Solihull College improves student data management

Solihull College & University Centre has invested in the entire ‘pro’ suite of solutions from Advanced, to enhance data quality and drive efficiencies enabling the college to free up more teaching time.

Solihull College & University Centre is a large further education college with 12,000 full and part-time students in further education, higher education and apprenticeships across two campuses.

The College has completed the ‘pro’ product suite after realising major efficiencies from the software provider’s solutions including Management Information System (MIS), ProSolution and student tracking and monitoring system, ProMonitor.

Following the success, the organisation recently went live with ProResource, finance and curriculum planning solution, ProSAR, self-assessment reporting solution and ProObserve, lesson observation solution.

The solutions have enabled the College to improve the quality of its student register, timetabling and assessment tracking, and will streamline the management of finances and improve course self-assessments and lesson observations.

The additional solutions will enable financial plans to be closely monitored against targets in real-time by replacing spreadsheets. The software will also simplify the self-assessment of courses through the use of Ofsted criteria to centrally validate data, making it more effective and easier and for staff to complete.

Jo Haine, Information Systems Manager at Solihull College & University Centre, says, “We wanted a supplier who was as committed to investing in its solutions as we are to supporting our students.

“Advanced has a very strong reputation in the education sector and the intuitive functionality of their systems stood out. They provided excellent support throughout the tendering and implementation process and always respond rapidly to our needs.

“The new solutions will enable us to better analyse income and expenditure and improve our apprenticeship modelling to support us in meeting our funding targets which is extremely important to sustain the College’s continued success.”

The web-based systems already in place provide teachers with fast and accurate information relating to timetables, registers and enrolments by reducing manual data entry processes and the need to cross-check multiple paper records. ProSolution has also removed the complexities involved in the planning and tracking of examinations.

Attendance data and Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) are automatically updated which have provided considerable time savings. The solutions’ advanced reporting capabilities also allow staff to run queries on individual students or whole courses in real-time to speed up action plans as a result of a classroom observation.

Jo Haine comments, “Advanced’s systems have saved vast quantities of time and ensure we do not need to employ additional administrative support as the College continues to grow. We have gained enhanced levels of visibility and reliability of data relating to 5,000 registers which ensures teachers are paid on time as they can quickly mark all pupils in a timetabled class.

“Reducing paper-based processes has dramatically improved efficiency and reduced the risk of vital information disappearing into a black hole. Requests to change personal information or to withdraw and transfer students can be immediately made online by teaching staff and then actioned or rejected by MIS staff, without the need for re-keying.”

In total the College has ten solutions. MIS (ProSolution), student tracking and monitoring (ProMonitor), recording and analysis of lesson observations (ProObserve), financial and curriculum planning (ProResource), course self-assessments (ProSar), KPI dashboard reporting (ProMetrix), CRM (ProEngage), internal and external verification of college programmes (ProVerify), success, retention and achievement monitoring (ProAchieve) and ProPortal.