ARCHIVED: Completed project: IU alumni Dell discount

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Primary UITS contact: Karen Garrett

Completed: August 26, 2009

Description: The goal of this project is for alumni to receive IU discounts on Dell purchases, for IU to be credited for those purchases, and for the alumni office to publicize this benefit to the alumni.

Outcome: In August 2009, there were approximately 68,000 alumni members. This number is expected to increase as alumni become aware of the benefits associated with membership.

Milestones and status:

June 15, 2007: Discussed options with Alan Walsh and his staff
July 24, 2007: Duane Schau and Karen Garrett met to discuss the publicity plan. Duane will set up a meeting with other UITS and Alumni staff to implement a promotional plan.
September 19, 2007: Duane Schau, Karen Garrett, Dennis Gillespie, and Alan Walsh discussed support and communication issues for Alumni accounts and Dell Discounts.
November 1, 2007: The http://www.dell.com/iu page began using CAS authentication to reach the preferred partner site for Dell, which makes it possible for alumni with ADS accounts to authenticate to the IU/Dell website.
November 1, 2007 to April 1, 2008: Waiting to establish a communication plan once the alumni accounts go live.
April 2, 2008: Duane Schau and Karen Garrett agreed to resume efforts to publicize this to alumni after July 1, 2008, if the contract with Dell is renewed.
July 1, 2008: Dell contract renewed. Publicity remains on hold because of a discussion about "featured vendors" vs. "preferred partners", and how it may affect how we handle the partnerships we have. Also, the account creation process for ADS accounts for alumni is under discussion.
October 10, 2008: Met with alumni to discuss promotional plan, need for special landing page, and whether to include information about Sony in addition to Dell. Will have to wait on code change to AMS for alumni ADS account creation to complete before moving forward with announcement to alumni. "Preferred partner" vs. "featured vendor" issue doesn't appear to have advanced to a level that would interfere with plans for promoting Dell deal to alumni.
November 20, 2008: Alumni ADS account creation change made to AMS. Before, alumni had to submit a form to the Alumni Association; now, they can use AMS to create their ADS accounts.
January 2009: Notice ran in December and January issue of Alumni Magazine:
University account: IU Alumni Association members are now eligible to create university accounts online. These accounts still allow access to IUAA programs and services. Additionally, university accounts will allow access to any university department that is a provider of programs and services for alumni. For instance, with this account you can receive IU discounts on Dell personal computers at http://www.dell.com/IU. Look for more privileges in the future. Sign up for your university account...
August 20, 2009: Karen met with Dottie Warmbier from Alumni Office and Jamie Stevens from Dell to discuss publicity for Dell deals to Alumni and creation of link to CAS authentication to dell.com/IU from the Alumni members benefit page for Dell discount.
December, 2009: Dell ran a full page ad with the Alumni Office in December as had been agreed upon. It didn't generate the incremental business Dell expected; they decided not to place the January ad.

Comment process: Send mail to Karen Garrett.

Benefits:

Useful for the Alumni Association as a draw for more alumni to register for alumni email accounts, since that account will be a requirement for the IU/Dell savings
The product credits IU will receive from Dell for the increase in IU-related sales will benefit the university in additional savings on institutional purchases.
Savings to IU alumni on Dell purchases

Related information:

An alumnus or alumna may have to create an ADS account, even if the person already has an alumni email account, if the person left IU before we began keeping users' ADS accounts for five years after they leave IU.
A student at IPFW qualifies for Purdue's Dell purchase agreement rather than IU's Dell purchase agreement. IPFW students who graduate with IU degrees qualify as IU alumni for the IU Dell purchase agreement. They have to have IU alumni email accounts in order to access the discount.

Primary clients: IU alumni, Alumni Association, Dell