Business process: The king of evaluations

Chris Wayland, nLIVEn Pty Ltd, Victoria

The focus in the higher education sector on the development of multi-faceted applications and systems to enable evaluations over the past few years has seen many different approaches taken. The increased use of web-based surveys as opposed to paper-based surveys has lead to the need for complex systems which support the integration of the survey tool with Student Management Systems and reporting systems to ensure all relevant information is captured and reported. The development of thorough documentation and re-engineering of the business processes is the key to any efficient, effective and sustainable technology solution. Most people and organisations too quickly rush into choosing a technology solution before considering the key question - What is the technology enabling? This has lead to the failure of systems or severe shortcomings such as the system matching the business needs. It has become abundantly clear that the BUSINESS PROCESS is the key to successful, efficient and robust evaluation systems and not just the system! This session will explore a case study where business process was the key driver of the design and implementation of the system for evaluations for both paper and web based surveys (both institutional and national) at Monash University not the technology solution.