Digital and IT

The University wanted to modernise its Student Records System to better meet the needs of both students and staff. The change had also been driven by their incumbent SRS provider significantly increasing costs. The University’s SRS was heavily customised and lacked flexibility. Staff across academic and professional services teams reported frustrations with slow processes, inconsistent data quality, and poor integration with other systems. Many tasks required manual intervention, which increased the risk of errors and created inefficiencies. Students also experienced the limitations of the system directly, with online services not always meeting expectations for usability and reliability .The urgency for change was heightened by the incumbent SRS provider significantly increasing costs. This forced the University to confront whether continuing with the existing system was sustainable in the long term.

Our approach

SUMS worked across the institution to:

• Gather requirements from staff and students to ensure the system would meet a wide range of needs.
• Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of moving to a new platform.
• Develop a transformation plan for successful implementation.

The project delivered:

• Clarity on requirements and integration needs.
• A roadmap for delivering change that reduced risk and supported smooth implementation.

The complex University wanted to improve its service management systems to achieve two key goals. First, to deliver a more unified and consistent student experience across the federated structure, ensuring that students could access services reliably wherever they were in the University. Second, to reduce complexity for staff and academics, many of whom had to navigate multiple systems and processes depending on the part of the University they were working with. The challenge was not only technical but cultural. Any recommendations needed to respect the institution’s devolved environment while showing how greater alignment could benefit all stakeholders.

Our approach

SUMS carried out a university-wide review of service management systems. The review considered:

• Opportunities for integration across the university
• Ways to improve the student experience
• Options to increase usability for staff and academics

The project delivered:

• An evidence base to support future investment decisions.
• A set of options for improving or replacing the finance system.
• Recommendations for aligning finance technology with strategic priorities moving forward.