JISC

Within the University, it is estimated that there are hundreds of different ‘assessment management systems’. Each Department/Faculty has created a system specific to their requirements, the responsibility of maintaining the system residing with the Department/Faculty. The term ‘assessment management system’ refers to an electronic system that stores details of assessments, and their corresponding result. A Department/Faculty will use an assessment management system to manage marks for coursework, examinations (to question level detail), and formal submissions such as a dissertation. This project looks at such systems with a view to Flexible Service delivery and Shared Services across the sector.

Aims and Objectives

Objectives will fall into the two phases of this project. For the first phase, the main focus of this proposal, the objectives are as follows:

1. Gather, understand and document requirements from all stakeholders 
2. Understand and document how the selection of an assessments management system is affected by the requirement for implementation within a flexible service delivery environment 
3. Develop and maintain a set of guidelines which informs other HEIs of the decision making process and the selection criteria defined when choosing an assessments management system to be implemented within a FSD environment 
4. Assess the costs and benefits of implementing an assessments management system within an FSD environment 
5. Link this project work with the OUCS Total Cost of Ownership demonstration project, under the FSD Programme

Project methodology

This work will be performed by the Process and Change Team (part of Student Administration). It will be start in March 2010 and finish in July 2010.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

In order to meet the objectives of this work, the following major areas of work are required:

• Perform a comprehensive process analysis and requirements gathering exercise with Departments/Faculties and Colleges 
• Consult with IT infrastructure and OUCS to establish how an FSD environment influences the technical selection, and proposed development and implementation of an assessments management system 
• Consult with third party software suppliers regarding the selection and design of an assessments management system 
• Consult with other HEIs regarding the selection and implementation of assessments management components to a student records system, or distinct systems if appropriate 
• Build a series of documents to outline the selection process, requirements analysis, influencing factors, constraints, identified benefits during the project 
• Publish updates onto a project ‘blog’ site for other HEIs to review progress and decision making as part of the project work 
• Produce a final report detailing guidelines which informs them of the findings of the project (criteria for selection and the decision making process when choosing a system to be implemented within a FSD environment)