As the flagship institution of Utah, The University of Utah (the U) is a public, land-grant university located in Salt Lake City, serving a diverse community of over 36,000 students. Recognized as the #1 Public University in the West, the U is dedicated to fostering student success under the guiding principle, “You can achieve anything here.” Supporting this mission, the Dean of Students has relied on Symplicity Advocate for over a decade to enhance student support services.
Advocate has been instrumental in addressing the growing demands for mental health, academic assistance, and other critical needs that mirror national trends in higher education. Over the past year, the U experienced a 16% increase in student support cases, with sharp rises in issues related to academics, mental health, basic needs, and financial challenges. Notably, cases involving Personal Loss/Grief surged by 81% compared to 2023, becoming one of the top five concerns, replacing Victim Support.
With the implementation of Advocate Flex, the U has revolutionized its approach to student support. Enhanced by powerful data capabilities, customizable workflows, and improved outcomes, Advocate Flex continues to ensure students receive the holistic care they need to thrive.
Streamlining Processes with Customizable Workflows
Historically, managing student cases at the U relied on outdated systems like paper files and access databases, which were cumbersome and prone to inefficiencies. Now, with a decade long partnership with Symplicity Advocate, the U was able to modernized operations and ensure that the U is effectively managing cases for wrapround student support.
In 2024, with the launch of Advocate Flex, the U’s office has been able to upgrade and handle intricate case management processes. Richelle Warr, Business Systems Analyst, shared, “Our office supports not only our students, but also works closely with campus safety and threat management teams. Advocate Flex has been instrumental in aligning these efforts across campus.”
One of the most significant improvements has been the ability to triage cases effectively and assign them to the appropriate staff based on National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA) risk assessments. This has streamlined workflows, reduced response times, and enhanced support for students in crisis.
“Flex has better auditing and documentation capabilities,” Warr explained. “We can now track exactly when a case was opened, when it was addressed, and how quickly actions were taken. This has been vital for ensuring accountability and improving our processes.”
Additionally, Advocate Flex's capacity to create custom intake forms has opened up new possibilities for addressing academic misconduct, which had previously been a challenge due to the university’s decentralized structure. This flexibility underscores the value of Advocate Flex in adapting to diverse and complex campus needs while maintaining a holistic approach to student care.
“Flex has better auditing and documentation capabilities. We can now track exactly when a case was opened, when it was addressed, and how quickly actions were taken. This has been vital for ensuring accountability and improving our processes.”
Richelle Warr, Business Systems Analyst
The University of Utah
Leveraging Data for Informed Decision-Making
Data has always been critical to the Office of the Dean of Students’ operations, but Advocate Flex has taken its utility to new levels by offering enhanced reporting tools and dashboards. With these tools, the office can efficiently manage caseloads, track trends, and make informed decisions. "We pull eight or nine different data reports weekly," Warr shared. "These reports help us project trends, identify areas of concern, and even make the case for more staff, as support cases continue to rise year over year."
This data has also supported grant applications, allowing the university to secure funding for new initiatives. “The data we’ve gathered has been instrumental in demonstrating the need for grants,” Warr added. “For instance, we’ve used data on presenting concerns to secure funding for emergency resources and support services for students.” This has included data to apply for grants to combat student housing insecurity which looked at the overall number of cases and the percentage of students with housing insecurity cases who had multiple support cases with Utah over a three-year period.
Moreover, Advocate Flex’s ability to track key metrics like case closure times has directly informed operational improvements. The number of Student Support cases managed by Warr and her colleagues continues to grow, increasing 16.09 percent since 2023. Seeing this data in Advocate has enabled the office to champion for more resources and support. This evidence-based approach has improved efficiency and enhanced the quality of care provided to students.
Enhancing Collaboration Across Campus
Collaboration across diverse departments is a hallmark of the University of Utah’s use of Advocate Flex. The office has created a unified approach to case management by integrating housing conduct staff into the Office of the Dean of Students Accountability team. The flexibility of Advocate Flex has been instrumental in facilitating this cross-departmental integration, which has ensured all students receive consistent and comprehensive support, regardless of the complexity of their needs.
The integration of housing conduct staff into the Dean of Students team further illustrates the collaborative potential of Advocate Flex. “A big part of the Flex build was merging processes across departments, which has improved how we manage cases and share responsibilities,” said Warr. With plans to incorporate additional offices and expand capabilities, the university continues to leverage Advocate Flex as a cornerstone of its student support strategy.
Consistent Support
Instrumental to the U’s success has been their relationship with Symplicity’s client support team, in particular their client manager Jake Acton. “[He] was incredibly helpful during this process,” Warr noted. “He not only built much of Flex for us but also brought valuable insights from his prior housing experience, which helped us merge workflows more effectively. It was a relief to have that level of expertise, especially as a team of one managing such a large-scale project…. It's a really good, positive relationship... He really understood what our issues were and then could just run with it. That was just a huge weight off my shoulders because it was pretty intimidating looking at this project.”
As a team of one, having someone with previous higher education experience, was invaluable to Warr. “It was so valuable to have someone who had that experience… Having that dedicated support was something that was important to me was that we had someone that understood, that would know what we needed and it wouldn't all be on us to do that thought work.”
“It was so valuable to have someone who had that experience… Having that dedicated support was something that was important to me was that we had someone that understood, that would know what we needed and it wouldn't all be on us to do that thought work.”
Richelle Warr, Business Systems Analyst
The University of Utah
A Vision for the Future
The University of Utah’s Office of the Dean of Students sees significant potential for Advocate Flex to expand its impact on campus. Current plans include moving processes like academic misconduct management and anonymous reporting in athletics into the system. The office is also exploring ways to integrate the Basic Needs Collective, which supports students with food pantries and other resources, to ensure seamless case management across all areas of student support.
“Flex allows us to accommodate more without compromising quality,” Warr stated. “We’re balancing expansion with maintaining high standards of case management, which is key as more offices express interest in using the system for their needs.”
Additionally, the university is leveraging Advocate Flex to address the growing complexity of its student population, which now includes a significant number of out-of-state and international students. “The diversity of our student body brings unique challenges, especially around housing and basic needs, but Advocate helps us manage these cases effectively,” Warr shared. As the university continues to grow and evolve, Advocate Flex remains a critical tool in ensuring students receive the support they need to thrive.
Advocate Flex enables Institutions can build custom workflows to manage cases for conduct, wellbeing, complaints, sexual misconduct, and more with easy reporting on key metrics and critical programs. To learn more email us at info@symplicity.com or check out what Advocate Flex has to offer, here.
