New, improved student system

A key component of our commitment to improving the student experience at LJMU is to ensure that our systems are capable and ready to deliver a professional, efficient service.

With that in mind, SMG, on the recommendation of the Development Programme Steering Group, took the decision to move to Oracle's next generation student record system - Campus Solutions.  This is a feature-rich, user-friendly product that is highly regarded by its current users.  The implementation of this system will support the identified objectives of SERIG; in particular, the system has been commended for its ease of use and it allows for a huge amount of self-service functionality.

Transition from OSS

The SMG has set a timeframe for delivery that will see Campus Solutions implemented by 2010. To help achieve this deadline, a Foundation Project is under way to determine the best way to approach the transition from OSS. 

One of the first tasks of the Project Management Team was to identify a group of forward-thinking key business users (KBUs) from across the University.  Earlier this month the KBUs met with consultants to review the functionality delivered ‘out of the box’ and to start to compare this with LJMU high level processes. This was a very productive and positive session. 

One of the participants, Phil Wilkinson commented “The University is taking the opportunity to talk to the people that will actually be using the system every day to process applications and student records, and from the sessions I’ve attended, Campus Solutions appears to meet all our needs as a University above and beyond that of our current student system. The fact that the University is including key users indicates the University’s commitment to making this system work for everyone.”

Nicky Leather added “I am glad to see that the University is involving key academic staff in this development.  From the initial look it appears that Campus Solutions would be able to give us a flexible and sensible way of setting up programmes that should enable reporting to follow more easily.  We need to pilot it with our most complex provision to ensure it can do what it promises.”

The next step in the project will see the KBUs working in small teams on an evaluation copy of Campus Solutions to understand the scale of functional and technical input required during implementation.  By early April the project team should be in a position to confirm a final implementation plan.

Jane Broad, Project Manager, said “In light of our clear focus and direction in improving and enhancing the student experience, this is an ideal time for us to change our student records system. We feel that the ‘out of the box’ version of Campus Solutions offers a tremendous amount in the way of functionality and will lead to a much more efficient way of dealing with students.”