Advisors, Meet Your New Personal Assistant Manager
Chapter advisors will find their work much easier this fall, when they are introduced to PAM, their Personal Assistant Manager.
PAM is the newly released software designed to reduce chapter advisor workload. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology, PAM provides advisors with a comprehensive, at-a-glance view of chapter activity to assist with chapter administration. Working with seasoned advisors, the Phi Theta Kappa Software Development team custom-designed PAM as a virtual assistant requiring no installation, and accessible through a link on the Society website.
Eligible students may use PAM to complete applications and pay membership fees online. Chapter advisors will include a PAM-generated link and passcode in the letter of invitation sent to eligible students. Students may use the link to learn more about Phi Theta Kappa and pay their membership fees online.
"We're excited to offer the convenience of paying membership fees online," noted West Williamson, Director of Membership Services.
"We worked with advisors, Regional Coordinators and IT security specialists to ensure that our solution would maintain the integrity of membership, provide a secure environment for students, and preserve - even strengthen - the critical relationship between the local chapter and members.
"Each student will have a passcode into our secure website to pay their fees," he explained. "Advisors will know immediately which students have accepted membership."
Chapter advisor and PAM beta tester Rob Carey of Pima Community College in Arizona hailed this feature as a real breakthrough.
"The online fee payment capability has made it so much easier for students who prefer to use credit cards to pay their fees. This year we saw a 21% increase in our membership over the same period last year, and I believe it is due in part to the online payment feature," said Carey, Association of Chapter Advisors Secretary.
Carey said that last semester he had the highest number of inductees since the chapter was chartered 30 years ago. "It is very rewarding to provide the benefits of membership to a larger, more diverse group of students."
Carey also praised PAM's search function. "I no longer need to scroll through hundreds of names to find the one I need. At Pima Community College there are 4,500-4,800 eligible students, so this function is truly a time-saver in a college our size."
PAM offers a dashboard of information that allows advisors to check the status of their chapter by condensing data pertaining to chapter administration to one page.
Advisor Education Specialist Barb Murray said that the comment she hears most often from advisors who have trained on PAM is how it eliminates the need to move between so many different areas of the website to complete tasks.
"Advisors are excited that now instead of going to two or three different pages on the website, they have one page in front of them to take care of multiple tasks," said Murray.
PAM eliminates the need for advisors to maintain a local database of members by providing a view into member and chapter officer information stored at International Headquarters.
Advisors can update member and chapter officer contact information and access the same updated information that Headquarters uses.
Advisors will also have access to outstanding invoices. This functionality provides stronger control and management of chapter finances, and a perspective on the chapter's overall financial picture.
PAM also includes a calendar system and a to-do list component to assist advisors in planning and tracking Society and chapter functions.
"PAM has been an incredible collaboration among advisors, staff members and software engineers," said Lea Ann Bethany, Director of Software Services. "While designing PAM, we spoke to advisors at regional meetings and the International Convention, holding focus groups and workshops to find out what they needed. Advisors provided valuable ideas and feedback, and made it very easy for us to produce PAM.
"We will continue to develop PAM over the next few years," Bethany continued.
"Working with advisors has given our software engineers a new understanding and appreciation of the vital role advisors play. We're very proud of PAM and know it is only the first of many successful collaborations between our advisors and software engineers."
For assistance with membership questions, contact Membership Services Coordinator Julie Luckey at 601.984.3557. For PAM technical assistance, contact User Support at pam.help@ptk.org or 601.984.3561.
