A university the size of UMass Amherst runs on information. Student records, employee data, communications, and service requests live across systems, departments, and workflows. To become useful, it all has to be organized and connected into something actionable.
That's where UMass Amherst Information Technology comes in. Through platforms like Salesforce and integration tools like Boomi, IT is partnering with departments across campus to untangle data and enable clearer decision making.
The work depends on both systems and relationships: technical tools that help data move, and campus partnerships that help departments get the information they need.
A Growing Data Ecosystem
UMass currently uses several Salesforce instances, known as “orgs,” to support different kinds of campus operations. The biggest one is Flagship 360, which supports a wide range of student-facing work, including student affairs and campus life case management, residential assignments, disability services, student groups, and recruitment-related activity. A separate HR org supports employee services, and a newer corporate engagement org helps manage relationships with external contacts and partners.
Marketing Cloud, another part of the Salesforce ecosystem, supports communication journeys, while integration tools like Boomi help move data between systems. Combined, this setup gives UMass teams more ways to organize information and make intentional decisions to support many areas of the university, from the student experience to internal affairs.
For Rachel Shipman, product manager for the UMass IT Salesforce team, and Charlotte Driscoll, Salesforce admin manager, IT’s role in utilizing data to drive business processes has expanded alongside campus needs.
“Our role has evolved considerably over the years,” Driscoll says. “We now work closely with many departments across the university.”
From Raw Data to Ready-to-Use Information
Having data is only the first step. A major part of IT’s role is partnering with campus departments to figure out where to pull the data from, and how to make it useful. That might mean extracting information from applications or helping teams narrow down their needs — always with data security at the top of mind.
“It starts with looking at a data spec that says, ‘We need all of this data,’” Shipman describes. “Then there is a lot of back and forth to refine what we actually have available in Salesforce and how we could meet their needs.”
In one recent project, Shipman and Driscoll, alongside IT’s Boomi integration team, worked with campus partners to create data flows between Salesforce and another system. The details got technical quickly, involving custom processes, deep reformatting, transfers, and returned data. The result was information securely delivered in the right place and in the right format to support the next step.
Data integration may be unglamorous, but its outcomes are deeply pragmatic. Teams get better information for more efficient decisions, less duplicated effort, and more staff time spent acting on information instead of digging for it.
Capacity That Compounds
The value of this work is cumulative. With every improved process and configuration, UMass Amherst is better positioned to plan for future needs with greater insight and confidence.
“The key word for me is capacity,” said Christopher Misra, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO. “Data work can sound intangible, but the practical impact is very real. When we connect systems well, teams spend less time searching for information and more time using it to support students, employees, and campus operations. That is how we build a more scalable and sustainable foundation for decision-making.”