How Oklahoma State University Uses Automation to Create Capacity for Meaningful Student Connections

From Band-Aids to Better Housing Workflows

When Mindy Artho joined Oklahoma State University’s housing team, she brought nearly two decades of Higher Education housing experience and a deep familiarity with StarRez. What she found at the University was a lack of consistent structure around how technology was being utilized for the department.

“OSU has been a StarRez customer for a long time, and they just did not have consistent leadership and someone who knew how to work the product... so they had a lot of features and modules just kind of sitting on a shelf.”

— Mindy Artho, StarRez Systems Manager, Oklahoma State University

For years, staff had been doing work in a status quo state; many processes were still being done through manual workarounds, external forms, spreadsheets, and email. That made it harder to innovate, trust data, see trends, and give students the seamless digital experience they increasingly expect.

Artho’s first priority was to listen. She spent her first several months learning how staff interacted with StarRez, who owned each process, and where the gaps existed between the application cycle, booking cycle, and day-to-day operations.

That foundational work is already paying off. The University has begun reducing duplicate applications, moving scattered forms into StarRez PortalX, and creating dashboards that give teams clear, actionable information.

Centralizing Student Forms in PortalX

One of the University’s biggest wins has been moving housing forms out of disconnected tools and into StarRez PortalX. Previously, staff were managing forms across Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, MachForm, Roompact, and other platforms. Each separate form created another place for data to be entered, cleaned, tracked, and reconciled.

Now, the University is consolidating most housing-related forms into PortalX, giving students a more consistent experience and giving staff cleaner data to work with. PortalX supports student self-service while giving housing teams real-time control over workflows and communication.

“We’ve completely streamlined all of our forms. For the most part, we have removed any technology that is not StarRez PortalX when it comes to collecting data.”

— Mindy Artho, StarRez Systems Manager, Oklahoma State University

The benefit pays off as fewer opportunities for inaccurate student-entered data. In the old process, every form might ask students to manually type their name, ID number, email address, phone number, and housing details. Each field introduced the possibility of typos or mismatched records. That shift changes the work for staff. Instead of spending hours correcting student IDs or matching form responses to records, the team can focus on the actual request.

“Our team was so amazed how much data we could pull right within StarRez. You really only need to ask the most important questions in these forms, versus all those other bio-demographic fields that StarRez already provides you, which equals higher student completion rates and satisfaction.”

— Mindy Artho, StarRez Systems Manager, Oklahoma State University

Streamlining Cancellations from Hours to Minutes

One of the clearest examples of operational improvement is the University’s cancellation process. Previously, when a student needed to cancel an application or booking, the process was email-driven, spreadsheet-driven, and highly manual.

Now, the University has separated cancellations into two portal-based workflows: one for applications and one for bookings. This distinction matters because each process has different business rules, especially once a student has been assigned or checked in.

The result is a workflow that is easier for students, faster for staff, and more transparent for leadership.

“My team mentions this process used to take five hours a week, and now, they’re spending maybe an hour a week on it,” Artho said.

In some cases, the process has also gone from roughly 30 clicks to five clicks, with more of the work driven by student action in the portal and automated process actions behind the scenes.

“I like to tell the team, let StarRez do the heavy lifting. We’re running a more modern housing operation now, and people should not have to be chained to their desk in order to do a routine housing function.”
— Mindy Artho, StarRez Systems Manager, Oklahoma State University

Building Trust Through Dashboards and Reporting

For the University, one of the most meaningful outcomes has been renewed trust in housing data. In the past, some campus partners were hesitant to rely on numbers coming from the department. Application counts could be inflated by duplicate submissions, and occupancy data was not always updated consistently.

With more disciplined use of StarRez reporting and dashboards, that perception is shifting.

“For a while, a lot of our campus partners didn’t trust the data that was coming from our department,” said Artho. “Now that we’re two seasons in, they’re like, ‘We trust this information.’"

The University’s team has embraced dashboards in a big way. Because Artho works remotely while most of the team is in Stillwater, dashboards have also become a key collaboration tool. They help staff see the same information without needing to be in the same office, building, or meeting.

“If I tell you there’s 2,000 assigned, here they are,” said Artho. “If I tell you that we canceled 17 people, here they are.”

That visibility is helping the University move from anecdotal updates to data-informed decisions.

Improving Checkout and Additional Occupant Processes

The University is also using StarRez to modernize its checkout experience. The team recently soft-launched a contactless express checkout process through PortalX. For a housing operation with more than 6,000 beds, even small improvements can have a major impact.

The new process gives students more flexibility while reducing the burden on residence life staff. Instead of needing to find a Resident Assistant (RA) or complete a manual process during limited hours, students can take action through the portal.

The University is also preparing to use the Additional Occupant module to better manage family members, graduate housing occupants, emotional support animals, and other approved residents or animal companions.

Currently, the process involves emails, spreadsheets, and forms. The future process will give residents a clearer online path and reduce manual tracking for staff.

“Having the students and the residents with the ability to request and manage an additional occupant online through the portal is going to be a game changer,” said Artho.

Freeing Staff to Focus on Students

At the heart of Oklahoma State’s StarRez story is a simple idea: better systems create more time for better student support. When routine administrative work is automated or moved into self-service workflows, staff can spend less time chasing data and more time building relationships.

“It truly has changed how, as an occupancy manager, I am able to do my work,” said Artho. “It has changed the trajectory of my career. It has changed how students and staff share data and processes.”

That is the broader value the University is realizing. StarRez is not just helping the team complete housing tasks faster. It is helping to connect the full residential journey, from application to booking to checkout, in one more unified experience.

“In a world where students want everything at their fingertips, they want it to take not longer than five minutes. StarRez allows students to do that. On the flip side, it frees our staff up to do the more glamorous side of Higher Education, which is the relationships and the connections and the engagement.”
— Mindy Artho, StarRez Systems Manager, Oklahoma State University

As Oklahoma State University continues expanding its StarRez portfolio, the team is building more than cleaner workflows. They are creating a housing operation where students can self-serve, staff can trust the data, and campus partners can make decisions with confidence.

Connect with our team to learn how we can help free up your team’s time to focus on your students.