About ARD Systems
The ARD Systems team is a business-driven systems administration team in the Academic Registrar’s Division. It principally looks after the school’s student records system – SITS – and its web-based counterpart e:Vision, as well as the new CRM system Salesforce. The team’s focus is ensuring that these key business systems operate as intended, supporting end users, and developing new functionality and projects in these systems.
Our mission
Our mission is to provide student records and constituent relationship management (CRM) systems that effectively and efficiently support student-facing processes from recruitment to graduation via admissions, registration and all associated processes. In turn, we aim to provide support and guidance to customers external to ARD, including all academic departments, for using and getting the most out of our systems. We also seek to provide accurate management information both internally and externally.
Aims and objectives
Our aim is to provide student records and CRM systems technical support and training, to facilitate the development of business processes using a symphony of tools from the student records system and/or CRM, and to produce both management information, while contributing towards external reporting exercises.
Objectives
1.1. To develop and/or enhance student record systems and CRM from application to student transcript and degree certificate.
1.2. To raise awareness amongst staff about the services we provide and how they relate to other School services.
1.3. To maintain strong coordination with Information Management and Technology (IMT), Finance, Careers, Residences, Advancement, Academic Departments and other providers of student record systems.
1.4. To inform colleagues of the functionality of the central student records system and how it may be used more effectively.
2.1. To provide an accessible and easy-to-navigate website that offers clear, timely advice and information.
2.2. To manage a help desk facility to respond to student records system enquiries.
2.3. To publish a Service Level Agreement for all users.
2.4 To escalate problems to another help desk when required.
3.1. To foster a common 'customer' service ethos and cultural and IT competency awareness of users.
3.2. To understand users’ requirements and respond appropriately.
4.1. To produce, maintain and catalogue process, training and report documentation.
4.2. To make this documentation available on the wiki pages and website linking to Frequently Asked Questions, as appropriate.
4.3 To provide a space where end users can make suggestions for enhancements to business processes and systems.
4.3. To develop a reporting tool in liaison with IMT.
4.4. To make reports available from the website, via the reporting tools and directly from student record systems.
5.1. To create, maintain and monitor user accounts on the central student records system, CRM and associated systems such as e:Vision and Digitary.
5.2. To provide an appropriate level of access to users.
5.3. To evaluate new versions of the system and manage the testing, installation and upgrade of these.
5.4. To evaluate software updates of the system and manage the testing and installation of these.
5.5. To identify issues with system interfaces and resolve them with the respective team.
5.6. To facilitate integration between systems such as SITS to the UKVI SMS system / SITS to Digitary. Longer term, we seek to provide web-based APIs to provide more robust access to student data.
6.1. To author data quality reports in response to user enquiries and to highlight HESA issues.
6.2. To make these reports available to ARD teams so that the data can be corrected.