The HESS Consortium is not a GPO so we partner with the Coalition for College Cost Savings on master service agreements (MSA) for our collective members. Standards for selection are jointly established between the organizations in partnership. It is a costly process to create MSAs for our members so we want to make sure that companies meet a high level of excellence and national coverage. Before they are submitted as candidates to the Coalition for a master service agreement, HESS leadership uses the follow rubric to evaluate new business partners for both the business affiliate level and the business contract partner level.
Does the company reach all or a large portion of our member institutions nationally?
It is important for our partner companies to have the capacity to work with our national membership and provide the best services and/or products to the majority of our member institutions. What is your past and current commitment to the U.S. higher education market and what are your resources here? The criteria for this is usually associated with the number of sales and technology staffing within the company and, based on the type of services offered, the location and number of field offices in the U.S. With this, smaller local and regional businesses are normally disqualified.
(20 points)
Has the company been referred to HESS by two or more member institution as a reputable company. If a company is recommended by member institutions as a viable and reputable company who provided (or is providing) good services/products, HESS will take this into account when reviewing potential business affiliates and partners. (30 points)
Our HESS / Coalition master service agreement (MSA) has many items that are meant to protect our member institutions, their data and their operations. While the MSA is a short and broad guide for standards that we require from our business partners, many companies may be unable to adhere to the requirements that we ask of our business partner candidates. (standard requirement)
HESS / Coalition Contract Business Partners are requested to engage with our HESS member institutions on a quarterly basis and be active in our national conferences and periodic regional gatherings. These quarterly engagements include 1.) quarterly webinars on various topics related to higher education technology operations, products and services and 2.) quarterly entries in our HESS Consortium Business Partners Quarterly e-blast. Some companies do not have the resources to provide content necessary to engage with our members on a regular basis. (20 points)
As the HESS Consortium grows in numbers, the value of the consortium grows in terms of buying power, marketing and engagement with c-suite leadership. With this, we have set up a two-tiered partner program where companies support the HESS Consortium monetarily for its communication services and events for its members on behalf of our business partners. Many companies are unable to afford even the low costs that are involved with the programs.
HESS / Coalition Business Affiliates ($2,500 annually) are given 1-2 webinars annually, a microsite on the HESS Online Leadership Community closed social media site and invited to our annual national conference.
HESS / Coalition Contract Business Partners (low negotiated revenue share) are offered quarterly webinar engagements, quarterly articles in our HESS Consortium Business Partners Quarterly e-blast, a microsite on the HESS Online Leadership Community closed social media site and invited to our annual national conference to be sponsoring companies.
(standard requirement)
Our HESS Business Affiliates and our Contract Business Partners should be of high report, a national leader in their service/product areas and be able to perform at the highest levels in sales, support and pricing for our national membership. HESS leadership evaluate the need of companies’ products and services from member evaluation groups, communications and sometimes polling of the membership. This is also weighed heavily against current contract MSAs HESS currently has in its portfolio of contracts to avoid duplication of services. (30 points)
If a potential business partner meets the standard requirements and scores at least 80 points (out of 100 possible) within the rubric, the company is recommended to the Coalition by HESS as either a business contract partner or business affiliate. Please view current HESS Business Partners and Affiliates below.
Current Approved HESS / Coalition Contract Business Partners and Business Affiliates
Ad Astra is the only AI-powered Smart Scheduling™ solution that unifies courses, faculty, rooms, and events to boost institutional efficiency and help more students graduate on time. As a trusted partner to over 550 higher education institutions and nearly 30 years of expertise, Ad Astra delivers the only all-in-one scheduling platform that enables colleges and universities to build student-centric schedules that improve completion, maximize resource use, and strengthen financial sustainability.
Our platform is organized into a tiered suite that allows you to master foundational efficiency before moving into high impact strategic planning:
+ Essential Scheduling: Streamlines the core “mechanics” of the campus. It unifies course, event, and room scheduling into a single source of truth, eliminating the “spreadsheet silos” that lead to double-bookings and manual errors.
+ Data-Informed Scheduling: Introduces Smart Scheduling™ tools that leverage historical enrollment trends and real time registration monitoring. This layer identifies underutilized spaces and “bottleneck” courses, allowing deans to make targeted adjustments during the live registration cycle.
+ Student-Informed Scheduling: Moves beyond historical trends by incorporating student specific data from degree maps and academic plans. This tier ensures the schedule is built around actual student requirements, identifying exactly which courses are needed to move specific cohorts toward graduation,
effectively increasing Degree Velocity®.
+ Integrated Planning: Represents the highest level of scheduling maturity. This is our Annual Schedule Planning solution, the only one of its kind in the industry. It aligns stakeholders across the institution to build a full year of conflict-free courses in advance, directly mapping offerings to student completion paths.
Unlike modular point solutions that require complex re-integrations as you grow, Ad Astra’s all-in-one approach ensures that your data, from faculty workloads to room capacities, flows seamlessly through every stage of your evolution. As your institution becomes more comfortable with data-driven decision making, the platform unlocks advanced machine learning recommendations and Faculty Capacity Planning tools without requiring a change in infrastructure.
For more information, learn more at aais.com.
To learn more about these relationship levels and how your company might develop a business relationship with HESS, click here. For more information on this process, please contact Keith Fowlkes, Executive Director for the HESS Consortium at keith.fowlkes@hessconsortium.org.