This study engages readers in a dialogue on redesigning retention strategies from reactive to proactive, a conceptualization of interdependencies of retention intervention metrics and student behaviors, and identifies the actions needed to achieve them in practice through real-time collaborative campus partnerships. Best practices for data collection and analysis, including anticipated impacts on specific workflows and student support services, are discussed through a multi-pronged and multi-phased approach to allow for predictive modeling. While this study explores model development for Kean University, a four-year public university in New Jersey, it has implications for replication at other institutions to increase persistence, retention, and timely graduation.