RIO Education and Salesforce Education Cloud
Find out where Education Cloud finishes and RIO Education starts, understand the differences.
Table of Contents
Salesforce Education Cloud
The Salesforce for Education strategy has shifted from EDA (Education Data Architecture) to the new Education Cloud (EDC). This presents the question:
Is Education Cloud an SIS?
Salesforce Education Cloud is NOT a Student Management/Information System. It does not have the pre-configured Academic Record Management features that a full SIS requires. If you want to use EDC as an SIS, you will need to invest in considerable customisation.
RIO Education is the only full higher education SIS solution that has passed security assessment and is available on the Salesforce Appexchange.
RIO Education
RIO Education was first listed on the AppExchange in 2016, where all releases were aligned with EDA.
RIO Education has a global customer base with Institutions in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and India, as well as campuses for those institutions in 100+ countries. See some of our success stories here.
We will continue to develop and support our EDA release of RIO Education.
From 2024 onwards, we will release a version of RIO Education for Education Cloud (early '24 release date). We will then continue to maintain and enhance both releases of RIO Education.
To help understand where RIO will fit and what features Education Cloud provides as part of your overall SIS requirements, we have created this comparison table based on Winter 24 Salesforce Education Cloud Edition.
Comparison Table
General Features
| 360 Degree View of Student |
| Sales /Student Pipeline |
| Recruitment |
| Mass communications |
| Admissions/Enrollment |
| Administration portal |
| Applicant Community |
| Student Community |
| Faculty Community |
| Custom Branding |
| Support Customisation |
| Mobile App Compatibility |
| Security - support various security roles |
| Workflow/Automation/Rules |
| Multi-currency programs |
| Campus, Location, Venue & Facilities Management |
| Student Progress Monitoring |
| Payments |
| Graduation processing |
| Job placement/Career services |
Administrator Features
| Program and Course Management |
| Program and Course Enrolment |
| Program Enrolment Processing and Approval |
| Course Enrolment Processing and Approval |
| Forms + Offer Letter |
| Academic Refunds and Rebate |
| Agent and Commission management |
| Progress Reports |
| Term and Census date management |
| Discipline management (major/minor) |
| Attendance Management |
| Grade management |
| Curriculum management |
| Course scheduling |
| Official & Unofficial Transcript Management |
| Housing Allocation & Fee Management |
Faculty Features
| View and approve class schedule |
| View rosters and student information |
| Attendance Management |
| Appointment Scheduler |
| Gradebook |
| Timesheets |
Student Features
| Admission Inquiries |
| Event Registration (e.g, Orientation day) |
| Program Enrollment Requirement Checklist |
| Online Program Application |
| Program Application Requirement Checklist |
| Onboarding Checklist |
| Online Housing Application |
| Online Scholarship Application |
| Scholarship Management |
| Student Profile Management |
| Student/Family Relationships |
| Transfer Credit |
| Customisable Academic Plan (Pathway) |
| Academic Plan Approval (Pathway) |
| Comply with Program criteria |
| View Academic Progress and Results |
| Download Unofficial Transcript, request Official Transcript |
| View Schedule Calendar - session/exam timetable |
| Funding (e.g, breakdown of estimated academic cost and financial support award) |
| Online Payments |
| Student Billing (fees, payments, refunds, adjustments) |
Continuing Education Features
| Self-service Registration |
| Bulk Registration |
| Student ID Management |
| Courses |
| Workshops |
| Events |
| Micro-credentials |
| Course Catalog |
| Course Bundles |
| Scheduling |
| Attendance |
| Grading |
| Maximum & Minimum Enrollment |
| Waitlists |
| Holds |
| Prerequisite/Corequisite Courses |
| Certificates |
| Transcripts |
| Shopping Cart |
| Online Payments |
| Automated Confirmations |
| Refunds |
| Discounts |
| Study Credits (Vouchers) |
| Employer Portal |
| Employer Billing |
Compliance and Govt Reporting
| Australia Government Reporting | ||||
| TCSI | ✔ | |||
| HEIMS - TEQSA PIR | ✔ | |||
| HEIMS - VET Fee-Help | ✔ | |||
| HEIMS - Fee-Help | ✔ | |||
| Avetmiss | ✔ | |||
| CRICOS | ✔ | |||
| USI / ecaf | ✔ | |||
| US Government Reporting | ||||
| IPEDS | ✔ | |||
| 1098T | ✔ | |||
| National Student Clearinghouse | ✔ | |||
| Canada Government Reporting | ||||
| T2202 | ✔ | |||
| UK Government Reporting | ||||
| HESI | Roadmap | |||
| Spain Compliance | ||||
| SUUI Reporting | Roadmap | |||
| Calls (Grading Functions) | ✔ | |||
| Student Mobility (Erasmus etc) | ✔ | |||
| Credit Transfers (Spanish customizations) | ✔ | |||
| Enrollment / Matriculation (Spanish Customizations) | ✔ |
System / Platform
| Analytics - student enrollment | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Product Marketplace | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Support Service - Case | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| External authentication - SSO | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Group roles into different communities with restricted access | ✔ | ✔ |
Integration
| LMS | ✔ (RIO Connect) | |||
| Finance | ✔ (RIO Connect) | |||
| Financial Aid | ✔ (RIO Connect) | |||
| Compliance- TCSI | ✔ (RIO Connect) |
For a more complete list of the RIO Modules and functions check out our feature articles here.