Why the University needed this project

Historically, centrally supported systems did not fulfil the Engineering Department’s marking and reporting requirements for exams, so they had developed a complicated bespoke in-house system. When the main user retired it was decided to migrate the Department onto the systems in use across the rest of the University. Due to the strict deadlines required by Exam Boards it was essential that that project was completed on time.

What we did

Project Manager Louise Goodyear set about arranging training for the team on the centrally supported systems and also ensured that necessary and pragmatic changes to the systems met the needs of the department. Where the central systems could not meet Engineering’s requirements a work-around was agreed.

What benefits the project brought about

Once the project was completed, three months ahead of schedule, it delivered significant risk-mitigation by removing the dependency on individual staff. The administrative burden on administrative staff was reduced by spreading the inputting of marks over the whole year, and double entry and duplication of effort was eradicated.

Moving forward

The project paved the way for all departments to use a single comprehensive central system with cost savings being multiplied many times over.

Very shortly afterwards a follow-on project saw the Department of Statistics move to centrally supported systems to improve the efficiency and robustness of their data collection and reporting. Accessibility to the system was improved, as was the ability to undertake an audit trail, and a team based process mitigated the risk of relying on a single staff member. The risk of data errors was reduced and there was improved visibility of module averages for external departments.