Everybody@uwi’dot’edu

1. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Everybody@uwi’dot’edu ACHEA 20002 Conference July 10-13 2002 Claire C. Craig CITS, UWI

2. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ What is Common? • Time Consuming, Inefficient and Paper Based. • Alternatives Include the Internet, Intranet and E-mail. @

3. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Introduction • Information technology has entered our lives over a relatively brief period of time with little warning and essentially no formal educational preparation for most people. • Many who currently use information technology have only limited understanding of the tools they use and a (probably correct) belief that they are underutilizing them … • There have been impressive claims for the potential benefits of information technology, and many would like to realize those benefits.

4. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • Up Front Direct Costs • Cost of acquiring, setting up, maintaining and supporting the infrastructure • Purchase price of hardware equipment • Cost of software licenses for each user • Cost of installation of both software and hardware

5. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Introduction • Scenario I – The telephone call • Scenario II – Contacting students • Scenario III – Internal Documents • Scenario IV – Prospective students

6. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • Indirect (hidden) and On-going Costs • Cost of training of its staff and end users • On-going support costs (technical and end user support) • Cost to keep the technology functioning and up-to-date

7. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • IT Infrastructure • Telecommunication systems • Networks (LAN, WAN) • Network services

8. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • Training, Development & Support • Bridging the gap • Value from the investment • The Cost of Maintenance • Need to continuously monitor technology • Changes in operational requirements

9. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • The IT Hardware Investment

10. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Stakeholders • Prospective Students • Students • Faculty • Staff • Alumni • Parents and Guardians • Sponsors • Government Agencies • General Public

11. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ The IT Investment • The IT Software Investment

12. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ How Is Business Conducted? • Face to Face Business Transactions: • Prospective student and administration • Student and bursary • Student and faculty office • Student and lecturer

13. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ How is Business Conducted? • Face to Face Business Transactions: • Staff meetings • Department meeting • Faculty meetings • Board and sub-committee meetings • Campus meetings, and • University meetings

14. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Technology vs. Paper • Communicating with the Campuses and Non-campus Countries: • No one “uwi’ domain • everyone@uwi.edu does not exist • Someone@uwimona.edu./m • Someone@uwichill.edu.bb; and • Someone@adept.uwi.tt • Telephone • Fax • Face-to-face

15. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Daily Operational Activities • Creating, Editing, Filing and Storing Documents Using Word Processing • Disseminating Documents in Softcopy Via Email, Hardcopy by Snail Mail or Facsimile • Copying and Circulating the Same Document Several Times • Retyping or Repeated input of Information to a Spreadsheet or Other Application

16. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Technology vs. Paper • Communicating Among the Campuses:

17. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Technology vs. Paper • Student Administration • Prospective Student Stage • Recruitment, application, assessment, offer, registration • Student Stage • Registration, teaching and learning, researching, academic advising, assessing. • Alumnus Stage • Services to graduates

18. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Less Paper Dependent Solutions • Internet, Email, and Intranet Solutions are unmistakably superior alternatives to How Business is Currently Conducted • Email must therefore be adopted as an official form of communication • The Internet and Intranet Must Be Accessible to Employees

19. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • Total Cost of Ownership Includes Expenditure on: • Training • Development • Support and • Maintenance • Technology, Business Processes, and Organization Need to Be Adapted to Each Other.

20. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • Other Challenges • FITness –fluent with information technology • Contemporary skills, foundational concepts, and intellectual capabilities • Reduced productivity • Shopping, trading, gambling, pornography • Ethical issues • Plagiarism, access to commercial research papers • Security

21. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • Engage in Constant and Consistent Communication About the Purpose and Expected Benefits of the System • Don’t Assume That Technology Alone Will Solve a Problem • Getting People to Change the Way They Have Operated Can Be a Very Difficult Process

22. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • Corporate Internet Access Has Shifted From an Information Technology Issue – Networks and Firewalls – to a Human Resource Issue

23. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • The Challenge is to Respond to the Issues of Student Centredness • The Mandate for Change Must Be Driven by the University’s Strategic Direction • Remember That Resistance to Change is a Challenge in Itself • There Are Other IT Challenges

24. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • The Role of HR • To effective manage the change process • To guide and facilitate the recruitment process • To revolutionise the administrative systems as well as teaching, learning and research systems

25. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Managing the Change • The Role of HR cont’d • To explore and implement new and creative approaches to compensation • To assist in creating and disseminate “acceptable use” policies

26. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Conclusion • Investment in IT must be seen as an Investment in Organisational Transformation • IT is more than a tool for Computational Operations and Data Processing • The Strength of the Web Technology is the Ability to Reduce the Gap between Time and Distance and Facility Collaboration in the Workplace

27. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Conclusion • Everybody@uwi.edu is Not an Insurmountable Challenge • Investing in the Technology alone will not cause the Transformation • Senior Management and HR Professionals must play a Key Role in Enabling the Process.

28. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Conclusion • Change We Must! • Our Competitors are Doing It! • Our Customers Expect It!

29. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Conclusion • Attempting to Use the Same Model Would Only Offer the Same Old Results • Student Centeredness Requires an Embracing and Commitment to Organisational Change • Optimal Use of the Technology Entails More Than Just Automating a Paper Process, As That is Equivalent to “Paving the Cow Path!”

30. ACHEA Conference July 2002 ‘The Challenge Of Quality for the Higher Education Administrative Professional.’ Thank You!