The Information Systems and Computing (ISC) department at the University of Pennsylvania is responsible for providing central services that are managed for the university at large.

Recognizing a need for captioning centralization, ISC embarked on a journey to streamline the process across the university’s various schools and centers.

Previously, there was fragmented use of 3Play Media’s services across Penn, leading to inefficiencies within captioning workflows, implementation, and communication. To address this, ISC centralized the 3Play Media service under a single account, which would ultimately improve the overall system and enhance captioning success across the institution.

“Working with 3Play has been transformative for ISC. Their platform has helped us to centralize captioning services for various groups across the university and made it easier to manage captioning projects and support requests seamlessly.”

Eric Snyder

Senior IT Manager

The Challenge

Before centralization, Penn’s schools and centers experienced siloed captioning processes, leading to inconsistent experiences that often caused confusion. Because each of the schools and centers using 3Play operated independently, they felt disconnected from other groups using 3Play and weren’t confident about who to lean on for support within the university system.

At the time, there was no dedicated role within ISC to address these challenges, leaving Penn’s schools and centers without a knowledge base for 3Play’s service and captioning-related workflows.

Utilizing the Panopto Integration

ISC has integrated 3Play Media’s captioning services with Panopto, helping to automate the captioning workflow for schools and centers. This seamless Panopto integration reduces administrative tasks across the board, saving time and ensuring users can access quality captioning through a reliable workflow.

The Solution

Recognizing an opportunity for improvement, ISC leveraged its expertise, particularly with the Panopto service, to integrate 3Play Media captioning across Penn.

They undertook the setup of individual 3Play Media projects for each school and center, managing contact information, purchase orders, and project specifics centrally under one main 3Play account. This approach eliminated the need for individual departments to manage these details, significantly reducing their administrative burden.

ISC provided training and support to ensure smooth transitions and effective use of the 3Play Media service. While the initial setup required time, effort, and collaboration, the system became largely automated once established, with ISC maintaining oversight and addressing new requests as needed.

Implementation Breakdown

The Impact

Centralizing the captioning service under ISC provided notable benefits that resulted in positive feedback from user groups across the university.

Consolidating services under a single account made managing projects and requests more efficient for ISC. Additionally, the new standardized system offered a consistent support point for users that improved captioning workflow implementation and streamlined day-to-day needs.

Overall, the centralization initiative was well-received, with various departments expressing relief and satisfaction with the new system. Users could ‘set it and forget it’ while still having peace of mind that their captioning needs were met.

Building on Success

ISC plans to build on the success of the centralized captioning program by developing comprehensive documentation and resources for users. This will help new users understand and navigate the 3Play Media platform while continuing to improve ISC’s system through ongoing feedback and performance monitoring.

This achievement was driven by a collaborative approach, strong relationships, and clear communication between ISC, 3Play Media, and the university’s schools and centers.

Ultimately, the ISC team’s efforts have not only enhanced captioning efficiency but also fostered a unified, supportive environment across the university.

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