FAQs

To preview Patriot Connect: Recruitment and Admissions from both the staff/faculty and the student applicant perspective, demo videos are available at this link: Recruitment and Admissions Demo Recordings.

If you have questions regarding the demo recordings, please submit them through the Let’s Connect form.

Please note you must have a George Mason University NetID and password to access the demos.

The launch date for Recruitment and Admissions shifted two weeks due to delays in critical data integration and data migration work. After careful review and consideration, the Salesforce Executive Committee voted to move the: 

• Technical launch of Recruitment and Admissions to April 24, 2026 

• First wave of applications available to be published in Patriot Connect on May 1, 2026 

This two-week adjustment allows additional time for integration and migration work while still preserving time for user acceptance testing (UAT) and training. 

Technical launch (April 24, 2026) refers to the system readiness milestone—this is the date that Patriot Connect: Recruitment and Admissions is technically launched into production. 

Applications published in Patriot Connect (May 1, 2026) refers to when the first wave of applications will be made available in Patriot Connect for applicants. George Mason staff and faculty assigned to Wave 1 will also gain access to the system on this date. 

The shift in timeline impacts the application process for two groups of students: 

• Undergraduate non-degree (fall 2026): The application will open on April 1, 2026, as planned, but applications will be submitted through TargetX rather than Patriot Connect. These applications will remain entirely in TargetX through the end of the cycle in September 2026, prior to TargetX’s retirement. The fall undergraduate non-degree application will move to Patriot Connect for the next academic year, opening on April 1, 2027.   

• Graduate degree (spring 2027): The application start date has moved from April 15, 2026, to May 1, 2026, and applications will be submitted through Patriot Connect. Enrollment Management will work directly with schools and colleges to help mitigate any impact on deferred applications and reporting. 

Fall 2026 undergraduate non-degree applicants will apply through TargetX beginning April 1, 2026.  

These applications will remain entirely in TargetX through the end of the cycle in September 2026, prior to TargetX’s retirement.

Degree-seeking graduate students applying for spring 2027 will be able to apply through Patriot Connect beginning May 1, 2026.

While there is always some possibility of missing potential applicants due to a later open date, the overall anticipated impact is low. 

George Mason’s TargetX licenses expire on November 29. 

• The fall 2026 undergraduate non-degree student application process will be completed before then, so TargetX can still be used for this cycle. 
• The spring 2027 graduate application process concludes after the TargetX license expires, which would require renewing the contract for an entire year and staffing two platforms.

If you’ve already communicated an April 15 open date, you can take a few practical steps to reduce confusion and keep applicants informed: 

• Update digital content immediately (webpages, email templates, PDFs, social media posts) to reflect May 1, 2026, as the open date for the spring 2027 graduate application in Patriot Connect. 

• If printed materials cannot be reprinted, use a low-friction correction: 

• Post a prominent note on the related webpage where that printed piece is referenced.

The good news is that it allows the Patriot Connect team to maintain a robust training schedule, rather than compressing the training calendar. 

It also allows the Patriot Connect team to focus specifically on graduate population needs and questions during training sessions held in Wave 1. Training will continue to be designed as “just in time” so users can apply what they learn immediately. As with Patriot Connect: Student Success, we expect to continue providing training options after the system is launched.

Recruitment and Admissions will continue to follow the planned phased user activation wave approach, where users gain access in 3.5 waves: 

• Wave 1 user activation: May 2026 

• Wave 1.5 user activation: June 2026 

• Wave 2 user activation: August 2026 

• Wave 3 user activation: December 2026, January 2027, March 2027

For the most up-to-date information—including dates for UAT and training—refer to the Timeline page.

Wave 1.5 functionality will include: 

• Vonage Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) 

• Case Management 

• Event Management 

User activation waves and readiness expectations are maintained on the program planning timeline. 

If you have questions or feedback about timing or impacts for Patriot Connect Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions, please submit them through the “Let’s Connect” form on the Patriot Connect program planning website. Your question will be routed to the appropriate team for follow-up. 

