JISC

This project delivered a sample course prospectus in XCRI-CAP 1.0 format; feedback to the support team on suggested improvements; and observations about business process changes needed to realise service-oriented course advertising.

Project Outputs

Organisational structures within Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) are currently undergoing major change. Responsibility for producing the paper and online prospectus is divided between two departments within MMU's External Relations Division. Validation of new courses and approval of proposed modifications is handled by the Centre for Academic Standards & Quality Enhancement, and responsibility for student records and curriculum enrolment rests with the Planning and Management unit.

The JISC-funded XCRI mini-projects were expected to deliver the following outcomes:

• O1: A sample course prospectus in XCRI-CAP 1.0 format;
• O2: Feedback to the XCRI support team on suggested improvements;
• O3: Observations about business process changes needed to realize service-oriented course advertising.

The XCRI@MMU mini-project proposed to address these outcomes through 5 work-packages:

• WP01 Data Audit (O1)
• WP02 Data Collation (O1)
• WP03 Data Publishing (O1)
• WP04 Process Review (O3)
• WP05 XCRI Feedback (O2)

Partnering with UCAS and drawing on the services of APS Ltd, it promised to provide:

• A high-level summary of the location of data used to generate the sample XCRI-CAP 1.0 feed within MMU
• A high level summary of the architecture MMU used to collate the data required for the XCRI CAP feed
• A high level summary of the architecture MMU would use to support a delta-harvesting design pattern in which an aggregator polled for changes from a given date
• A summary of key challenges and possible solutions for maintaining up-to-date course information within MMU
• A concise report on the extent to which MMU prospectus data could be accommodated in XCRI 1.0 that highlighted suggestions improvements and over-ride rules that aggregators could employ to reduce over-the-wire traffic, and considered a mapping between UCAS Entry Profile data and XCRI CAP