Welcome to Interstride!
We are so excited to partner with you and bring this resource to your student and campus community.
The Interstride Playbook
Within this playbook lie the ingredients you need for a successful launch at your institution.
Follow these steps for a successful launch at your institution.
What You’ll Learn:
- What you need for a successful launch
- Who should be involved
- Pro-tips based on 200+ launches
Who’s Involved
- IT Team
- Marketing and Communications
- Career Services
- International Office
Phase 1:
SSO Integration
Phase 2:
Automation
Phase 3:
Training
Ready to
Launch!
Management &
Optimization
Phase 1: SSO Integration
- For integrating Single Sign-On (SSO), it will be a collaboration between our IT team and your university’s IT team. Interstride offers SSO capabilities based on SAML and Azure.
- SSO is a fantastic tool because it provides a secure way to log in to Interstride with their institutional credentials.
- Pro-tip: Test this before launch! Make sure there aren’t any restrictions for your students logging in before launch.
Phase 2: Automation
- Automation is a great tool to automatically invite new students to the platform. Pick a monthly, quarterly, or semester date you would like to automatically send a new batch of students to Interstride to invite to the platform.
- All we need from your institution is the student’s email addresses to invite them and provide access to the Interstride portal.
- Interstride will set up a designated Amazon 3S bucket for you to transfer your student email files into. We will then automatically add those new emails to the platform on the monthly/quarterly/semesterly date you chose.
- Pro-tip: This can be done for students AND alumni! Make sure these are separate lists since in most cases only current students will have SSO access.
Phase 3: Training
- Now that we have the tech side integrated, it’s time to set up training with a representative from Interstride! A member from our University Relations Team will join you through a video call to share tips, tricks, and best practices on how to use the student and admin portal.
- Our University Relations Team will meet with you on an individual or small team basis to discuss launch dates, specifics, and marketing. A member of our team will also share with you a landing page link. This URL will be specific to your institution and will serve as a homepage for your campus community.
- Once the launch details are finalized, our team members will meet with the rest of your team or partners (such as Career Services or International Office) to demonstrate the platform.
- Pro-tip: We also recommend checking out some of our Administrator Admin Training videos through our on-demand webinars. You access these through the student portal> Learn> Webinars> On-Demand.
Ready to Launch!
- Congratulations! Your staff is trained, the technology is integrated; it’s officially time to launch!
- On the predetermined date, Interstride will invite the students from the provided list to the platform. This will trigger a three-tiered invitation email inviting your students to the platform. Since SSO is integrated, any student can access the platform even if they don’t immediately log on shortly after launch.
- Pro-tip: Think about your timeline to gauge prime interest in the portal. For ex: Early summer may be a great time to introduce the platform to recently graduated alumni.
Management & Optimization
Admin
- It is important to identify fellow faculty and staff who will serve as administrators of the platform.
- Admins will be able to customize the platform, download student metrics, and monitor student/alumni usage and activity.
- You can have as many or as few admins as you would like.
- To add a new administrator, log into the Admin Portal, click Users>Admins>New Admin.
- Pro-tip: You can customize different permission levels for administrators when adding them.
Portal Personalization
- The portal can be personalized in everything such as dashboard content, adding specific job feeds, and editing content.
- You can share articles/videos/announcements/etc. through the Admin Portal.
- Integrate different job search feeds (ex: Handshake feeds) directly onto the platform. These will appear as featured jobs for your students. We also have an employer portal (employer.interstride.com) if you have an interest in posting jobs directly to the platform.
- You can edit, archive, or even create new content for the platform through the Admin Portal. Resources are customizable if you would like to integrate your university practices into the platform.
- Pro-tip: The Admin Portal is where you can download student metrics and monitor student/alumni usage.
Marketing
- We recommend checking out the marketing kit available for you through the Admin Portal. Here you can find everything ranging from social media posts to videos to email templates and more! You can download these materials and share them with your campus community to remind them of this resource available.
- Access the marketing kit through the Admin Portal. Click Engage> Marketing Kit
- Pro-tip: These materials can be great for orientation or different campus events.
Inviting other departments
- Interstride is most effective when multiple departments collaborate to seamlessly support students.
- Alumni services is a great department to collaborate with. We recommend inviting the past 2-3 years’ worth of alumni to the platform.
- Admissions is another department where collaboration has been beneficial, especially in recruiting international students to your campus.
- To add a new administrator, log into the Admin Portal, click Users>Admins>New Admin.
- Pro-tip: Check out our Admissions Portal to see more ways to recruit international students.
Typical Timeline
- Interstride can be launched as early as one week if you are determined. However, a typical timeline normally ranges from 2-4 weeks from purchase to launch.
- We recommend 1-2 weeks for tech integration and 1-2 weeks for staff training as well as marketing. Once the tech is integrated and the staff feels comfortable with the platform, it’s launch time!
- Pro-tip: Everyone’s timeline is going to be uniquely different. Try to plan the launch around key dates and work your way backward from there.
We are here to support you!
If at any time you have questions or need assistance with your launch, please contact your representative or email us at contact@interstride.com
We are excited to collaborate with you in sharing this resource with your campus community.