FAQs

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 

We are actively working to ensure accessibility for all students. However, students who use assistive technology (such as screen readers or keyboard-only access) will likely need assistance to schedule appointments through Patriot Connect until the issues are resolved. Students are being advised that they may contact the Mason Student Services Center (MSSC) to receive assistance in scheduling, or they may contact their advisor or a member of their success team directly, using the email address or phone number listed under the “Success Team” heading. 

If you encounter a student experiencing this issue, 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, connecting them via email to that staff member to schedule an appointment, or refer them to the MSSC. Students can submit a case, and for the question “Which area of the university do you need assistance with?” they should select “Patriot Connect.” Staff are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and will follow up via email to schedule a meeting with the student. 

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 will be students, advisors, and student success coaches. Other users who will be impacted include the student support services community and current users of Navigate. See the Faculty and Staff tab for a comprehensive list of Participating Units.

Patriot Connect: Student Success will officially be available for participating student support services on April 30, 2025. The Patriot Connect team is collaborating closely with affected units and stakeholders. Those units and stakeholders will receive training and updates 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 ensure they have Patriot Connect change champions identified and encourage use by their faculty and staff for student advising interactions/appointments. Colleges and schools can also update their departmental websites 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.

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)). Students will log into Patriot Connect at connect.gmu.edu (Faculty completing progress reports will also log in at this link). Faculty, staff, and student staff will log into Patriot Connect at masonconnect.my.salesforce.com.

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. ​

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, we will identify all data needing to migrate from the current systems to Patriot Connect. We will be migrating data from the current Navigate system as well as our current Salesforce TargetX Orgs, in accordance with a detailed, vetted, and thorough schedule and transition plan.

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.

Event management functionality will be integrated with the Patriot Connect platform, but it does not come with the native Education Cloud product. The program team is in the process of identifying a 3rd party event management tool for Patriot Connect. The event management tool will replace Salesforce TargetX functionality as part of Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions.

Production data will be migrated very close to the target go-live date, to ensure data accuracy. This data will include TargetX data (including Campaigns) and will be migrated to similar tables (objects) within the Patriot Connect platform.

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.

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.

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 will serve as a centralized online tool for students, offering support from application to graduation. Patriot Connect will enable 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 application and admissions 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.

Patriot Connect is George Mason University’s dedicated platform built for student engagement, powered by Salesforce Education Cloud. While there are other instances of Salesforce at the university, Patriot Connect specifically uses Salesforce Education Cloud to create a connected student experience based on key student activities and services.

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.

As part of two planned releases, George Mason will phase in two Patriot Connect tools, Student Success and Recruitment and Admissions.

Release 1: Student Success will replace Navigate and will be released on April 30, 2025. Training will be delivered to end users ahead of the release.

Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions will replace Salesforce TargetX and is tentatively planned for release in 2026 and will follow a phased user activation approach with three waves: February 2026; July 2026; and October 2026.

The program team is carefully considering the transition timeline to minimize disruption, especially during busy periods. Patriot Connect will be available for students to begin scheduling appointments with participating student support service communities starting May 1. To accommodate current and graduating students as they complete their semester, Navigate will remain available until May 22, which is the last day that current students can make an appointment (same day) in Navigate.

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.