The Office of Residential Life (ResLife) will change the housing lottery system from being face-to-face to an online housing management program.

“Instead of coming to Gund Commons, and standing in line and then going up to the table with the floor plans and picking your room out like that, you will be doing it on a computer instead,” Associate Director of Housing and Operations Lisa Train said. “Nothing major is going to change with the lottery other than it is going to be online instead of in-person.”

Currently, ResLife documents data on platforms such as Google Docs and Google Sheets.

A lot of information is entered manually, and while the office can run reports on housing statistics, the new system will make the information easier to access, according to Train.

“The management system overall will greatly improve the quality of work that we are able to do in housing, and that includes running reports,” Train said. “It is going to save everyone a lot of time.”

To develop this new program, ResLife is working with Symplicity, a company the College has worked with before in creating a job-search website that the Career Development Office uses. The new system will be called “Residence.”

The new system will improve logistics, documenting data and sending out emails.

ResLife has been considering shifting to an online system for a few years, according to Train.

Kenyon’s Information and Technology Services department is also involved in the change.

The online lottery is set to be finished by the beginning of next year and will be used in the housing lottery for the 2019 spring semester.

To test the system, ResLife will ask students to participate in mock trials before that date.

More information will be available in the fall, when  ResLife will formally introduce the new program.