How SFBU Meets its Mission Through Adoption of Salesforce as an SIS
Author's Note: This case study is written differently from the standard “problem/solution/impact” template. SFBU’s journey with Salesforce as SIS wasn’t a straight line — and we wanted to capture that honestly. Heather and the SFBU team began skeptical of Salesforce as a student information system, and Tondro wasn’t initially on their radar as a partner. What follows is not a polished vendor story, but an authentic account of how a small university confronted its operational limits, changed its mind, and built new capacity step by step.
SFBU Case Study Summary
San Francisco Bay University (SFBU), a small nonprofit university near Silicon Valley, serves a mission-centered population of first-generation and low-income students. But like many smaller institutions, SFBU struggled with disconnected systems and paper-based processes that slowed operations and limited growth. To support domestic enrollment expansion, the school adopted Salesforce not just as a CRM—but as a full Student Information System (SIS)—bringing together recruiting, admissions, financials, and student records on one connected platform.
Introduction to SFBU & Its Challenges
Despite its 40-year history, the University’s operations often felt more like a start-up: paper-driven, disconnected systems, and limited infrastructure to support growth.
When SFBU launched a $2M enrollment campaign, leadership realized their existing systems couldn’t keep up. Students had no reliable way to apply, and staff couldn’t see across silos. The school began exploring CRM options, assuming Salesforce would play a role in admissions—but had little interest in considering it as a full Student Information System (SIS).
“We literally had no infrastructure to enable and grow. It wasn’t just one office struggling — it was a fully integrated pain.”— Heather Herrera, VP of Strategy & Innovation, SFBU
Why Salesforce as SIS?
The Turning Point: From Skepticism to a Unanimous Decision
Salesforce wasn’t SFBU’s first choice for a student system—in fact, it wasn’t on the list. The university initially assumed Salesforce would play a limited CRM role in recruiting.
“We took the meeting to be polite, essentially,” said Heather Herrera, VP of Strategy & Innovation. “We were very apprehensive about Salesforce as a Student Information System.”
That changed when the team saw how the Student Success module connected the full student journey—from inquiry to enrollment to retention—in one real-time system. Departments could finally work from the same data, on the same platform.
“What we saw was going to help us accelerate our goals, especially around student experience. From that point, the decision was fairly easy—and unanimous.”
For SFBU, the choice wasn’t about cost savings or brand names. It was about which system could help them recruit, retain, and support students more effectively.
SFBU Startup Scholar event — innovation and student success at the center of campus life
Why Tondro: A Partnership That Fit SFBU’s Reality
SFBU’s introduction to Tondro was almost accidental. As Herrera tells it, Salesforce “didn’t really give us options” on implementation partners. Initially, the team assumed Tondro simply “came with the package.”
But the partnership proved to be a good fit for an institution whose processes were still immature despite its 40-year heritage.
“We didn’t have a game plan for a lot of things. We needed a partner who could be patient, walk us through options, and even help us design processes we’d never formalized before. Tondro turned out to be the right partner for us — not because everything was easy, but because they were willing to work with us through the pain points.”
Herrera emphasizes that this wasn’t about a glossy rollout. The steep learning curve was real. Staff accustomed to decades-old workflows needed repeated training, and governance structures had to be built from scratch. What made the difference was persistence and process-first problem-solving. Heather believes that Tondro turned out to be exactly the right partner for their needs.
SFBU students visiting Intel HQ — expanding career pathways through real-world learning experiences
Implementation and Early Impact (~5 months post–go live)
SFBU launched its new Salesforce Student Information System in phases—prioritizing staff onboarding, data accuracy, and real-world usability.
Adoption:
~75% of staff are actively using the platform (target: 100%).
Legacy workflows replaced by digital processes across departments
Registrar:
80% less manual work
Cleaner, more reliable student data
First registration cycle under Salesforce saw a 40% drop in help desk tickets
Admissions:
Application-to-decision timeline cut from “over a month” to just 10 days
Funnel growth exploded and domestic undergrads increased from 3 to 60 in about one year, equating to nearly 2,000% growth in this segment.
Bursar/Student Financials:
While online payments were possible before, the information was siloed.
Two hours after go-live, a student successfully made a payment that, for the first time, was immediately visible across all relevant departments.
IT & Cross-Functional Visibility
Data silos eliminated across campus
Mobile access for students to self-manage key parts of their journey
Real-time dashboards surfaced operational bottlenecks—like 127 students awaiting financial review—empowering leadership to act in minutes, not weeks
Why It Matters
For SFBU, the SIS transformation wasn’t about digitizing forms. It was about removing friction that kept students from moving forward. The real transformation was not the platform itself, but how it enabled people to work smarter, faster, and more collaboratively across the University.
“Before, everything was manual. Now, it’s just a dashboard. And that means we can intervene earlier, act faster, and serve more students.”
Technology was simply the tool. What truly matters is that SFBU now has the infrastructure to scale — and more first-generation and low-income students are getting timely support when they need it most.