North-West University Pioneers a New Era of Residence Management with StarRez

Bringing a Complex, Multi-Campus Residence Environment Together

Managing student accommodation across three campuses comes with inherent complexity. NWU’s campuses are geographically separated, and each has its own culture and operational nuances. At the same time, residence management depends on information flowing between numerous university systems and departments.

As NWU transitioned to a new student information system, the residence team saw an opportunity to address both newly identified gaps and long-standing limitations in its existing processes.

“We had quite a lot of challenges with not having a system that could do everything we needed it to,” said Erin Greeff, StarRez Project Coordinator at North-West University. “That was sort of the main reason why we looked for something really tailored to residences.”

NWU had previously identified limitations around areas such as tracking the status of individual beds and residence reporting. The university wanted a purpose-built residence management platform capable of supporting everything from applications and allocations to billing, reporting, room movements, and student engagement.

For Greg Roberts, Senior Manager of Residence and Catering Services for North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus, one of the biggest challenges was bringing information together.

“We had 17 different points where we got data from, and it was a very difficult process to integrate this and get the same data to the same people,” Roberts said. “StarRez was the solution for us, as it virtually eliminated all of our integration challenges.” NWU also wanted technology that could accommodate the realities of its institution rather than forcing its teams into a rigid operating model.

“StarRez heard our needs and understood our environment. We could customize the workflows to align a lot of processes, which other systems couldn’t do for us.”

- Erin Greeff, StarRez Project Coordinator at North-West University

17 Integrations and One Connected Residence Management Platform

NWU selected StarRez because of its configurability and ability to integrate into the university’s broader technology environment. The university’s first implementation phase included student data management, PortalX, application management, room management, accounts and billing, reporting and dashboards, and community-related functionality.

The scale of the integration was significant. The connections span systems supporting areas including maintenance and buildings, student access, student information, billing, and alumni data.

“We went live with 17 integrations in total,” Greeff said. “It was complex... The people from the implementation side of StarRez really understood what we wanted and guided us the whole way, and we managed to pull it off and get all of them integrated within our go-live timeframe.”

That connected approach is particularly important in a multi-campus environment. Rather than simply digitizing separate processes, NWU used the StarRez implementation as an opportunity to standardize residence operations across its three campuses while preserving differences that mattered locally.

“We aligned a lot of processes through this journey and enhanced collaboration across campuses,” Greeff said. “But we also managed to preserve the slight intricacies and differences that made our campuses unique.”

By configuring StarRez around NWU's multi-campus environment, the team established more consistent processes while retaining the flexibility to accommodate campus-specific requirements.

Automation Reduces Manual Work and Audit Risk

Although NWU is still early in its StarRez journey, the residence team is already seeing meaningful operational improvements. One of the clearest examples is billing.

Previously, residence billing changes could require information to be sent to the student accounts department and manually adjusted. Every additional handoff created another opportunity for information to be missed, delayed, or entered incorrectly.

With StarRez, NWU is using automated prorated billing so changes happen automatically rather than relying on manual adjustments.

“With StarRez, our billing is automated now. Any changes are driven by accommodation dates rather than manual adjustments. It has definitely reduced our audit risks and gives us a lot more accuracy.”

- Erin Greeff, StarRez Project Coordinator at North-West University

NWU has also automated a process used to determine senior student residence eligibility for the following year. Previously, staff had to gather academic performance information and residence participation data from separate sources and bring them together manually. StarRez has enabled the team to combine those components into a more automated process.

For NWU, these improvements demonstrate the value of looking at residence management as an interconnected journey. Accommodation information does not exist in isolation - it touches academics, finance, facilities, student engagement, access, and other parts of university life.

From Excel Models to Real-Time Management Information

Reporting has emerged as another significant early benefit. Before StarRez, managers could find themselves waiting for reports or depending on individual staff members to provide information. As Roberts explained, even something as simple as a colleague being on leave could delay access to important data.

Now, StarRez reporting and analytics give NWU managers greater access to current operational information. StarRez dashboards are designed to provide real-time visibility into areas such as occupancy and other housing trends.

“With StarRez, real-time data is now available at the click of a button. Previously, we always had to wait for data and reports, which made it difficult to make timely, informed decisions about residence operations. Having immediate access to accurate information is definitely at the top of my list of improvements.”

- Greg Roberts, Senior Manager of Residence and Catering Services for North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus

NWU has also combined StarRez data with Power BI to replace some of the Excel-based modeling staff previously relied upon. Targets can now be viewed alongside current operational data without someone continually updating spreadsheets.

“Previously, we were using a lot of Excel modeling, but now with Power BI, we’ve managed to bring our targets and actual residence data together in one place,” Greeff said. “The information is updated in real time, so nobody has to manually update anything.”

Managers can see information such as occupancy levels, applications, enrollments, and where applications sit within a process. At the same time, change logs provide greater accountability by showing who made a change and when it occurred.

This combination of visibility and traceability is helping NWU move from gathering information to acting on it.

“The managers can see in time exactly what’s happened—what your enrollments are, what your occupancy levels are, your applications, where they are and what stage they’re in.”

- Erin Greeff, StarRez Project Coordinator at North-West University

A Platform Designed to Keep Evolving

The university’s StarRez environment already supports residence applications, student data, room management, billing, dashboards, reporting, and co-curricular participation records, with the broader goal of building a more complete picture of each student’s residence experience.

Roberts describes what comes next as a “road of discovery.”

“There is so much to offer in StarRez that we don’t know yet about,” he said. “As we go along, people see what the system can do and what it offers. Then you get new ideas coming from the floor, from managers, from the students themselves.”

That enthusiasm for continuous improvement even brought Greeff and Roberts all the way from South Africa to Atlanta for the StarRez Global Connect Users Conference. There, they had the opportunity to connect with fellow StarRez users, exchange ideas, and discover new ways to maximize the platform's potential at NWU.

That continuous improvement mindset is closely connected to the way NWU approached implementation in the first place: listen to the people using the system, understand the institution’s needs, and configure technology around the experience the university wants to deliver.

“StarRez listened to what we needed. They didn’t come and prescribe to us. They listened and they came up with solutions that really helped us. I think that’s the win-win for us.”

- Greg Roberts, Senior Manager of Residence and Catering Services for North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus

For other universities considering a similar transformation, Greeff’s advice is to involve staff early, choose the implementation team carefully, and not be afraid to ask what is possible.

As StarRez’s first university implementation in South Africa, NWU is establishing more than a new residence management system. It is creating a connected foundation that brings people, processes, and information together across three campuses—giving staff better visibility today while creating room to continuously improve the residence experience tomorrow.

“It’s just been an incredible project to work on,” Greeff said. And when asked whether she was happy with the decision to choose StarRez? Her simple answer was, “definitely.”

Ready to explore how StarRez can support your residence operations? Get in touch with our team to learn more.