Highlighted Project
In May of 2003 The Talent Centre Ltd won a contract from Thames Valley University to supply them with a management system for the external examinations department of their London College of Music and Media department. The project was to replace their existing Oracle based system with a more reliable system that would allow access from the internet for their teachers, examiners, reps and potentially students. It was acknowledged that the implementation of the new system would provide them with opportunities to examine and change the way in which their back office processes operated and the ways in which they interacted with external parties.
In response to this The Talent Centre provided them with operations consultancy services to analyse their existing practices and worked with their key stakeholders towards pragmatically reengineering their business processes so that they could take advantage of the best in IT. Subsequent to this we designed a suitable architecture for their new system that would allow them to achieve their aims. The design for the new system incorporated a SQL Server 2000 database, a web services layer and both windows and web applications. The system was implemented iteratively and incrementally following an Agile ethos.
The new system provides for the efficient processing of all of the client’s examination entries and all of the processes that relate to this core activity through a workflow system. These associated processes include:
- monitoring examiner availability;
- tracking all correspondence such as attendance notices, worked scripts, fee exemption certificates, etc;
- setting examination information such as fees, result boundaries (eg pass, merit etc…), subjects, grades, etc;
- applying specialist forms of e-assisted post examination standardisation and moderation;
- timetabling of examinations;
- basic bookkeeping;
- a wide range of reporting functions integrated with MS Word to allow the easy editing of report templates;
- tracking of enquiries, complaints and appeals;
- provision of audit trails throughout the entire system.
In the near future interactive access to the system, through the use of web applications, PDA’s and ‘smart clients’, will be provided to third parties such as examiners, teachers and representatives which will provide further gains of efficiency and data integrity.
Screenshots from GEMS
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