Campus Cafe

The Best (only?) mid-tier SIS on the market.

Commenti: Overall, we are pleased with our switch to Campus Cafe. The leadership and development team are attentive too are needs and have been very aggressive in shoring up any deficiencies we've identified. There are very customer-centric and are intent on creating the best product possible.

Aspetti positivi:

Has many of the automation features of more expensive platforms. Integrates very well with platforms we were already using. Has the best feature-to-price ratio of any platform we looked at.

Aspetti negativi:

We never intended to use the GL functionality, so it was not a problem for us, but it does appear to be rather limited. The Advancement/Donor module is rudimentary for functional. Lack of a parent portal is perhaps its greatest weakness.

The Canvas/VW of Student Information Systems?

Commenti: Campus Café has been extremely responsive to questions and issues through their help desk. They are improving their Knowledge Base constantly. Users are getting comfortable with the system quickly, and with ease, and the system is allowing us to improve efficiency of our processes in many offices. Implementation in general went far better than we could have imagined (we managed it in around 12 months during the COVID chaos). My only thought is that some sort of optional change-management services that could be purchased at an additional cost to implementation could be beneficial to some institutions.

Aspetti positivi:

This software was appropriately targeted to schools our size (~1000 students), without the overcomplexity and technicality of more extensive software systems such as Colleague. The "Finders" (think fairly robust, saveable filters that are understandable to many users) are a huge plus to the system - they have made data available to many non-technical constituents who need it on a daily basis, without every data pull requiring a SQL script, or a "View" to be created by a technically inclined employee. The user interface is fairly clean and intuitive for the most part, and training has been very simple to accomplish for most of the end users - particularly for students and faculty. "Activities" (think custom fields with triggering functionality, email/text functionality) have become a way for us to creatively work through some business processes, without a large amount of overhead required to implement. We have been able to construct degree audits for almost all unusual requirements in nearly all our majors well ahead of when we thought we would be able to, yielding in an extremely usable and readable advising/administrative tool, which we never were able to implement in our prior system for a variety of reasons. They are very responsive to building out new functionality in the system, and do so at a reasonable cost. We had them build a Google Workspace integration which auto-provisions applicant and student accounts for us!!!

Aspetti negativi:

As a result of the willingness of the company to address individual institutions' needs, sometimes the UI lacks consistency across the pages, and there are some quirks to functionality of a few areas. Permissions are less than ideal with this system, since only one permission group can be added to each single user - layering of permission sets is not possible. This has resulted in us having to build many permission groups, which requires a decent amount of testing and time. The interface for managing permissions is also very clunky and sometimes confusing, requiring double negative logic to understand what a permission is doing. The Financial Aid area of the system still has some growing to do at this point, before we will be able to move to it. We hope that will be possible within the next 12-24 months, however. There have been a few technical quirks to the system, but the vast majority of these have been addressed in a more than satisfactory manner.

Campus Cafe is the way!

Commenti: Overall, compared to our homegrown system, I’d say Campus Cafe is worth it! Our work is now more streamlined and time we spend on projects and validation of record accuracy has been cut in half! I would recommend Campus Cafe for institutions that are similar to our size (population of 500 or less).

Aspetti positivi:

Reports are easily accessible and customizable! This is such a great feature for the Registration Department as we need accurate statistics immediately. The ability to also customize webpages, email notifications, triggers, courses as needed gave us the power to be more flexible and creative with how we focus our energy and time.

Aspetti negativi:

There have been a few glitches in the system even after working through setup. An example of this is syncing Campus Cafe with Canvas LMS- students who withdraw or drop would sometimes sync with Canvas and other times it would not. So there was that inconsistency.

Campus Cafe for Higher Education

Commenti: Campus Cafe Cloud service has enabled us to work in a more virtual environment and to move to a paperless student records system.

Aspetti positivi:

Campus Cafe modules cover major components needed for Higher Education all in one program. (Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Information System, Accounting, Development, and Alumni)

Aspetti negativi:

Campus Cafe is a growing software company that has improved over the 8+ years that we have used the software. Keeping up with changes and ongoing training needs is challenging at times. However, customer support is very responsive to our questions.

Campus Cafe Survey

Commenti: I like the customer support I receive from [SENSITIVE CONTENT].

Aspetti positivi:

I like the software, merge feature, maintenance permission, expand filters etc...

Aspetti negativi:

I believe it should be more user friendly.

"A Delicious and Affordable Dining Experience at Campus Cafe"

Commenti: My overall experience with Campus Cafe has been positive. From the friendly staff to the wide variety of food options, I always feel welcomed and well taken care of. I appreciate the cost-effective prices and the fact that the food is always fresh and delicious. The atmosphere is incredibly comfortable and the space is inviting. I would recommend Campus Cafe to anyone looking for a great meal or a place to hang out with friends.

Aspetti positivi:

The Campus Cafe software is a powerful tool that allows users to easily manage and organize their college campus events. One of the things I liked most about the software is its user-friendly interface. It was intuitive and easy to navigate, so I was able to quickly find the features and settings I needed. Additionally, the software was packed with features and customization options, making it possible to create unique events with customized details and settings. The ability to manage multiple events simultaneously was also a great feature of the software.

Aspetti negativi:

The Campus Cafe software was not as user-friendly as some of the other software available. Users found the interface to be confusing and difficult to navigate, and many complained that the various menu options were overwhelming and too detailed.

