SEAtS CRM

One of SEAtS CRM's most powerful features is integrating with attendance and engagement monitoring to create cases automatically. When a personal tutor opens their dashboard on Monday morning, the cases are already there, pre-populated with the relevant data.

• Configure automated case creation in Admin → Workflows → Case Creation Rules
• Trigger conditions: Stage 2 or above attendance alert, Engage score below 300 for two weeks, or compound (attendance AND engagement simultaneously)
• When auto-created, the triggering event is included as the first case note automatically
• Auto-created cases are assigned to the student's personal tutor by default; custom routing directs specific types to specific teams
• Tutors receive an email notification when a case is auto-created and assigned to them

For specific reporting requirements — safeguarding referral tracking, financial hardship logging, disability support recording — SEAtS CRM supports institution-defined custom fields at both case and contact log level.

• Add custom fields in Admin → CRM → Custom Fields → New Field; types: text, number, dropdown, date, multi-select, yes/no toggle
• Fields can be marked required (must be completed before case closure) or optional
• Custom fields appear in all case exports and can be used as filter conditions in list views
• Outcome fields (e.g. "Referred to Counselling", "Academic Support Plan agreed", "Student withdrew") provide data for effectiveness reporting
• Use dropdown fields for outcomes rather than free text — structured options produce reportable data

Complex cases don't stay with one person. A welfare case started by a personal tutor may need escalation to a specialist counsellor; an academic case may require programme director involvement. SEAtS CRM supports multi-staff case ownership, escalation routing, and supervisory oversight.

• Add multiple staff to a single case using "Add Collaborator" — all receive notifications and can add notes
• Escalate by changing the case owner — the previous owner is retained in history and continues receiving updates as a collaborator
• Supervisors with the "Supervisor" role see all cases across their team plus cases assigned to them directly
• Case escalation events appear in the student timeline with the names of both outgoing and incoming case owners
• Use "Awaiting" status when a case is on hold pending student response — removes it from active count without closing

The CRM is not just an operational tool — it's an evidence base for demonstrating the impact of student support services. The data it holds answers institutional questions: How many students received early intervention this year? What proportion of at-risk students were contacted within 5 days of their alert?

• Standard reports in CRM → Reports → Case Summary, Contact Activity, and Outcome Analysis
• Filter any report by case type, assigned team, student cohort, date range, and case outcome
• The Average Response Time metric shows how long cases take from creation to first contact
• Outcome analysis shows case resolution rates, referral rates, and retention indicators for supported students
• Export as CSV for further analysis or PDF for committee papers and external quality reviews

SEAtS CRM's workflow builder lets administrators design multi-step automated processes triggered from any combination of attendance, engagement, case, and system events. Well-designed workflows significantly reduce administrative burden by handling routine routing, notification, and escalation automatically.

• Access in Admin → Workflows → Workflow Designer — build using a visual drag-and-drop canvas
• Trigger types: alert fired, case opened, case stage changed, contact logged, Engage threshold crossed, or scheduled date event
• Action types: send email template, create task, assign case, escalate case, send notification, update a custom field, or trigger a webhook
• Conditional branches build logic: "IF case type is Welfare AND year is 1 THEN notify first-year support; ELSE notify standard queue"
• Test workflows in the sandbox before activating — runs full logic against test records without sending real emails

Many institutions run specialist support on dedicated platforms — counselling systems, disability managers, financial hardship tools, safeguarding software. SEAtS CRM supports outbound webhooks and inbound API updates so a case in SEAtS can trigger a record in an external system and vice versa.

• Configure outbound webhooks in Admin → Integrations → CRM Webhooks; set the trigger event and target URL
• The webhook payload includes configurable fields: case ID, student ID, case type, assigned staff, and custom field values
• Inbound case updates from external systems via the SEAtS API appear with an "External System" source label in the case timeline
• Common pattern: SEAtS creates a case → webhook fires to counselling system → system updates SEAtS when appointment is booked → date appears in the student's timeline
• Test all webhook integrations in a staging environment before production deployment

CRM case records contain some of the most sensitive institutional data — welfare concerns, mental health disclosures, financial difficulties, disciplinary records. Managing this under UK GDPR requires clear retention policies, access controls, and SAR processes.

• Case retention periods must be set in Admin → Data → Retention Policy and must align with your Student Data Retention Schedule, approved by your DPO
• Case access is controlled by data access permissions — ensure case workers see only their responsible students
• Subject Access Requests involving CRM data use the Student Data Export in Admin → Data → Student Export
• Sensitive cases (e.g. safeguarding referrals) can be marked "High Sensitivity" — restricts visibility to users with the Sensitive Records permission
• Record the legal basis for processing for each case type in Admin → CRM → Case Types — required in your ROPA

The most advanced use of SEAtS CRM is not reactive case management — it is building a proactive student success framework that uses data, automation, and structured processes to identify and support students before they reach crisis.

• Map institutional student success touchpoints (induction check-in, mid-semester review, pre-assessment welfare window) to scheduled workflow triggers
• Create standard case templates for each touchpoint — pre-populated fields and note prompts ensure consistency across all tutors
• Build a tiered contact model: automated check-in at week 4 for all students → tutor contact for early signals → specialist referral for significant risk
• Measure effectiveness by tracking the correlation between early intervention and end-of-year retention — available in CRM → Reports → Retention Correlation
• Present the framework to governors as evidence of a systematic, data-informed approach — not just a reactive support service