From March 16 to May 15, the available appointment start time options in Patriot Connect will temporarily include the option for students to book appointments every 15 minutes. Instead of only offering 30-minute and 60-minute appointment durations that start at the 30–minute mark (e.g., 8:00, 8:30, 9:00), 15-minute appointment durations will also be available that may start at any 15–minute mark (e.g., 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45). During this temporary period, students may see additional start-time options that were not available before (such as 8:15 and 8:45).  After May 15, appointment start times will return to :00 and :30 (If 15-minute appointment durations are used, they can only be scheduled at :00 or :30 start times). 

Peak advising is a period where there is a high volume of advising appointments, many of which can be completed in less than 15 minutes. This approximately covers the time from when classes are posted through three weeks after registration begins. 

Keeping your current appointment structure means students will continue to schedule with you for the same appointment lengths. However, during this period students could schedule appointments starting at :00, :15, :30, or :45 start times (instead of only :00 and :30).  

For example, your appointments for the day could now be 9:00-9:30, 9:45-10:15, 10:15-10:45, 10:45-11:15, 11:30-12:00. 

If appointments starting at :15 and :45 are problematic for your unit, reach out to Stephanie Bluth ([email protected]) and Amy Lebrecht ([email protected]) for further assistance. 

No, they will not! Any existing appointments remain unchanged; only newly scheduled appointments could be for a shorter length of time or start at :15 or :45. 

Before confirming an appointment, students review their appointment details, including the scheduled start and end time of an appointment, before submitting the appointment. This information is also included in the appointment confirmation and reminder messages. 

No system limitation exists here. If your time is free, they can book it. However, we recommend having a 30-minute appointment type available if you anticipate students needing 30-minute appointments.  

Yes! Any 15-minute appointment reasons will continue to be available if you configure your shifts that way.  However, they can only be scheduled at :00 and :30 start times after May 15th. This means you could have appointments scheduled from 10:00-10:15 and 10:30-10:45, leaving the 10:15-10:30 and 10:45-11:00 time periods empty and unable to be booked on your schedule.  

No, the available appointment durations are not changing. 30-minute and 60-minute appointment durations will still be available. We are simply temporarily adding a 15-minute appointment duration option. 

Academic Advising needs to increase the available appointment times offered during peak advising periods so they can support more students.

From March 16 to May 15, students will be able to schedule appointments with you in any available 15–minute slot within your shifts (e.g., A 30-minute appointment may start at 8:15 and run from 8:15–8:45, and another appointment could then start at 8:45 or 9:00). This applies to all appointment durations (30–minute, 60–minute, etc.). Because there are more start-time options, you may also notice 15–minute gaps between scheduled appointments.

Because students will temporarily see appointment start-time options at both the 15-minute and 30-minute marks, they may select an appointment that begins at a 15-minute mark, creating a gap between appointments for some faculty and staff who traditionally offer 30-minute appointment durations. For example, if a student schedules a 30-minute appointment from 8:15–8:45, the next student may have scheduled their appointment to start at 9:00, which creates a 15-minute gap (8:45–9:00). Depending on how students book, some appointments may also be back-to-back (e.g., 8:15–8:45 followed by an 8:45 start).

If you have questions or need support:  

• Submit a help ticket with the ITS help desk (for faculty/staff) and the MSSC (for students).
• Contact your Release 1 Product Owner. 

For day-long events, such as shared “Out of Office” invites, make sure they are marked as “Free” in your Outlook Calendar (not “Out of Office” or “Busy”) so they don’t block availability incorrectly.

Multi-day events lasting longer than 14 days will NOT block time in Patriot Connect, even if marked “Busy.” If you’ll be out for more than 14 days, update your shifts in Patriot Connect.

Events where you are not the organizer will sync to Patriot Connect but will not block your appointment availability. To block your time, duplicate the event in Outlook, mark it as “Busy,” and save it.

If your calendar holds aren’t blocking availability, make sure they are marked “Busy” or “Out of Office” (not “Free”). 

