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
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.
- We highly recommend implementing SSO to provide students with a secure way to log in to Interstride with their institutional credentials.
- Pro-tip: Once SSO is implemented, this before launch! Make sure there aren’t any restrictions for your students logging in before launch.
Phase 2: Automation
- Automation is a powerful tool that lets you automatically invite new students to the platform and drive engagement. Simply choose a monthly, quarterly, or semester date to invite new students to Interstride.
- All we need from your institution are the students’ email addresses to invite them and provide access to the student 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: Automation can be set up for both students and alumni. Be sure these are separate lists since, in most cases, only current students will have SSO access. We recommend inviting the past 2-3 years’ worth of alumni to the platform.
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 team will also meet with you on an individual or small team basis to discuss launch dates, specifics, and marketing, as well as provide you with 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 will meet with the rest of your team or partners (such as Career Services or International Office) to demonstrate the platform.
- Pro-tip: We strongly recommend you watch our Administrator Training videos through our on-demand webinars. You can access these through the student portal > Learn > Webinars > On-Demand.
Ready to Launch!
- Congratulations! Your staff is trained, the technology is integrated, and it’s officially time to launch!
- On the predetermined date, Interstride will invite students and alumni from the provided contact lists to the platform. This will trigger an email sequence inviting your students to the Interstride portal. Since SSO is integrated, any student can access the platform after launch at any time.
- Pro-tip: We highly recommend you partner with ISSS to market this tool to your students. Some methods include email blasts, monthly newsletters, campus flyers/tabling, and utilizing your campus newspaper.
Typical Launch 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.
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.
