Graduation Is Complete. Now Is the Time to Optimize Ellucian Degree Works

Graduation season tends to reveal more about a Degree Works environment than any other time of the year.

Throughout the academic year, advisors, registrar staff, degree auditors, and academic departments work through individual student issues as they arise. During graduation processing, institutions review large numbers of audits simultaneously, creating visibility into patterns that may not have been obvious during day-to-day operations.

Questions begin to surface.

Why are students requiring so many exceptions?

Why is important information difficult to find?

Why are advisors relying on manual processes outside of Degree Works?

Why are students struggling to identify their remaining requirements?

Why did certain audits require additional review before degrees could be awarded?

By the time graduation processing concludes, many institutions have identified a list of improvements they would like to make. The challenge is finding the time to address them before the next academic cycle begins.

Summer provides that opportunity.

Rather than viewing the period between graduation and fall registration as downtime, institutions can use it to strengthen Degree Works, improve the advising experience, and address issues discovered during graduation processing.

Key Takeaways

• Graduation processing provides one of the clearest views into how Degree Works performs, revealing exception patterns, audit display issues, and advising workflow gaps that are not visible during routine operations.
• Summer is the optimal window to address findings from graduation because registration, advising, and orientation demands are temporarily reduced.
• Release management is one of the most overlooked areas of Degree Works administration. Reviewing version status, support timelines, and release notes can uncover functionality that addresses known challenges.
• Degree Works is one of the most frequently accessed student systems on many campuses, making dashboard content, messaging, and localized information high-impact optimization targets.
• Exception trends from graduation processing often  point to larger opportunities in audit logic, curriculum structures, or advising workflows that can be resolved systematically.
• Banner data alignment should be reviewed alongside Degree Works configuration. Audit accuracy depends on clean, well-timed data flowing from Banner into Degree Works.

Graduation Processing Reveals Opportunities for Improvement

Many Degree Works environments perform exactly as configured.

That does not necessarily mean they are performing as effectively as possible.

Graduation processing creates a unique opportunity because staff members review hundreds or thousands of audits in a relatively short period of time. Patterns become easier to identify, including:

• Repeated exceptions
• Confusing audit displays
• Missing student information
• Advising process gaps
• Curriculum alignment concerns
• Dashboard visibility challenges
• Reporting limitations

The issues discovered during graduation processing tend to  become the roadmap for summer optimization efforts. For a comprehensive look at how to approach these improvements, see our guide on summer Degree Works optimization, which covers audit logic reviews, Controller processing, and underutilized functionality.

Review Your Ellucian Degree Works Release Strategy & Upgrade Planning

One of the most overlooked areas of Degree Works administration is release management.

Many institutions remain on older versions because the system appears stable. However, Degree Works releases now move through Active Support, Maintenance Support, Sustaining Support, and eventually End of Support status. Ellucian publishes support timelines and lifecycle information for all Degree Works versions, and institutions that wait too long to evaluate their upgrade path may find themselves further behind than expected.

Summer is an excellent time to evaluate:

• Current Degree Works version
• Upcoming release schedules
• Support status changes
• Planned enhancements
• Upgrade opportunities

Even if an institution is not ready for an immediate upgrade, understanding its support position can help inform future planning.

A review of release notes may also uncover functionality that could address challenges discovered during graduation processing.

Evaluate How Multiple Academic Programs Are Displayed

Graduation processing frequently highlights students who are completing one degree while simultaneously beginning another academic program.

A common example involves undergraduate students who have already been admitted into a graduate program before their undergraduate degree has been awarded. In these situations, institutions may discover that advisors or graduation auditors have difficulty accessing the undergraduate audit needed to verify degree completion.

Ellucian has published guidance that allows institutions to display both academic programs within Degree Works during graduation processing, improving visibility for both advising and degree conferral activities.

If your graduation team encountered situations where the wrong audit appeared first or where important academic information was difficult to access, summer is an ideal time to review those configurations.

What Graduation Taught Your Advisors About Degree Works and Advising Workflows

Graduation processing is not just a review of student records. It is also one of the best opportunities to gather feedback from the people who work in Degree Works every day.

Advisors spend the academic year helping students understand requirements, navigate exceptions, and interpret audit results. By the time graduation season concludes, they typically have a clear understanding of where students encounter challenges.

Summer can be an ideal time to ask questions such as:

• Which requirements generated the most student questions?
• Which audit sections required the most explanation?
• Where did students misunderstand their progress toward graduation?
• What information was difficult to locate?
• Which manual processes created additional work for advisors?

Advisor feedback can help institutions prioritize improvements that have a direct impact on the student experience and reduce confusion during the next academic year.