If tentative holds are blocking time, mark them as “Free” in Outlook.

If an event was marked “Free” but another attendee accepted it as “Busy,” it may appear as a blue block in Patriot Connect, but still show “Free.” To fix this, manually update the event status in the Patriot Connect calendar.

Event sync usually occurs in less than an hour but can take up to 24 hours. There is no current workaround, though testing is underway to improve this.

In some cases, students may be able to double-book appointments, often due to rescheduled meetings. This issue is currently under investigation.

These events may remain in Patriot Connect longer than the normal sync window. To remove them immediately, delete the original event from the Patriot Connect calendar.

Using different versions of Outlook may contribute to availability issues. Testing is currently underway to determine if using the New Outlook improves syncing.

No. The drag-and-drop feature is not functional for syncing and should not be used.

We’ve identified an alternative tool (Riva) to replace the calendar syncing functionality, and we hope to initiate a timeline for implementation in early 2026. Additional communications and training will be available closer to the launch. 

Staff and faculty materials:

1. Log in to MasonLEAPS
2. Join the Patriot Connect Community. To join: 
   1. Hover over the Connect tab on the top menu ribbon
   2. Select All Communities
   3. Select Patriot Connect
3. Select the Topics tab to access all training materials
4. Join the Patriot Connect Training Community in Microsoft Teams to receive updates on materials and announcements of upcoming trainings 

Student-facing materials:

1. Patriot Connect Overview – Video Resources

For Patriot Connect Release 1: Student Success, which launched in Spring 2025, eLearnings, videos, resource guides, and job aids, are available in MasonLEAPS. Virtual 30-minute micro trainings will be offered in Summer 2025. These and other trainings will be announced in the Patriot Connect Training Community in Microsoft Teams.

Trainings for Patriot Connect Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions will be scheduled and details will be announced later this year.

All users must complete the mandatory FERPA training in order to receive access to Patriot Connect.

Training on how to use Patriot Connect is highly encouraged to be able to support students, who will be using Patriot Connect as their primary method of scheduling appointments. Depending on your role at the university, reviewing the training materials will be crucial to your day-to-day activities. 

The student experience site is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, requiring minimal formal training. However, videos and job aids are available to students for additional support: Patriot Connect Overview – Video Resources.

These materials are also available to faculty and staff that need the information themselves or need to reiterate learning objectives/guidance to students.

For Release 1: Student Success launch-period training, individuals were hand-selected by their unit, school, and college to attend specific instructor-led trainings (ILT). If you were not assigned to attend a live training, then your college, school, or unit, in collaboration with your representative Product Owner, deemed the job aids, resource guides, videos, and eLearnings available in MasonLEAPS to be sufficient based on how you will individually use Patriot Connect. Additionally, if your college, school, or unit does not require the use of Patriot Connect at this time, you may not have been assigned to live training. However, one recorded version of every instructor-led training (ILT) is available in MasonLEAPS for all faculty and staff.

Please suggest micro training topics using this Patriot Connect Micro Training Survey. If you have ideas for new or updated training materials, complete the Patriot Connect Training Resource Suggestions survey.

Refer to the following ITS support channels for assistance:

• Request Help: https://gmu.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/33/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=545 
• Chat: https://its.gmu.edu/chat/
• Phone: 703-993-8870

If you encounter any issues logging in or need technical support, please contact the Mason Student Services Center (MSSC).

• Submit a case using this form
  • Select “Patriot Connect” for the question, “Which area of the university do you need assistance with?” 
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 703-993-2000
• Website: https://mssc.gmu.edu 

Those who use screen readers may have trouble accessing certain Patriot Connect features when using the Safari browser on a laptop or desktop, especially when attempting to schedule appointments. This Safari-related problem is a known issue and is currently under development for resolution. If you or a student encounters this issue, please switch to Chrome, as appointments can now be scheduled using this browser.  

