Choosing an Administration System

Like any long-term investment, choosing a management information system (MIS) for your training institution needs to be approached with caution. Firstly, all concerned must be convinced of the need for change. Innovations imposed from above or outside, without due consultation with prime users, get off to a very poor start. Any data system is only as reliable as its least accurate record so even the best system can be sabotaged by carelessness born of disaffection. Most organisations, training institutions included, only consider replacing an existing computer-based system if there are overwhelming reasons for doing so. These usually include one or more of the following causes:

• The supplier no longer supports the system.
• Dissatisfaction with the service and support received from the supplier.
• The system has failed to keep pace with evolving technology and will not run under current operating systems or on modern hardware.
• The system is not being developed to meet today’s sophisticated expectations.
• The system does not meet statutory reporting requirements.

In this case the battle for change is already won by widespread frustration with the poor return on the effort of maintaining the current system. In contemplating change and in the process of winning over hearts and minds, the training institutions will have gone some way towards identifying its information requirements.

The next step is to formulate these in a statement of needs. This should be done before the selection process begins and should involve all concerned, both operators (those who will maintain the system) and consumers (those who hope to benefit). The operators have much to contribute because they know the strengths and weaknesses of the current system. The consumers’ role is to ensure that the chosen system will support the working practices of the training institution effectively.

Use a top-down approach to draw up a statement of needs, first deciding which of the broad areas of operation you want to computerise. Under these broad headings, areas of interest can be flagged either as mandatory or desirable. Training institutions are highly individual, even those under the same group management, and the statement of needs may appear to demand a bespoke solution. As a result, some training institutions decide to develop their own system in-house. This can be a very attractive option but it has its dangers. It often depends heavily on one person and hence on his/her continued presence in the training institution.

The ever-changing and increasing demands of outside agencies for information means that systems have to be updated regularly. It is not cost-effective to do this for one institution, even if the willingness and dedication of the staff concerned hide the true costs. Having a bespoke system developed commercially is beyond the budget of most training institutions. Fortunately, modern, well-designed systems are both modular and flexible so that quite diverse requirements can be met within the same portfolio without compromise.

Training institutions can choose the modules they need and configure them to match their detailed requirements. In spite of being a modular system, it should only be necessary to enter the data once, with seamless sharing of data between modules.

Choosing a system

You can use your statement of needs as a gauge by which to measure the suitability of available MIS but other considerations should also influence your decision. An impressive demonstration by skilled presenters can disguise a multitude of failings, even the fact that what you are seeing is not software but “vapourware”. Glossy brochures and expensive advertising campaigns can also be misleading. Some companies are better at writing hyperbole than software. Make sure that the system has been exposed to real-life conditions in training institutions for some time. You may want to be at the leading edge but you cannot afford to be at the bleeding edge.

Training institutions should not have to pay to be unwitting and unwilling beta-test sites for commercial developers. Remember that customer satisfaction starts, not ends, with the delivery of the software. Check that the supplier has a good track record for training and ongoing support. A rapid response to requests for assistance is essential for you to increase your use of the system and gain the maximum value from your investment. It’s not easy to check a supplier’s claims. One way is to talk to existing clients, and not just those suggested by the supplier. Ask for a list and ask to be introduced to training institutions of your choice (preferably to include one that has been using the system for some time and another that has just been through the ‘birth pains’).

It is also wise to check that development of MIS for training institutions is a mainstream activity of the company concerned. It may have rushed into what it sees as a golden market opportunity and will retreat just as quickly when it does not show the same profit margin as other parts of its business. Obviously, most of the modules in systems for training institutions will have been specifically written for them and the pricing will reflect that the market is a relatively small one. Financial systems are an exception to this rule. Independent training institutions are businesses and it is common practice amongst suppliers to modify an industry standard product to cater for those areas such as fees billing and commitment accounting which are peculiar to training institutions. This provides a solution for training institutions, which meets their accounting needs in full, while retaining all the advantages of a much larger user base.

Make sure that the developer is authorised to customise the software and can do so without compromising the integrity of the core code. While desirable, it should not be necessary to confine yourself to one software house. Your librarian or timetabler may have a decided preference for another product and that choice should be respected by all, including the supplier of your core system. A training institution’s management information system should be designed with client’s interest at heart and provide interfaces for all commercial software of interest to the training institution.

Good luck with your choice!