Salesforce Education Cloud is the latest evolution of purpose-built education applications for the Salesforce Platform. We know many of you may have questions. Depending on your particular scenario, there are different questions to ask. The information on Education Cloud is expanding quickly, so if you want to explore more deeply, please schedule a no cost, no obligation call.
FAQs concerning Salesforce Education Cloud
What is Education Cloud?
Education Cloud is the latest evolution of purpose-built education applications for the Salesforce Platform. The objective of the new Education Cloud is to accelerate time to value and create personalized experiences for every lifelong learner. This new offering from Salesforce is delivered in the form of a single Education CRM license super-SKU. It includes capabilities for recruiting & admissions, as well as student success, to the Salesforce platform without the need for installation of managed packages. For example, EDA + Admissions Connect + Student Success Hub + Lightning Scheduler. Once you have the Education Cloud license SKU and enable it, the features and data architecture are there. You will still need to configure and customize it for your institution, but the entire process is significantly streamlined.
Education Cloud Includes?
At the foundation of Education Cloud is Sales and Service. Education Cloud customers get all of the features of Sales and Service Cloud. On top of this, Salesforce delivers its Education Data Foundation (EDF) which contains objects and fields. This supports people and relationships, constituent roles, learning structure, course offerings, institution structure, academic periods, and learner profiles. These objects and fields are native (just like Accounts and Contacts).
Included with Education Cloud is the Common Capability Model, a group of tools and best practices that span industries. Education Cloud customers will receive household management, consent management, application management, appointment scheduling, program management, case management, and a student timeline. Many of these modules like timeline, originated in other industries and are now available to Education Cloud customers.
Finally, the Education Cloud SKU includes education-centric business applications for Recruiting & Admissions, Student Success, and Accounting Subledger.
All of these are built natively on the Salesforce platform which may be extended with other add-on features such as Marketing Cloud, Mulesoft, Experience Cloud for Learner Success, Slack, and CRM Analytics, and more.
Still have questions? Schedule a call with us.
How does Education Cloud compare to the Education Data Architecture (EDA)?
Education Cloud (EC) and its included Education Data Foundation (EDF) are 100% native to Salesforce. Once you have the Education Cloud license SKU, these features are built-in. Education Cloud is a paid license that includes functionality for recruiting & admissions, student success, and accounting subledger as well as common capability model functionality. Education Cloud utilizes Person Accounts as the basis for its student model, an approach now broadly taken by other industry clouds including Health Cloud and Financial Services Cloud.
The Education Data Architecture (EDA), on the other hand, is delivered as a free managed package installed into a Salesforce environment and contains custom objects and custom fields that can serve as the basis for the business needs of many schools. Although EDA is free, clients will either need to complete configuration/development to build out functionality for recruiting & admissions and student success OR will need to purchase paid add-ons to achieve this functionality. EDA utilizes household or administrative accounts as the basis for its student model.
It is important to note that Education Cloud and EDA are mutually exclusive. Institutions will select one or the other.
Still have questions? Schedule a call with us.
What does it cost?
Pricing for Education Cloud licenses may be obtained directly from your Salesforce Account Executive, who can address your institution’s specific needs. If you need help identifying the name and contact information of your assigned Salesforce Account Executive, schedule a call with us, and we will be happy to get you introduced.
Implementation and support services for Education Cloud are available from SIG. To receive a quote for implementing Education Cloud, schedule a call with us, or contact your SIG Account Executive. We’d love to hear from you!
How can I learn more?
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- Visit the the Education Cloud product page on the Salesforce website.
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- Schedule a call with SIG to learn more about implementation, customization, and training, or to discuss your particular scenario.
Client Scenarios
We are just starting our Salesforce journey
As a new customer to the Salesforce platform (or a new instance of Salesforce), you have a couple of paths forward, including (i) Education Cloud (which includes the native Education Data Foundation) and (ii) the Education Data Architecture. Both solutions include a data architecture for storing student, course, and enrollment data.
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- Education Cloud includes both Sales and Service licensing, the fully native Education Data Foundation, common capability model functionality (such as Scheduling, Timeline, Household Management, Application Management, and Program Management), and purpose-built native functionality for Recruiting & Admissions, Student Success (more coming later this year), and Accounting Subledger. Education is a license SKU and contains everything you need to get started.
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- EDA is a managed package for Salesforce that includes the data structure to hold your student, course, and enrollment data. With EDA you design your own custom-built functionality (for R&A, Student Success, etc.). With EDA you will need to purchase Salesforce Sales Cloud and/or Service Cloud licenses separately.
In both cases, add-ons such as Marketing Cloud, Experience Cloud, Slack, CRM Analytics, and other solutions can be added based on your specific needs. Schools looking for the lasted pre-built functionality should consider Education Cloud. Schools intending to do their own custom development may want to alternatively consider EDA.
Still have questions? Schedule a call with us.
We have Admissions Connect (AC) or Student Success Hub (SSH)
First off, Salesforce will continue to support both AC and SSH. There is no driving need to leave these solutions if you already use them. Both are fantastic solutions. As of the release date, Education Cloud for Recruiting & Admissions is near parity with AC; Education Cloud updates to bring Student Success functionality to parity with SSH is expected to happen later this year.
If you have AC and/or SSH, you will receive additional functionality for the common capability features (contact your Salesforce Account Executive for details). Admissions and Student Success Features of Education Cloud are unavailable to AC or SSH clients as they are based on the Person Account data model and the Education Data Foundation architecture.
Schedule a call with us if you have AC or SSH and are interested in migrating to Education Cloud.
We have Salesforce Advisor Link (SAL)
If you are using the original SAL production, there are some administrative requirements (contracting/provisioning) to get to SSH parity, at which point you will receive updates. Contact your Salesforce Account Executive for details.
We are using Education Data Architecture (EDA) and don’t have AC, SSH, or SAL
The Education Data Architecture (EDA) has been around for some time now and predated Admissions Connect and Student Success Hub. As a result, many schools built their own recruiting and student success capabilities directly on EDA. Salesforce will continue to support EDA and there is no driving need to leave this solution if it is meeting your business needs. Of important note, EDA and Education Cloud are mutually exclusive. You cannot install Education Cloud in an EDA Salesforce Environment (or vis-a-versa).
If you have EDA and are interested in migrating to Education Cloud, schedule a call with us to discuss your particular needs.
We use Salesforce without EDA
If your institution utilizes Salesforce without EDA (EDA was initially released in 2016 as HEDA – the Higher Education Data Architecture), you may be able to purchase Education Cloud licenses. Because Education Cloud is based on the Person Account data model, we highly recommend testing configurations in a sandbox or deploying your Education Cloud in a new instance of Salesforce.
To learn more about moving to Education Cloud and how we can help, schedule a call with us to discuss your particular needs.
I’m not sure. Please help!
If you are unsure of your scenario, interested in migrating to Education Cloud, or have other questions, schedule a call with us to discuss your particular needs. We are a top-tier Salesforce partner with expertise in solutions for Higher Education. If you have questions, we invite you to schedule call with us.
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- We have Salesforce certified Education Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and other Salesforce specialists on staff.
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- As part of SIG, we have provided customized information technology solutions to higher education institutions since 1988.
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- SIG has provided assistance to more than 900 colleges and universities.
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- SIG is also an Ellucian Platinum Partner with substantial Banner and Colleague experience.
Other Education Cloud Resources
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- Schedule a call with SIG (no obligation)
Check back here periodically. We will be adding more resources as they become available.
