Connect college websites to Tribal EBS
Every further education college we work with starts with the same problem.
The course information lives in one place. The website lives in another. And someone, usually in marketing, is copying details between the two by hand.
South West College, Southern Regional College and North West Regional College all run Tribal EBS as their student records and curriculum system. It holds the facts about every course: codes, levels, campuses, start dates, fees, modes of study. Our job has been to make the website and EBS work as one system rather than two.
Here is how that works in practice.
Let the system of record stay the system of record
The first decision was simple. EBS owns the course data. The website doesn't try to.
We sync course information from EBS into Craft CMS automatically. When a start date changes or a new intake is added, the website picks it up. Nobody has to remember to update it.
That removes a whole category of errors. The kind where a prospective student reads one date online and hears another at enrolment.
Data alone doesn't sell a course
EBS is very good at structured information. It isn't built to tell a sixteen year old why a course might suit them, or show an adult returner what a week on the course actually looks like.
So we keep two layers. The synced data from EBS, which stays tied to its source. And the editorial content on top, which college staff write and manage in Craft.
The two sit side by side on every course page. Staff can rewrite an introduction, add student stories or update entry advice without touching the data that comes from EBS. And the next sync doesn't overwrite their work.
Editing with the right controls
Colleges are large organisations. Plenty of people know their courses better than anyone in marketing does, but not everyone should be publishing straight to the live site.
We built the editing around that. Curriculum staff can draft and edit content for their own areas. Changes then move through approval at different levels before they go live, so a head of department or the marketing team can review and sign off.
The people closest to the course keep it current. The college keeps control of tone, accuracy and brand.
Search that keeps up
With a full prospectus online, search matters more than almost anything else on a college website.
Because the course data is structured at source, we can filter on it properly. Level, subject, campus, full time or part time, start date. The filters respond instantly, so someone can narrow the whole prospectus down to a handful of options in a few clicks.
Structured data in, fast filters out. It's an easy connection to overlook, but it's where the integration really pays off for the people using the site.
Over the years we have seen plenty of integrations that technically work but that nobody trusts. The data drifts, someone starts keeping a spreadsheet on the side, and the website slowly falls out of step.
The ones that last have a few things in common. A clear source of truth. A clean line between data and editorial content. And editing that reflects how the organisation actually works.
More information on EBS can be found on their website https://www.tribalgroup.com/solutions/student-information-systems/ebs
If your college runs EBS and the website still feels like a separate job, we'd be happy to talk through how we approach it.