Project Team Meeting and Updated Project Plan

The project team met at Coleg Sir Gar today and agreed plans for the next phase of the digitised WBL system development. Following the data mapping exercise and the evaluation of system functionality, plans were agreed for updating and refinement of the JOOMLA content management system and associated database. Lewis Jones will be implementing the technical changes in collaboration with Tony Toole who carried out the evaluation and continues to liaise with the system stakeholders, particularly the WBL Training Advisors. The aim will be to have the whole system complete and tested by mid-November when the piloting by partners can begin. The intention is to have a practical workshop at that time, possibly 16th November though this has yet to be confirmed, for partners who will be engaged in the pilot exercise. The project plan has been updated to reflect how the progress of the project is unfolding in practice. The changes are relatively minor and can be viewed in V2 of the project plan shown below. There is no change in either project deliverables or overall timescale. PotsPan Project Plan v2

Data Field Mapping and Workflow Optimisation

Current project activity is concentrating on the mapping of core data fields across the various WBL forms that use them in order to optimise workflows. One of the objectives of the digitisation of the WBL administrative system was to eliminate the repetitive input of the same data on different forms (a major frustration and inefficiency of the paper based system). The main source of this repetition is with core data relating to the three main stakeholders in the system: the learner, the employer and the training provider. The plan is to maintain a database core record for each of these which can then be used to populate all the forms that use that data. Simple yes? Not in practice! Each of the 25 or more forms that are part of the system were created at different times for different purposes by different people. Hence the structure of the data fields and their interpretation vary from one form to another. The current exercise involves an alignment of the interpretation of core data fields and a change in the way the information is reported on the forms so that the anticipated efficiencies can be achieved. This is being carried out in consultation with the stakeholders to ensure that the resulting system meets their administrative needs.

PotsPan Dissemination: ALT-C 2012

The outcomes of the JISC SWANI Project and the subsequent PotsPan Piloting are being presented at the ALT-C conference in Manchester next month. It will be an opportunity to network with others addressing similar issues and will hopefully contribute to project planning and dissemination. The draft presentation is shown below:

Digitised Form Data Mapping Exercise

As part of the process of preparing the SAWSW digitised WBL administration system for piloting, an exercise has been completed that evaluates the data entry, sharing and management across all the digitised administration documents. The mapping document is shown below and includes a number of issues arising from the exercise that will be discussed by the project team as it plans for system piloting in the Autumn. The main objective of the exercise is to optimise the usability of the online forms and to improve time efficiency through the sharing of common data fields. As will be seen from the document, it is very much work in progress. However, it shows how Enterprise Architecture modelling of administrative processes, together with detailed system analysis is being used as the basis for system and usability improvement. SAWSW Data Mapping

SAWSW Website Design

Work is going well on the SAWSW website design with the mock-up of website pages, as well as the population of a selection of WBL forms for testing. Activity has also included the evaluation of WBL system workflows with a view to making processes more efficient, speedier and more cost effective.

Website page mockups:
Skills Academy Wales Website Design.docx
Workflows:
SAW Workflows
These development documents will be shared with all stakeholders and refined with their feedback. The project remains on track for the launch of piloting by SAWSW partners in September.

Linking of Embedding Benefits Projects

The Embedding Benefits PotsPan project being led by Coleg Sir Gar on behalf of the Skills Academy Wales WBL partnership in South West Wales is being aligned with the work of the TEL-WFD project led by Cardiff Metropolitan University. There are clear synergies between the WBL management digitisation objectives of PotsPan and the exploitation of the WBL maturity toolkit planned by TEL-WFD. Swansea Metropolitan University is a partner in both projects and Prof Tony Toole, who will be project managing both contributions, will aim to maximise the benefits to both projects.

SMU will also be exploring digital pen and digital signature systems as part of their contribution. The intention is to move beyond the specific audit trail objective of digital pen usage required by the EU/WG funding system. The aim is to draw conclusions about the benefits of digital pen systems in the efficient management of documents in multi campus institutions and multi institutional collaborations. It is expected that this will be of interest to other collaborative groups across the community of practice.

WBL Website Development Planning Meeting

The CSG project team met today to discuss plans to develop the Skills Academy Wales website in preparation for the piloting of the SWANI project outcomes with partners in the Autumn of 2012. It was agreed that the website was substantially complete and fit for purpose. The main thing that needed to be done was to update all the web pages with operational and guidance information that would enable all users to navigate and use the resources in an intuitive way.

It was agreed that the initial work would be carried out by Tony Toole who would create mock-ups of all the site pages that contained outline information. These would then be shared with the WBL teams at both CSG and Pembrokeshire to refine the information they contained. Once agreed the information would be uploaded to the WBL site by Lewis Jones.

Caroline Peek at Coleg Sir Gar and Wendy Webber at Pembrokeshire College would be consulted throughout the development process to ensure that the system addressed all of their institutional WBL management and administration needs. PRP Training and the Prince's Trust would be similarly involved. It was agreed that Tony Toole would contact all partners to begin the consultation process.