Siena College is a Catholic, coeducational liberal arts college in the Franciscan tradition. Twenty-five academic majors are available through Siena's three schools: the School of Liberal Arts, School of Business and School of Science. Siena also offers special connections such as a joint BA/MD degree program with Albany Medical College, a BSW/MSW agreement with New York University, a Pre-Law program, and Cooperative Engineering programs, to name a few. Certificate programs include Teacher Education, International Studies, Health Studies, Peace Studies, and Microsoft Certification.

The recruitment of students is one of the most important jobs in the business of managing a college. Most schools have websites that provide general information; however, the use of the web to conduct recruitment and collect information on recruits is a relatively new concept for most colleges. Student recruitment requires a dedicated and well-managed staff as well as state-of-the-art technology to attract and capture potential prospects. Siena College decided to take steps toward the design of a communication and outreach tool that would combine the utility of the Internet and the power of database technology. This Variable Information Processing (VIP) application was needed to assist the school with managing the communication with prospective students while at the same time collecting valuable information about their candidates. The goal was to create an efficient, effective two-way communication tool that prospective students are comfortable using. As the candidate accesses the website to browse and collect information, valuable information about the candidate is recorded. The information is used to further personalize the website and create a sharper focus on that particular recruit through a tailored Admissions communication plan with the prospective student. This tool was to allow Admissions to identify and concentrate on the most likely prospects and foster a personal relationship between them and the college.

Consilium was engaged to conduct detailed analysis of the requirements for the VIP application. Consilium worked with Siena Admissions and IT staff to create a quality deliverable that included: Business Process Models, Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), Functional Hierarchy, and Glossary of Terms.