A new solution is underway for Point Park Universityclubs and organizations citing problems with communication and outreach.            After researching several possible solutions, Director of Student Activities J.W. Tabacchi feels that student management provider, OrgSync, will help the university as a whole.Tabacchi cited several problems that he hopes OrgSync can solve, including transitioning student leaders by leaving communication between former leaders open, more open connections between clubs and organizations and an online calendar of all events on campus, which will make it easier to plan and organize events.”We haven’t got a lot of feedback so far, but the feedback we have gotten is that this is great and this is an awesome product,” Tabacchi said.  I haven’t heard too many complaints, and students seem to enjoy it.”Started by former student organizations leaders, OrgSync is a company based in Austin, Texas that specializes in student organization management.  According to their website www.orgsync.com the company has connections with more than 150 universities throughout the United States and three more outside of the country. Syracuse University, Lycoming College and three Penn State sub campuses (Altoona, Erie and Shenango) use OrgSync’s services, along with Point Park.Referred to as the “Facebook for organizations,” OrgSync developers hope that one day, campuses nationwide will use their product to help student clubs and organizations thrive.”As a whole, the campuses benefit from improved communication and better tracking and statistics of their organizations and involved students. It also gives the campus the ability to promote involvement opportunities and gives students the ability to easily connect with organizations and get involved,” said Leanna Laskey, vice president of client services, in an e-mail interview.The program offers several student services, allowing easy access between students and clubs. One such feature is the “Campus Umbrella.” This feature allows student and university leaders to track involvement in student organizations. This feature also connects each club to one another, with a university shared events calendar. The most prominent feature of the ‘Campus Umbrella’ is the potential it has for increased communications among the different organizations.Point Park started using the OrgSync services in August. After hearing some of the problems presented by the clubs on campus, Tabacchi started searching for a service to help the organizations.”We started to aggressively pursue it to meet the needs of student organizations, and then from that we picked OrgSync because we felt it was a better fit for our campus,” Tabacchi said.The first set of trial clubs to use the product have had their struggles getting accustomed to it but claim that the program has its benefits and has already led to increased communications.            In the past, Point Park’s clubs experienced difficulty with new leaders coming in and making the transition from year to year, but with OrgSync, all documents from the past year are stored on what the site refers to as the clubs “portal.” It allows things to transition much more smoothly, according to Tabacchi.             “Student leaders also have unlimited storage space to upload files and pictures to store club information, such as their constitution, meeting minutes, and officer binders” Laskey said. “Keeping these online makes it a much easier transition for incoming student leaders and there is less fallout in the turnover.”OrgSync has helped to solve another problem by opening up communications between the clubs on campus, allowing more connections between leaders of clubs.            The adjustment for some students to get used to the program has been somewhat difficult, but overall the majority opinion looks good for OrgSync. Most club leaders found the most difficulty was the new way of reaching out to other clubs. Instead of through personal interactions and meetings, this could all now be done digitally, with forms and everything else needed available through OrgSync.            “It took a while to get used to using and figuring out how it works, but after learning it I feel it is a great help to me,” said Chelsy Smalley, Campus Activities General Board Chair.            Point Park currently has 37 “portals” on the OrgSync website. These portals not only cover student organizations but also the Living Learning Communities, Intramural Sports and Commuter Affairs. Each portal is used by students to keep in touch with events on campus and with each other.Tabacchi hopes the website will only continue to grow and will eventually continue to be used by past student leaders, even after they graduate, giving advice and networking to the current leaders.            As of Nov. 11, 273 students were registered under the Point Park channel. Tabacchi hopes the growth of the site will only continue. The university currently pays for 50 portals on the site, but with the amount of clubs and student organizations at Point Park, a plan to increase the number of portals is near certain. The program is free for all students to sign up for and use its services to their benefit.