Campus Cafe = Remarkably Responsive

Commenti: The team at Campus Cafe has been remarkably responsive to our ongoing questions and concerns. They have closed hundreds of the Support Requests we have created over several years, solving our issues and helping us to make the system work to our advantage in almost every case.

Aspetti positivi:

This is a comprehensive and complete Student Information System, used by almost all of our college's departments. Although we offer a wide range of programs, for students at all ages, Campus Cafe has allowed us the flexibility to support admissions, registration/enrollment, billing, and gift management for each of these programs.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish Campus Cafe could facilitate opportunities for us to speak with and learn from other higher education users of their software.

My Reivew

Aspetti positivi:

The admissions, financial aid and registrar portion are all tied into together. The reports for regulatory are great but only if the data is entered into the system correctly.

Aspetti negativi:

When a change is made it is only made for future dates and does not update/correct stuff from the past. The FA portion needs cleaned up a bit. To many place to import data. Can there be one place to import anything received by the DOE and the system determines where it needs to go?

Good product for small graduate school

Commenti: We needed a new student SIS and campus cafe fit what we needed. Customer service has been very good!

Aspetti positivi:

Campus cafe handles most of what we need and it allows for uploading documents without purchasing a separate imaging system. I have to admit that I do not use all of the tools as we are very small.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish the reporting function was easier to use but I can usually get what I need one way or another through pre- built reports or dynamic queries. The Activity Tracking used is a catch all for alot of things which does not always work for our purposes. I still use mail chimp for our recruiting emails because I had it set up before moving to Campus cafe, and I find the process of setting up workflows in Campus cafe to be cumbersome but it could be that I just need to devote more time to it.

Campus Cafe Student Information System Is Perfect For A College

Commenti: Overall, the experience with the Campus Cafe team assigned to our organization has been excellent.

Aspetti positivi:

The accessibility to have everything electronically and the security of knowing the information is backed up.

Aspetti negativi:

The schedule preview for students. I feel like that feature could capture more information.

My own experience with Campus Cafe software

Commenti: Over-all I can say that the system is highly recommendable.

Aspetti positivi:

Student can access online their billing statements and can also pay online. Group billing makes my job easier as I don't have to manually charge student when they enroll for class. The software charges them automatically but I need to post it before it can be reflected on the students' accounts -- this gives me the chance to review the billing first before posting it.

Aspetti negativi:

Once I posted the financial aid of the student, I could not delete it anymore if I happen to make a mistake. I have to make another entry to negate it. I prefer that I can just delete the error. Some postings done I can still delete but the system does not give me a warning before I delete. I prefer that there will be a pop-up warning me about the deletion just to be sure that I review again before I delete something.

1st Semester on CampusCafe

Commenti: Our experience so far has been great. Their support team is very responsive and able to answer all questions to date.

Aspetti positivi:

We like the system due to being hosted and having a wide range of fields to be able to report from. The system also allows a bit of custom controls for us to accommodate our internal processes. Client programs such as CITRIX is not needed which cuts down on helpdesk calls regrading printing and connection issues.

Aspetti negativi:

The accounting side has been giving us trouble, but the support team at CampusCafe has been working with us non stop to straighten out any difficulties we have been having.

On to Campus Cafe

Commenti: Being a not so technical person, I found this system user friendly and easy to access and familiarize with.

Aspetti positivi:

For financial aid purposes, the software provides me detailed and accurate information I need to process students financial aid and withdrawals based on enrollment status shown in enrollment history, attendance report, transcript/grades, billing statement and other pertinent info.

Aspetti negativi:

I personally was not able to browse other files as they do not concern my line of work. I used to pull-out attendance report from attendance history and if it will be imported to excel file, no student name is shown for the particular attendance report.

Campus Cafe As A Tool for Effective Student Information System

Aspetti positivi:

Easier data collection for reporting purposes.Ability to generate multiple reports needed for regular use.Always have new updates/continuous improvements.

Aspetti negativi:

None that I can think of as Campus Cafe actually always updates or makes enhancements on a regular basis.

Very User Friendly

Commenti: Overall, it has helped us to become more organized. My position requires me to track our students and log comments for each of them which CC allows me to do. I wasn't able to do this prior to CC and it has helped me tremendously.

Aspetti positivi:

Campus Café is very user friendly and has really helped us be more efficient. It has helped us to streamline our workflow and become more organized which of course saves us time.

Aspetti negativi:

Because it is so different from what we were using, it seemed a little daunting at first. There are still a few things that the software is unable to accomplish however overall, it is a great product.

Great software for school

Aspetti positivi:

It was a one-stop shop! We had all of our information on paper and excel documents.

Aspetti negativi:

The learning curve, and the language of the software is not intuitive.

Campus Cafe

Commenti: They are great to work with. Very attentive and they take there time with you. They really help walk you and the whole team through the SIS.

Aspetti positivi:

Helped organize the school to operate a lot more efficiently.

Aspetti negativi:

There is definitely a big learning curve, but it is worth it.

Great Resource to Have

Aspetti positivi:

Getting streamlined information on campus life.

Aspetti negativi:

I have no negative reflection on this software.

I've had great experiences with this software so far.

Aspetti positivi:

I like how every section of the software seems to be well-balanced. A lot of SIS programs are heavy on admissions/academics and light on donor management, but this program is very strong on all fronts!

Aspetti negativi:

I don't like how the company doesn't seem to be up front about the price of the implementation and software.