Design the early alert workflow before discussing retention

An early alert platform has value only when alerts arrive from usable data and reach someone with time to respond. An account executive should explore the handoff from faculty signal to advisor action before discussing a result such as retention.

Dean Morales asks, "Will this improve retention, and can it flag every student who is at risk?" Executive Colin says, "The platform can only work from data the institution provides and the response process you design. Which signals are timely today, and what happens after an advisor receives one?" The dean says faculty enter attendance unevenly and advisors use different caseload reports. Colin replies, "That gives us two areas to inspect: data availability and response capacity. I cannot promise a retention result or universal identification. Could we map three recent student situations with advising, faculty, and IT? We can see what information existed, who could act, and which alert rule would be meaningful."

The proposed exercise is small enough to expose gaps. It may show that a new workflow needs faculty agreement, an advisor queue, or a clearer definition of urgent outreach. That evidence gives the dean a grounded basis for deciding whether to proceed.

For coaching, take a current support process and draw the route from a missing assignment to a student contact. Mark every place where data is absent, late, or owned by another team. In your next discovery call, ask for that route before showing a dashboard or naming a projected result.