If a student is unable to switch to Chrome, please assist them by scheduling a meeting with you directly. If the student needs to meet with another staff member, either help by scheduling the appointment for them or connecting them via email to that staff member to schedule an appointment.  

We are actively working to ensure that the platform is accessible to all users, including those who rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. If students have any questions or need additional support, they should feel free to reach out to Disability Services or Assistive Technology. 

Students may log into Patriot Connect at connect.gmu.edu (Faculty completing progress reports will also log in at this link). Faculty, staff, and student staff may log into Patriot Connect at masonconnect.my.salesforce.com. You will log in via single sign-on (SSO) with your George Mason NetID and password, similar to how you access existing university platforms (i.e., Banner (Patriot Web)).

Please note Patriot Connect Marketing Cloud is available for a select group of users. Those who have Marketing Cloud permissions may log in here: Patriot Connect Marketing Cloud login. You will log in via single sign-on (SSO) with your George Mason NetID and password, similar to how you access existing university platforms (i.e., Banner (Patriot Web)).

All users of Patriot Connect require training on FERPA and Highly Sensitive Data. New George Mason staff and faculty should be on the lookout for notifications to complete one or both trainings after they start.

To ensure your account has access to Patriot Connect, you must complete a Patriot Connect Access Request Form. The process to get access will require both you and your supervisor completing digital form(s), confirming your need for access to Patriot Connect. For guidance on this process, log into MasonLEAPS in order to review the Getting Access to Patriot Connect as a New User job aid. ​

The review process can be configured with multiple rounds (up to three). If your program requires more than one binding review, one approach is to assign a binding reviewer in Round 1 and a different binding reviewer in Round 2. Binding reviews in different rounds do not cancel each other out. Work with your OGAL or Product Owner to confirm the configuration that matches your program’s review policy.​

The scorecard questions come from a consolidated, university-wide question set. Programs can select which questions from the set that they want to include on their scorecards. 

Scorecards can also be configured so that different questions appear by review round and/or by reviewer role (parallel vs. binding). As a result, the question bank is shared, but the specific scorecard used may vary by program. 

Programs can customize their scorecards by selecting from the standard university-wide question set and choosing which questions apply to each reviewer role and round. 

Adding a brand-new question beyond the standard question set is considered an additional change item and should be discussed with your OGAL or Product Owner. 

To see work assigned to you, use the “Application Reviews” tab and the “My Reviews” list view (some groups may also use reporting or list view filters for teams/queues). 

For handoffs (e.g., notifying a binding reviewer that a parallel review is complete), reviewers can use Chatter to @mention another user, which triggers a notification. If automated email notifications are needed, raise the request with your Product Owner as a potential future enhancement. 

Yes. Use the “Save for Later” button in the Application Review tool to save your progress. When you return, select “Continue application review” to pick up where you left off with your previous responses saved. 

Go here to access Patriot Connect Email Signature Templates.

Download this document to be able to copy and paste your preferred email signature. There are 4 options for how you can incorporate Patriot Connect (connect.gmu.edu) into your email signature to help spread the news to students about our new platform designed to enhance the student journey. If you meet with students, don’t forget to add your Patriot Connect “Personal Meeting Link” to the “Book an appointment with me” line.

Patriot Connect allows users to create, save, run, and export reports.

The list of units available for referrals in Release 1: Student Success focuses on student success and includes advising, student success coaching, career services, and learning services. See the Faculty and Staff tab for a comprehensive list of Participating Units.

Yes, there are role-based permissions and hierarchies built into the system. For example, student staff will have a different permission set and will be able to see limited information about their peers in the system.

Yes, business end users will be able to create marketing campaigns within Patriot Connect and utilize either Marketing Cloud or Distributed Marketing to send communications and manage campaigns based on their permissions.

Yes, students will have the ability to opt-out of receiving email communication. If a student opts-out of email communication, this information will be visible in the student’s contact details. SMS opt-out details/options are currently being finalized and will be communicated out once confirmed.

Yes, Vonage will be synced with Patriot Connect in Release 2, which will be available in 2026.

