Institution: Pre-92 university in Scotland
Project title: Supporting a student systems options review
The customer
The executive of this Scottish research-intensive university commissioned the Leadership Foundation having decided that it would benefit from independent advice around retention or replacement of a student management information system.
Background
The university had engaged in a programme of major investment to renew its core corporate (e.g. finance, human resources) and mission (student) systems through the deployment of an enterprise resource planning solution.
However, the vendor announced they would no longer support their existing student system product and proposed that the university become an early adopter of a new solution. This was presented as a modern, fourth generation student system with a number of functional advantages over the legacy product. It was also being offered on what seemed to be attractive commercial terms. However, it was as yet untested in the UK marketplace and had not been localised for UK higher education (such as UCAS and HESA interfaces). The risks were substantial and reflected the three dimensions of all projects and programmes: time, cost and quality.
The choices open to the university were to retain the present legacy system, go back to the market, or proceed with the vendors replacement system in some form. All options represented a trade-off on one or another of the time/cost/quality issues.
The project
The university executive commissioned advice from the Leadership Foundation, which encompassed;
Impact
All input was provided in the spirit of constructive support designed to add value and confidence to the review process that would be led by the university at all times. As a result the university arrived at a decision confident that it had taken into account all material factors and risks.
Contact Andy Shenstone, Director of Consultancy to find out more.
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