The Enrollment Counselor Portal (ECP) is the unified workspace for ≈ 100 enrollment counselors who guide applicants from first inquiry through completed admission. It is delivered through two connected interfaces: a Power Pages portal used by ~ 80 international counselors and a linked Dynamics 365 CRM view for ~ 20 domestic staff. Both surfaces the same applicant records—leads, document milestones, contact history, and task queues—in one secure place, enabling timely and personalised outreach while preserving FERPA compliance and controlling licence costs. 

The long-term vision (once resources allow a redesign) is to:

1. Streamline counselor workflows – Replace the full Dynamics UI with a lighter portal purpose-built for enrollment tasks.

2. Align the student journey – Adopt the Companion look-and-feel so applicants experience consistent branding from inquiry to graduation.

3. Control future licence costs – If the counselor pool grows, moving to a Power Pages model would avoid purchasing additional full CRM seats.

4. Introduce secure chat – Embed the same encrypted messaging service used by Companion/Mentor Portal, giving applicants a single, dependable communication channel.

5. Enhance reporting – Surface real-time dashboards on funnel health, counselor response times, and applicant conversion.

6. Maintaining FERPA compliance while giving domestic staff richer data through CRM.

1.What is the difference between an Enrollment Counselor and a Mentor?
Enrollment Counselor (EC) — Works with prospective students before admission. ECs guide applicants through every step of the enrollment funnel: answering programme questions, collecting documents, checking admission requirements, and ensuring the application is complete. Their primary tools are the Enrollment Counselor Portal (Power Pages) and, for domestic staff, the full Dynamics 365 CRM.

Mentor — Supports enrolled students after they begin their studies. Mentors focus on retention and success: offering encouragement, answering course-related questions, and directing students to resources during each term. They operate through the dedicated Mentor Portal (and soon Companion in-app chat), not the enrollment system.

In short, ECs manage the “getting in” phase, while Mentors handle the “staying and succeeding” phase of the student journey.

2. Why keep two different interfaces?
Domestic staff need deeper applicant data that is only available in CRM and are legally cleared under FERPA to view it; international contractors receive a filtered portal view for compliance and to avoid extra licence cost.

3. Are the CRM and portal connected?
Yes. Both pull from the same applicant records, so updates in one interface are instantly visible in the other; domestic counselors can switch between them without syncing issues.

4. Will domestic counselors move to the portal later?
A visual redesign of the portal is planned to match Companion/Mentor styling, but any functional shift for domestic users depends on future cost modelling and business requirements—still TBD.

5. How do international counselors log in?
They authenticate to the portal with their BYU-Pathway student e-mail, gaining access to leads, milestones, tasks, tickets and knowledge articles in a guided interface.

6. What can domestic counselors do in CRM that the portal can’t yet handle?
CRM offers richer dashboards, additional applicant registries, and custom reports that are not feasible to rebuild in the portal today.

7. Does the dual-interface setup (Power Pages portal for international counselors and CRM for domestic counselors) have any impact on the student experience?
No. Applicants interact with counselors through the same e-mail, phone, and—soon—secure chat channels regardless of which interface the counselor uses. Both systems pull from the same applicant record, so updates made in one workspace appear instantly in the other, ensuring consistent, timely support. 

8. Will secure in-app chat be added, like in the Mentor Portal?
Yes—secure chat is on the requirements list collected from counselors. It will be included in the redesign so applicants have a single, encrypted channel for questions.

9. How does the dual-interface model affect licence costs?
International counselors use the no-cost Power Pages portal, while only ~20 domestic staff hold full Dynamics licences. Finance is analysing whether moving those domestic users to the portal would reduce overall spend without sacrificing needed functionality.

10. Do counselors need VPN or special software to use the portal?
No. The Power Pages portal is browser-based and secured with BYU-Pathway credentials; CRM users access Dynamics via any modern browser with MFA enabled.

11. How is data privacy enforced across both interfaces?

Field-level security limits portal users to “need-to-know” fields, while domestic counselors—who are covered by FERPA-aligned employment contracts—can view the broader CRM record. Both interfaces log every change for audit purposes. 

12. What’s the difference in data access between an international Enrollment Counselor and a domestic Enrollment Counselor?
International counselors use the Power Pages portal, which shows only the fields required to guide an applicant: basic contact details, application stage, outstanding documents, and task queues. Sensitive elements—such as full financial records, immigration documents, and detailed registries—are hidden to meet FERPA and international-privacy constraints.

Domestic counselors log directly into Dynamics 365 CRM (and may also open the portal). They can view the entire applicant record, including financial-aid data, custom dashboards, and ad-hoc reports that are not available in the portal. This broader access is allowed because domestic staff are BYU-Pathway employees covered by U.S. data-governance rules.

Both groups write to the same underlying record, so every update—whether made in CRM or in the portal—appears instantly for all counselors.

The Enrollment Counselor Portal already serves ~100 counselors through two connected workspaces—Power Pages for international contractors and Dynamics 365 CRM for domestic staff. No functional changes are committed for 2025, but the product team has outlined the following post-Mentor Portal priorities:

1. Visual Redesign & UX Alignment
   Refresh the existing Power Pages portal with Companion/Mentor-Portal styling and component library; publish clickable mock-ups for counselor review.

2. Requirements Consolidation
   Collect a formal wish-list from both counselor groups—secure chat, simplified task queues, mobile-friendly layout, deeper funnel reporting—so the redesign addresses shared pain-points.

3. Licence & Cost Modelling
   Finance and Operations will quantify the savings (or incremental spend) of moving domestic counselors from full CRM seats to the portal, versus keeping the current dual-interface model.

4. Data-Privacy Harmonisation
   Verify that field-level security is consistent across both interfaces and meets FERPA requirements for all regions; update governance policies where needed.

5. Road-map Decision Point
   Once the Mentor Portal reaches general availability (target late 2025), leadership will decide—during FY 2026 planning—whether to fund the portal redesign, shift domestic counselors, or maintain the hybrid set-up.

Indicative timeline: UX mock-ups and cost analysis could start Q4 2025; any engineering work would begin no earlier than Q1 2026, pending budget approval.