Yes. Historical information from current systems will be migrated to Patriot Connect. Please refer to the Patriot Connect Release 2 Migrations Schedule: Application Timing for more details. Once a cohort of applications is migrated, Patriot Connect becomes the location for future actions on those records, such as deferrals, reconsideration, cloning, and reopening. During the transition, teams should continue using TargetX for all in-progress applications, cases, and events until the start of their activation wave in Patriot Connect. After activation, new work should be managed in Patriot Connect. 

As part of a separate strategic initiative, George Mason is replacing our current degree audit system, DegreeWorks, with Stellic. Advising notes captured in DegreeWorks will be exported before that system is sunset and will be available in Patriot Connect after initial go-live.

For event management, Summit Events will replace Salesforce TargetX functionality as part of Patriot Connect Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions. Summit Events was selected for its seamless integration with the Patriot Connect platform and its ability to support events for prospective and new students such as college fairs, campus tours, and orientation programs. Event management functionality will launch in June 2026 as part of Wave 1.5.  

While Navigate is a stand-alone tool, Patriot Connect will support student success, recruitment and admissions, events management (as it relates to recruiting and orientation), and mass communications through a single, integrated tool. Leveraging this unified platform with centralized student data will provide a holistic view of each student and enable personalized, optimized student support services from application to graduation.

Banner (PatriotWeb), George Mason’s Student Information System, is the source of truth; all student record information will flow from Banner into Patriot Connect. If the information in Patriot Connect is incorrect, it is likely the source information in Banner is incorrect.

Discuss the following within your department (changes will impact all members): 

Discuss the following within your department (changes will impact all members): 

• What types of appointments can be scheduled for 15 –minutes?
• Do you want the existing appointment reasons in Patriot Connect updated, or to create new appointment reasons specifically for 15-minute appointments?
• Do you want only short appointments available to students, or both short and longer appointments?
• One member of your department communicates needed changes to Stephanie Bluth ([email protected]) and Amy Lebrecht ([email protected])
• The Patriot Connect technical team will update your appointment set up and communicate with you when your changes are complete (can take 1-2 weeks)
• Update your shifts to include any newly created appointment types 

Yes! This requires you to have both 15-minute and 30-minute appointment reasons set up. In your shift set up, ensure you have the appropriate reasons assigned for each day to meet your preferences. 

No, confidential units are not available for referrals nor appointments in Patriot Connect. However, these units’ contact information IS available in Patriot Connect. More details about this are available in our Patriot Connect Interaction Summary and Referral Guidelines document in MasonLeaps.

Yes. If a person is already known in the system, event registration can pre-fill their information, and the fields/questions are reportable at the event level.  

Yes. Pre-filled registration can be delivered through email links that use encrypted identifiers. Training will cover how those links are created.

Yes. Users who are assigned to the Event Setup persona can create event emails tied to different statuses. For more complex workflows or one-off bulk communications, Marketing Cloud or Distributed Marketing may still be needed. To review which personas you may need for Event Management, Marketing Cloud, and Distributed Marketing, you can watch an overview here.

Yes. Summit Events includes a “Use No Show Automation” option that can automatically mark non-attended registrants as no-shows after the event ends.  

Students will be required to use Patriot Connect to engage with key areas like academic advising, student success coaching, and other student services offices to make appointments and follow through on referrals to critical services.

Faculty and staff involved in key student services such as coaching, advising, and student support—which involve appointments and referrals—along with enrollment management services, will be required to use Patriot Connect to document and manage their interactions with students.

The expectation is for faculty and staff participating in Patriot Connect to use the platform when taking and conducting appointments with students. Patriot Connect should be used to document appointments and interactions, as it supports consistent advising practices and enhances student success by providing a unified platform for tracking communications and referrals, helping reduce the “Mason shuffle.”

As part of the strategy to create a more connected student experience, Graduate Education (schools and colleges) will use Patriot Connect for advising similar to their undergraduate counterparts. This ensures that graduate students have access to the same streamlined support and mentoring resources as undergraduate students, enhancing consistency across the university.

