The Role of Champions in Knowledge Transfer Cate Watson 29th February 2012

Overview SITS Usage at Northumbria Access at Implementation Good Housekeepers Data Quality Enhancement Project Role of Data Champions SITS Newsletter Concluding Comments & Opportunity for Questions

SITS Usage at Northumbria Went live 2005/6 Approx. 560 active users 455 have some kind of edit access Approx. 250 School users with edit access Other users include; Finance, Admissions, Student Services, Security, IT Helpdesk Lack of log in after 6 months; Client Server access reviewed

SITS Usage & Support at Northumbria Managed & supported by Data Management team within Academic Registry 1/08/2011-30/09/2011 – 1114 queries dealt with by helpdesk Need to reduce calls

Access at Implementation Initially training in specific areas was restricted to specific individuals Training delivered by project team, often 2 week period after they themselves had been trained Responsibility of record maintenance devolved to schools, more users had to be trained Concept of super user with increased rights was favoured by central team from outset, but school management didn’t see the need

Good Housekeepers Introduced 2006/7, prior to introduction of Data Champions, Good Housekeeper access highest level access available Role mainly associated with marks entry & progression/awards Initially intended to be restricted to small number, though for practical reasons Schools needed more to cover all administrative areas Currently 122 (21 in the biggest school)

Good Housekeepers : Main Issues Initially created to address need for super users Due to number, can not be considered to be a super user Access given to meet team requirements not according to skill & knowledge of user Could not be classed as experts, could potentially be a Good Housekeeper within 6 months, lack experience

Data Quality Enhancement Project 6 month project 2008/9 to reduce the amount of rework surrounding resolving data quality issues and review user interface with SITS Project team; headed by IT Services, with representatives on management team from Schools, Academic Registry & Finance Involved formal review of previous published reports, visits to other institutions, analysis of survey results as well as discussions with key stakeholders within the institution

Recommendations Each school should have at least one super user with a higher level of system access to reduce burden on helpdesk Super users would act as local data champions in schools Issues would be identified and resolved earlier Project formally paved way to commit to introduction of data champions

Data Champions Creation of Data Management Group (DMG) Aug 2010 Meets every 2 weeks June 2011 creation of Data Champion(DC) task portal on e:Vision Access given mainly to school representatives on DMG Access strictly restricted to one person per school (8), temporary access given when nominated DC on leave

Data Champions & Knowledge Exchange Since introduction of DC role, easier & quicker knowledge exchange Direct communication mid school management who actually use SITS rather than senior management who don’t DCs often used first point of contact; information cascaded via DMG meetings and email DCs encouraged to add items to agenda for DM group All helpdesk calls received from school users reminded should have contacted their DC in first instance DC play vital role in communication link between Academic Registry & School

SITS Newsletter Started production Jan 2008 Circulated to all SITS users via distribution list Originally every month Data Quality Survey; 82% staff reported they read it, 78 % found it useful “particularly good this month” (Head of Admissions) From March 2009 became bi-monthly Circulated at the end of the month, Includes key information, monthly tasks, training schedule, staff profile

Concluding Comments Introduction of the Data Champion role has been a significant step towards pro-active activity Moving away from “fire fighting” approach Schools have welcomed the role “increasingly essential to have one person to co-ordinate data management activities across the School” “has given administrative staff a focal point if they encounter difficulties with a student’s record” Helpdesk calls have reduced (Aug – Sept 2010 1733 calls, Aug –Sept 2011 1114 calls) Scope to develop the role in the future Recommend others to adopt a Data Champion model, with consistent approach to access from outset