology, Coleg Cambria
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