The key users of Patriot Connect: Student Success are current undergraduate and graduate students, advisors, student success coaches, and others in the student support services community. See the Faculty and Staff tab for a comprehensive list of Participating Units.

Patriot Connect: Student Success is officially available for participating student support services as of April 30, 2025. Patriot Connect Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions, is scheduled to deploy in April 2026 and will follow a phased user activation approach in which users will gain access to the system in a series of 3.5 waves. Units and stakeholders impacted by Release 2 will receive training and updates closer to launch on when to start using Patriot Connect through various communication channels such as project email updates, change champions, and guidance from unit leaders.

Colleges and schools should encourage use of Patriot Connect by their faculty and staff for student advising interactions/appointments. Colleges and schools should also update their departmental websites and pages where appropriate to direct students to Patriot Connect (connect.gmu.edu) to schedule appointments with their academic advisors. By consistently utilizing Patriot Connect, we can facilitate a more connected student experience, create a complete engagement record for the student, and eliminate the “Mason shuffle!”

Patriot Connect change champions help drive changes associated with the implementation of Patriot Connect within their respective groups. They do this by helping to facilitate rapid two-way communication between the project team and stakeholders, providing support for their teams and units, and by building awareness and understanding of the Patriot Connect platform and its implementation. They also share project updates, encourage end-user adoption, support cultural changes, gather feedback, address concerns, and monitor possible risks and issues. Change champions also leverage their unit-specific experience to enable effective coaching and empowerment of impacted individuals.

Patriot Connect is George Mason University’s new primary system of engagement for the student journey, designed to integrate and modernize our technology platforms and create a more connected and efficient experience for students, faculty, and staff. Starting at the beginning of the student journey, Patriot Connect serves as a centralized online tool for students, offering support from application to graduation. Patriot Connect enables students to receive personalized communications, schedule appointments, and access essential student support services including academic advising, student success coaching, and learning services. In the second release of Patriot Connect capabilities, coming in 2026, all applications and admissions processing will be handled within the platform. By replacing disconnected platforms like TargetX and Navigate, Patriot Connect aims to eliminate redundancies and streamline processes, enhancing data accuracy and user accessibility across the university.

Salesforce is a constituent relationship management (CRM) system that hosts and powers Patriot Connect. Salesforce is a cloud-based platform designed to manage and analyze interactions and data. George Mason University is using Salesforce Education Cloud (a version of Salesforce tailored for the Education industry) to improve student success and recruitment and admissions, paired with Salesforce Marketing Cloud to optimize our campaigns and engagement efforts.

The Patriot Connect Program Management Team encourages you to share your thoughts and feedback through our Let’s Connect Form. For specific questions or concerns, please contact your Patriot Connect Change Champion.

Patriot Connect will be rolled out in two planned releases.

Release 1: Student Success was launched on April 30, 2025, replacing Navigate.

Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions will replace Salesforce TargetX and is targeted to deploy in April 2026. Release 2 will follow a phased user activation approach in which users will gain access to the system in a series of 3.5 waves: Wave 1 in May 2026, Wave 2 in August 2026, and Wave 2 in November 2026. Vonage Computer Telephony Integration, Case Management, and Event Management functionality will deploy in Wave 1.5 in June 2026. For more information, visit the Timeline page.

The decision-making process for Patriot Connect is led by the Salesforce Executive Committee with representation from units affected by the implementation of Patriot Connect. The Patriot Connect program management team provides the day-to-day management of the program and product team with input from subject matter experts as well as the Salesforce CoE in the development of the Patriot Connect requirements.

The CoE was created to represent the interests and requirements of units around the university. This body determines how we collect and prioritize new features and enhancements for Salesforce, how we build these items, and how we effectively manage the subsequent change these items present to our user base. Members of the CoE include technical, process, industry, strategic, and business unit subject matter experts across all university business units (sometimes called Product Owners), and business unit leaders, all working in collaborative partnership for a seamless and streamlined user experience.