Information Management Systems Planning Using a Synthesis of Modelling Techniques

A Discussion

1. The Plan

The JISC funded Smudie project came from a general agreement that the student information system at Swansea Met was not managed in a coordinated way across the institution. There was a feeling that the different stakeholder groupings independently managed their own student information needs with limited intercommunications and thus created data silos. An expectation of the project was that a unified system could be planned that eliminated such independently managed silos. The actual conclusion drawn from the exercise was not that the whole system should be centrally managed, only that the silos should be avoided by appropriate communications and data sharing between the functional sub-systems.

The student information management system modelling process began with an evaluation phase that involved interviews with all system stakeholders. This comprehensive body of information was used to build an ‘as is’ Enterprise Architecture model of the existing systems and processes.

The second phase involved analysing the ‘as is’ model and identifying areas for process and performance improvement with the goal of designing a more effective and efficient ‘to be’ EA model. This was then coupled with an assessment of system control and communications capacity using Viable Systems modelling. Finally, the real world view of Soft Systems modelling was added to create practical and achievable solutions.

2. The Modelling

The purpose of management modelling is to encourage and contribute to a systematic and structured approach to management systems planning. It aids the planning process by presenting existing and proposed management systems in an easily assimilated way. The models are designed to assist systems thinking by providing routes through the planning process that generate consistency and lead to realistic and achievable solutions. They are used as visual aids to assist systems design discussions.

Improved system designs do not come from models. They come from the conceptual ideas of systems designers who use structured modelling techniques to aid them in arriving at their design goals. Furthermore, modelling methods do not guarantee efficiency and effectiveness in new systems design, but they do provide a structured way of examining just how effective and efficient a new system is likely to be.

3. The Outcomes

The stakeholder evaluation and systems modelling carried out through the Smudie project led to the conclusion that the existence of information management sub-systems was both inevitable and desirable in a complex organisation involving different functional areas with different information needs and responsibilities. The key to effective and efficient management was to ensure consistent and optimal processes within each functional area and the adequate sharing of core data between the functional areas.

4. The Case Study

The student attendance monitoring system was shown to be inconsistent across the institution and at the time of the project was in the process of being evaluated with a view to improving data capture, consistency and accuracy of reporting. It was therefore chosen as a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of synthesising the modelling methods in information systems design.

Soft Systems Modelling

A Root Definition: The creation and implementation of an information management system that accurately and consistently records and reports on the participation of students in planned learning activities.

A Conceptual Model:

1. A data capture system that records individual student attendance at scheduled, location specific, learning activities;

2. An online information management application that receives attendance data and presents it for management use at module, course, faculty and institutional levels;

3. The management of data capture being the responsibility of the individual session tutor and that automatically populates the online management application;

4. The student attendance information being used at tutor and course team level to trigger student support actions where problems are indicated;

5. The student attendance information being available to appropriate levels of management for internal and external performance reporting.

The conceptual model indicates what is to be done without stating how it is to be implemented. Having said that, it does need to be based on achievable goals, and typically makes assumptions about system features. In this case, for example, the conceptual model implies that the data capture is electronic and can directly populate the online information management application.

The conceptual model can be used to construct a viable management model that represents the sub-system that delivers its intended outcomes. This is still at a level of abstraction from the practical implementation, but it does begin to consider the actors involved and the way the processes are managed through adequate communications and control channels.

Viable Systems Modelling

The VSM schematic below shows how the student attendance monitoring system operates independently of its programme management environment, but interacts with it; relying on the provision of data capture and recording systems and feeding back attendance data and issues.

Several assumptions have been made in this model which now needs to be turned into practical reality. Enterprise Architecture techniques can be used for this purpose.

Enterprise Architecture Modelling

It can be seen how the EA model effectively presents a design brief. It has adopted the proximity card reader as the most pragmatic way of capturing attendance data electronically and makes the assumption that a client application will be in place to automatically populate the attendance spreadsheet with this data. It also assumes that the module tutor will have access to Moodle during the session and that this will link to the spreadsheet for monitoring purposes.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

The overall conclusions arising from this work can be summarised as follows:

1. The student information system in a typical institution serves the needs of a number of functional areas and each area uses a combination of core student data and functionally specific data;

2. The system needs to ensure the appropriate sharing of core data, but that functionally specific data should be locally managed;

3. The local variations in student activity, particularly between different curriculum areas, assessment methods and attendance patterns need to be optimally supported. A one-size-fits-all information management model is unlikely to work;

4. The three stage modelling method demonstrated in this paper shows that, by taking into account the need for flexibility, recognising the sub-system structure and using this to design a practical management solution, consistent and pragmatic designs can be achieved.

A discussion about the project outcomes may consider:

1. How realistic such systematic modelling processes are in practical institutional management systems design?

2. How could such an approach become embedded in a consistent way in all the institutional functional areas?

3. Would there need to be centralised planning support? Can it be added to the existing centralised planning systems?

4. How likely is that it will actually happen even if it is adopted? How will it be managed, monitored and evaluated?

Although the Smudie project was focussed on the student information management system, the modelling processes apply to all management systems planning. It is clearly something that would happen at the beginning of a systems design/re-design process and it can be seen to result in a design brief.

The answer to the last question above might be that for any systems design to be signed off by senior management for implementation, the design brief presented for approval needs to be constructed and verified through such systematic analysis before being accepted.

Tony TooleMay 2013