Specialized teams working together

One of the most oft-asked questions we get from new clients (and even current clients) is how is RMS organized, or another way of putting it; Who does what? RMS is comprised of a group of very qualified staff members in a set of specialized teams. However, much like many housing and residence life offices, there is “a lot of blurring of the lines” as we work with clients and develop our product. It is not unusual to find many members from different teams working on a project or support issue.

The teams can be described in the following manner:
Sales Team – Naturally, this is the first group of RMS staff members that new clients come into contact. Unlike other companies, contact with the sales team does not end when the decision is made to purchase the RMS system. The sales team makes a special effort to stop by and check in on client sites when in the area, and always attend the annual RMS users Conference. In fact, we have created a brand new position called Customer Success Manager whose sole purpose is to work with current clients. The sales Team also works closely with the RMS Users Executive Board on produce development and the annual Users conference.

Implementation Team – This team’s main purpose is to work with the new clients throughout the installation and configuration process. It starts with a Fit Gap where client business processes are compared with RMS functionality to determine the best method to configure RMS and the data. It continues with the installation of the product, a myriad of training visits, follow-up calls, and ends with the final cut-over visit when the client is ready to “go live.”

Training Team – These members are responsible for the internal and external training and documentation of RMS functionality. This includes working with new clients during their implementation phase and continues long after cutover with refresher training, training new staff members, and training on new functions and modules. Courses like Auto Allocation, Assignments and Room Management, and Student Web Self Assign are offered here in our Raleigh office and/or on site. In addition, RMS provides a series of Web X courses throughout the year and training documents available on the RMS web site. Another service this team provides are consulting and business process review trips for clients who like to explore different and more efficient ways of using RMS.

Interface Team – This team is responsible for the development and installation of our many interfaces that interact with other campus systems such as Banner, PeopleSoft, and Blackboard. Although interfaces tend to be behind the scenes, they are quite important in saving work and increasing efficiency for many clients. The ability for one system ‘to talk’ to another is key is today’s technological age.

Support Team – These folks have the most client interaction and are responsible for handling the day-to-day support related issues that are submitted via Helpstar, our web-based “Help!!” The support team works with clients to resolve problems, issues, and functional processes a timely manner. They handle everything from my application mail merge letters aren’t printing to I forgot how to log into RMS.

Development Team – They are responsible for the research and development of RMS. These members work on improving the current build along with developing enhancements and new functionality for future builds. In some cases, developers assist in resolving Helpstar and implementation issues and do some specialized training for clients.

QA Team – These unsung heroes work hand-in-hand with the Development team to test all new enhancements and functions. Before any new function is placed in a future RMS build, it must pass through a series of rigorous testing phases with the QA team.

Main Office Team – Naturally, there is much work that occurs in coordinating and supporting the above teams that clients never witness. These are the people that get the implementation tem members to a client site, make sure training manuals are sent to clients, direct clients to the proper RMS staff person and all sort of others tasks to keep our office going.

We are hopeful that the above descriptions are of some help in explaining who we are and how we work. The important point to remember is that although we have very specialized sets of teams, it doesn’t matter who you contact for assistance. Here at RMS we all work together as one big team and this is important to providing you with the best service that we can give you along with a great product.