Founded in 1997, American University of Sharjah (AUS) is an internationally accredited institute of higher education in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. AUS’s mission is to provide world-class education to meet the needs of contemporary society in the Gulf region amid a backdrop of Islamic history and tradition. The university draws students from around the world.
AUS offers 33 undergraduate majors along with 48 minors, 21 master’s degree programs, and eight PhD programs. Administrators understandably have a lot to do. When the COVID-19 pandemic came along, the university needed a scalable, digital form solution to match its evolving requirements.
AUS administrators chose Jotform Enterprise. Now, AUS runs roughly 130 different processes using a variety of Jotform tools. Amina Abdulrahim, executive director of ICT and IT security at AUS, says administrative efficiency has improved, both for specific workflows and in general.
“It’s a really good solution,” she says. “It’s easy to use, easy to adapt, and it delivers value that you don’t want to miss.”
Jotform Workflows, Apps, integrations, and more make life easier for everyone involved with AUS. User-friendly workflows satisfy internal administrative needs in addition to providing services that directly support students, faculty, and staff.
American University Sharjah case study results at a glance
Reduced processing time by 80%
Using Jotform Workflows, AUS eliminated nearly all busywork from its event management workflow.
Automated 130 processes across 20 departments
The university continues to find ways to automate with Jotform Enterprise.
50% boost in efficiency
AUS saved significant time by going digital with Jotform Enterprise.
Pandemic pivot leads to digital transformation
When AUS had to fully shift from paper forms to an online solution during the COVID pandemic, it found that Jotform Enterprise could get new processes up and running quickly.
“Suddenly AUS needed a tool that would quickly allow it to digitalize forms and processes on the front end, such as for the onboarding process for staff and faculty,” Abdulrahim says. “COVID was an accelerator for AUS’s digital transformation. Now we are using Jotform Enterprise for various processes within the university.”
The digital transformation at AUS accelerated even faster when AUS faculty found Jotform Enterprise so easy to use.
“Developing these things is not very difficult and is also quite fast,” Abdulrahim says. “Getting things done with Jotform actually happens quickly. Most of our forms now are not created by IT… [but] by the people on the ground because Jotform is easy to use.”
That ease of use meant it was easy to save time — moving paper forms to a digital format resulted in a 50 percent boost in efficiency. And when AUS started using more online tools offered by Jotform Enterprise, the time savings increased.
Jotform Workflows further boosts time savings
Jotform Enterprise goes beyond basic forms. Soon after adopting Jotform and moving forms online, AUS started leveraging approval flows with Jotform Workflows. These workflows automate communication between departments and vital stakeholders, eliminating the need for manual communication.
“The time savings are significant,” Abdulrahim says. “Imagine you have a process and you have a paper form and that paper form goes from one office to another office and then somebody has to sign it.” The digital process using Jotform is much faster.
Abdulrahim explains, “We use Jotform to collect documents for recruitment. Our job postings have a link to apply through a Jotform.” Jotform Workflows automatically notifies stakeholders when a job application is submitted, prompting them to approve or deny the application. When the final decision is made, automatic notifications are sent via email.
It’s a really good solution,” she says. “It’s easy to use, easy to adapt, and it delivers value that you don’t want to miss.
Amina Abdulrahim, Executive Director of ICT and IT Security, American University of Sharjah
AUS also uses Workflows to streamline its process for approving or denying potential vendors. “We are capturing the information from the vendor and then it comes to us, and then our team does a comparison,” Abdulrahim says. “Everything is available, all the details. Then it’s submitted for an internal approval, goes to the procurement manager, and then the appropriate executive director for approval. This vendor record is then fully approved and preregistered in our system.”
It’s no wonder AUS now automates so many processes with Jotform Enterprise. Shuffling paper forms back and forth within teams or across departments is a thing of the past, as is wasted time from manual communication.
“In the case of event management, the process — from submitting a request, to going through approvals, to creating tasks, and finally publishing event details on the website — now runs mostly in the background,” says Abdulrahim. “This has cut down on the manual coordination that was previously needed and reduced the overall processing time by about 80 percent.”
This gives staff more time to plan the event and ensures they collect accurate data about attendees.
Mobile apps, integrations, and payments with Jotform Enterprise
The university uses multiple Jotform integrations for a variety of needs. A custom plug-in connects to a local payment provider for event registration, and AUS plans to implement Jotform’s Stripe integration as 2025 comes to a close.
On the back end, Jotform’s Google Sheets integration is a vital piece of every form and workflow. Data is automatically uploaded to AUS’s Google account as forms are submitted, providing complete data visibility for all faculty and staff.
“We have received very, very positive feedback,” Abdulrahim says. “If you have information on a piece of paper and somebody needs to put it into a database, the time to complete the task increases significantly.”
AUS uses Jotform’s Twilio integration to confirm submitted mobile phone numbers, Jotform’s ClickUp integration to create tasks once they’re approved, and Jotform webhooks to push approved event details directly to its website.
Plus, AUS creates custom mobile apps using Jotform Apps. These act as form and data hubs for individual teams or departments. At the AUS Office of Protocol and Security, an app acts as a one-stop shop for parking permits and ID card requests.
Jotform has a good price point. That’s number one. Number two is, it works. We don’t have issues with your technology where certain things don’t work and then there’s a lot of support required.
Amina Abdulrahim, Executive Director of ICT and IT Security, American University of Sharjah
The internship management app supports internship management from start to finish. Students use it to secure placements, submit progress reports, and gather feedback from supervisors. Faculty have complete oversight throughout the process, and they can review or approve submissions directly from the app.
These apps can be downloaded on any device. They can also be shared via link or QR code.
Jotform Enterprise: A success story at AUS
AUS implemented Jotform Enterprise quickly and effectively, and is still growing with the platform. Even as the university receives bids from similar service providers, decision-makers are more than happy with their digital transformation.
“We are approached by other services on a regular basis with their tools and solutions with no-code and low-code development platforms for workflows,” Abdulrahim says. “Jotform has a good price point. That’s number one. Number two is, it works. We don’t have issues with your technology where certain things don’t work and then there’s a lot of support required.”
In addition to decision-makers, the AUS community has seen the digital transformation up close and benefited from it.
“Jotform is well adopted and valued by the community,” says Abdulrahim. “I think it’s the success story that keeps us on the platform, along with the usability, utilization, and value. That’s keeping us where we are, and I think we can use it more in the future as we identify more use cases.”
At 130 time-saving, automated processes with Jotform Enterprise and counting, the success story continues at AUS.
Want to explore similar benefits for your organization? Learn more about Jotform Enterprise’s education solutions, and discover how you can transform your school, department, or district.
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