News
Customer at Centre of Aviarc Solution
Designing and installing a new software solution can be a long, arduous process for customers and vendors. But that wasn’t the case for Massey University’s Centre for Educational Development (CED) when it introduced Core Technology’s web-based Aviarc software.
CED delivers professional development services to teachers throughout Taranaki, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay. It had been using a combination of MS Access, forms, and manual-intervention to manage the consolidated scheduling, tracking and compliance reporting of the unit’s more than 60 client relationship managers. But changes to Government reporting requirements forced a rethink on MS Access.
CED contracts manager, Debbie Laing, said that the decision was made following a tender, to custom-build a replacement system using the more cost: effective Aviarc option. Other options considered were .Net and PHP.
Customer feels like they’re part of the team
Debbie started the project with reservations. “From the other organisations I’d worked in, IT would usually work through our requirements, go away for six months or so and then present us with a system which may or may not meet our needs. That wasn’t the case with Core. Their engagement was quite different. They asked for only broad requirements definition up front in the form of ‘features’ that we needed. The big difference was we were able to participate actively throughout the system build. This also gave us the opportunity to challenge our own decisions throughout the process.”
After an initial workshop, held to scope and prioritise high-level requirements, Core’s developers returned with a basic shell of the system for Debbie and her team to review and refine. “This is where we looked at iterations, often playing with the evolving functionality and refining our thinking and ultimately our detailed requirements. This process helped us come up with some of our best ideas and made for a better product in the end,” said Debbie.
She was amazed by the way her team was actually always working with, and refining, a working version of the system. As the ‘requirements definition/build’ phase progressed, Debbie regularly monitored progress with the Core team.
Ben Hopkins, Core’s lead developer, describes it as “Moving to the point where you feel you’re not making up the requirements when the client isn’t around - things aren’t lost in translation.”
Debbie and Ben agree the process was focused on only spending the time you needed to work through and refine each iteration. Ben says, “While it sometimes felt like there was a lot of ‘face time’, Core’s benchmarking showed the solution was being developed at quite a rapid pace, largely due to getting the coding right first time.”
The access anywhere/anytime nature of Aviarc’s web-based environment also meant a wider group of users from the CED team could watch the solution evolve. “People would play around with it and suggest refinements. It didn’t take long for the next working iteration to be ready, to review it, and repeat the process until our production version was ready for deployment,” said Ben.
Debbie believes the wider user-involvement during the design and build phase also made for greater acceptance of the production system. She says “People really felt their ideas were valued and meaningful during the project.”
Flexible approach brings benefits
Debbie said that the system is more enjoyable to use than the one it replaced and has saved significant time through improved data integrity, removal of double handling and through increased automation. It has access anywhere/anytime collaboration capabilities and offers significant productivity benefits to Debbie and the CED’s leadership team in accurately compiling their critical compliance and funding reports and making management decisions.
She said that one of her team leaders saves a day a month from the enhanced reporting capabilities. That means more time spent on value-adding activities. Tailored reporting has also reduced data-clutter and should improve reporting to their clients.
The dispersed team now has a one stop shop for sharing information. There is better professional support available for the team and the team can offer better customer service because members know what everyone else is doing on a client by client basis. “Being able to view current time-utilisation statistics has enabled greater personal ownership and improved management of the team’s time,” adds Debbie.
The Aviarc experience has provided Debbie with the confidence to expand this system further to improve a wider group of business processes; confident she will get the functionality she needs - delivered on time and budget. “The process wasn’t always perfect and as a software novice I didn’t always know what to expect. But the team at Core really listened to us and clearly adapted their approach to meet our needs. I’m really happy with both the product and the support we have received.”
CED Profile
- Located in Palmerston North
- Responsible for teacher professional development across Taranaki, Manawatu and Hawkes Bay
- 60+ client relationship managers
Aviarc Benefits
- Fixed price and delivery date
- Project on time and budget
- Analysis and reporting productivity gains
- Web based technology allowed customer to refine the system as it evolved
- Customer needs drive design
- More enjoyable user experience
- Requirements developed in workshops not via a time-consuming documentation process