Otago Uni targets student, timetabling systems

Custom student management and timetabling software to be replaced

Beset by manual and duplicated timetabling technologies, the University of Otago is going to market for off-the-shelf software to replace its existing systems, most of which were developed in-house.

A review of the university’s student management and timetabling systems in late 2008 found there were significant gaps in the functionality of the existing systems. Many of the university’s student management and timetabling processes were manual and duplicated across the organisation.

“This led to multiple and often disparate sources of data being used to manage and support students. Students in particular and staff more generally, are asking for information and administrative functions to be streamlined and made available online,” tender documents say.

While the current systems are generally robust, the review identified that enhancing these to improve student management capability would be difficult. It recommended the university move to a commercial package. Phase one of the project is to identify the solution, phase two is a pilot — expected to take eight months — and phase three is implementation.