The Student Government Association is currently working to implement Symplicity, a new software program designed to help organize schedules among campus organizations.

According to Rich Ramos, assistant dean of students, Symplicity is more than just a basic software program.

“It’s a software program that allows our clubs and organizations on campus to manage themselves better – like their membership, budgets and communication with their members,” Ramos said. “The main intention is to allow our clubs and organizations to better communicate with each other.”

Ramos adds that the program should be running in the near future

“It takes six to eight weeks for them to build the product to what our needs are,” Ramos said. “Our hope is that we can have it and start using it at the start of second semester.”

Senior Kyle Liske, student body president, says the software has other benefits as well.

“There’s a co-curricular transcript which allows you to track and archive all your organizations that you have done throughout your years at Simpson,” Liske said.

In addition, Symplicity will have a Facebook application that may also be useful to students.

“It has a Facebook application that allows students to get information from clubs and organizations sent directly to their Facebook page,” Ramos said. “I know that students look at their Facebook page a lot more than they look at their e-mail and portal.”

According to Ramos, many clubs and organizations have been noticing conflicting schedules that Symplicity is expected to alleviate.

“A lot of these groups are planning their functions or planning their events at the same time as other organizations,” Ramos said.

An option that could solve the problem is the campus-wide calendar that is available on the software.

“We figure that if we can increase the communications between students, then maybe we can get more participation, school spirit and connectivity here at Simpson,” sophomore Class President Steven Ramsey said.

Prexy Club, a group where the presidents of organizations come together and discuss problems, first brought attention to these issues.

“One of the main problems we found on campus was the lack of communication between groups,” Liske said.

Ramos and SGA members researched different products to help find a solution to these problems.

“We really tried looking for a fix of these problems,” Liske said. “How can we better communicate between groups, and this software is a remedy for that.”

The software was purchased by SGA with Simpson students in mind.

“We had some money left over from our operating budget we have from year-to-year,” Ramsey said. “Instead of keeping this money, we wanted to make the money work for the students and better the quality of life for Simpson College students.”

Symplicity can be used by students who aren’t as involved on campus as well.

Liske looks forward to using the new program.

“Symplicity will help to unite and organize the campus as a whole,” Liske said. “It will help connect the campus.”