Make Degree Works Dashboard a Better Communication Tool

When institutions evaluate Degree Works after graduation processing, audit accuracy is usually the first priority.

However, one of the most impactful improvements may have nothing to do with audit logic at all.

Ellucian Degree Works is one of the most accessed student systems on many campuses, serving as both a degree audit platform and an academic advising tool. Students regularly review their audits to monitor academic progress, prepare for registration, and determine their path toward graduation. Advisors, registrar staff, and academic departments also rely on the platform throughout the academic year.

That visibility creates an opportunity.

Summer can be an ideal time to review localized dashboard content, header information, institutional messaging, and resource links to ensure important information is visible when students and advisors need it most.

Consider reviewing:

• Advisor contact information
• Graduation application guidance
• Registration reminders
• Academic standing information
• Student support resources
• Institutional announcements
• Campus-specific links and resources
• Guidance for students approaching graduation

Graduation processing often reveals information that is technically available but difficult to locate. When important details are buried within multiple systems or webpages, students are more likely to contact advisors and registrar offices for assistance.

Small adjustments to dashboard visibility, messaging, and localized content can improve the user experience without requiring significant technical effort.

Institutions using custom header configurations may also want to evaluate whether the information being displayed continues to support advising, graduation processing, and student success goals.

Degree Works is not just a degree audit tool. It is one of the few systems that students, advisors, and registrar staff all rely on simultaneously.

Review Degree Works Exception Trends After Graduation

Exceptions are a normal part of degree auditing. What becomes valuable is identifying patterns. Graduation processing tends to reveal recurring exceptions that may indicate larger opportunities for improvement.

Questions worth asking include:

• Are the same waivers being entered repeatedly?
• Are departments consistently requesting similar substitutions?
• Are advisors relying on manual notes to explain audit results?
• Are students frequently confused by the same requirements?

Patterns may indicate opportunities to improve audit logic, curriculum structures, documentation, or advising workflows. For institutions where exception trends point to deeper audit or scribing issues, our post on common Degree Works audit issues covers the most frequent root causes and resolution strategies.

Reducing unnecessary exception activity can improve consistency while reducing administrative effort.

Have You Reviewed New Degree Works Functionality Recently?

Many institutions focus on keeping Degree Works operational but rarely have an opportunity to evaluate new functionality introduced through recent releases.

As part of summer planning, consider reviewing recent Degree Works enhancements, release notes, and product updates to determine whether new functionality could support institutional goals.

Potential review areas may include:

• Student Educational Planner (SEP)
• Dashboard enhancements
• Reporting improvements
• User Security
• Student-facing usability enhancements
• Advising tools and workflows

Even institutions that are not planning an immediate upgrade can benefit from understanding the functionality available in newer releases and how those capabilities may support future initiatives.

Evaluate the Student Experience

Registrar and advising teams spend significant time working within Degree Works, but students experience the platform differently. After graduation processing concludes, consider reviewing Degree Works from a student perspective.

Can students easily identify:

• Remaining requirements?
• Graduation eligibility?
• Advisor information?
• Important deadlines?
• Academic progress?

A technically accurate audit does not always translate into a positive user experience. Summer provides an opportunity to evaluate both.

Validate Banner Data Alignment Before Fall Registration

Degree Works depends on clean, well-timed data from Banner to produce accurate audits. Graduation processing can reveal data alignment issues that trace back to Banner rather than Degree Works configuration itself.

Summer is a good time to review:

• Banner extract timing and RAD processing schedules
• Curriculum coding consistency between student curriculum records and Degree Works scribing
• Attribute configuration and effective dating
• Data governance ownership across Registrar, Advising, and IT

Addressing Banner data alignment proactively prevents the same audit issues from resurfacing during the next graduation cycle. For a deeper look at this relationship, see our post on accurate Banner data and Degree Works performance.

Prepare for Fall Registration

By late summer, institutional focus begins shifting toward registration, advising campaigns, and onboarding activities. Addressing Degree Works improvements before that transition occurs can help reduce support requests and improve confidence across campus.

The most successful Degree Works environments are not necessarily those with the most customization. They are the environments that receive consistent attention, thoughtful governance, and periodic review. Graduation processing provides valuable insight into where improvements are needed.

Summer provides the time to make those improvements.

Final Thoughts

Graduation processing provides one of the clearest views into how Degree Works performs in real-world scenarios. The questions raised by advisors, degree auditors, registrar staff, and students during graduation season frequently highlight the improvements that will have the greatest impact in the year ahead.

Rather than waiting for the next graduation cycle to expose the same challenges, institutions can use the summer months to improve audit visibility, evaluate release strategies, strengthen student communication, optimize dashboard content, and enhance the advising experience before fall registration begins.