StudentRelate
StudentRelate is a case workload management application designed for Student Services. It has been used successfully for disabled student support. It is a service relationship administration system for Universities and Further Education institutions. It works as a departmental system, so StudentRelate is tailored to local procedures before being implemented. Since 1996 JI Software has been working with universities to develop the capabilities of StudentRelate.
Functions Include:
- Basic student data record 'card'
- Student-at-a-glance quick reference screen
- Student support budget management
- Classroom support worker timetabling
- Data integration likages with student registration systems
- Student opinion surveys
- Relationship service history including notes and e-mails
- Integration with Outlook
- Reporting, statistics and graphs
- Clinic appointment manager; one counsellor per column
Where there are service relationships in which there is a duty of care component, there are vital compliance issues. Quality of service for students in HE and FE is covered by legislation. We start by working in partnership with each prospective user of the StudentRelate system to define how the relationships work. We define relationship processes that support the way staff work. StudentRelate supports the staff who make the relationships real. That is what our relationship administration system is all about.
Examples of this kind of need have existed for some time in the not-for-profit sector. Recently we have been able to help a number of Universities implement our system to create and maintain better relationships with disabled students. Because of the huge number of complexities in the needs of disabled students, support workers need access to more than paper files. There are also substantial analysis and reporting requirements with funding questions. Other types of analyses inform the planning and provision of future resources and services. One of the most significant benefits is being able to share information within Student Services and with appropriate access control protecting privacy on certain data items, with Faculty and other staff.
The management of classroom support worker appointments is an increasingly complex problem. Fitting the availability and skills of the support worker to the timetabling pattern of many students with different timetables is done by the StudentRelate timetabling system. The system caters for travel distance between lectures, non-uniform start times and lecture patterns that vary from week to week. Manual systems begin to break down above 20 support workers and mistakes can be made.
For drop-in clinics and other appointment-based work with students, there is a benefit from having a front-desk appointment management system with support staff availability shown in a simple columnar view. This also works for phone-in clinics. Students simply provide their registration numbers and appointments are booked with a few mouse clicks.
JI Software remains committed to the view that treating all students equally regardless of the complexities of need cannot be done with traditional paper systems. Interestingly we have been able to show that flexibility and ease-of-use are vital. Nothing matches StudentRelate in these areas and in productivity gain! Many earlier attempts at computer-based solutions have failed due to lack of flexibility.
If you are in Student Services, it may useful to have a personal discussion of the issues that face your support staff. Please call Sarah Milligan on 01234-214004 to find out more about how StudentRelate could help. There is also more detailed information at www.studentrelate.co.uk.
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