Better Data Access Equals Better Student Experience

Our Customer

Made up of six smaller colleges, a research-intensive post-secondary institution (PSI) boasts some of the best educational experiences in the world.

Challenge

PSI recently celebrated 30 years of equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to change the world. With six schools – chemical and biomedical; civil and environmental; computer science and engineering; electrical and electronic; materials science; and mechanical and aerospace – it has established itself as one of the leading post-secondary technology institutions in the world. 

For PSI, success lies with “specificity”: the six dedicated schools that help students find and explore their passions. But this same specificity creates challenges with student management systems (SMS) continuity. Disparate SMS created unneeded complexity and costs around data handling, reporting, and management, making it harder for staff to manage student data at scale.

How Prolifics met the PSI Challenge

The university decided to streamline the student experience with a single, cloud-based offering – while ensuring the continued specificity that sets PSI apart from other post-secondary options. However, with no expertise in data migration or testing, PSI needed a partner capable of managing this SMS shift.

Prolifics’ pedigree as a testing and automation partner for one of the world’s leading SIS providers put us in the perfect position to assist. The university invited our teams to provide a complete managed service that covered all functional and non-functional testing – along with performance, security, and integration.

After an initial consultation to determine the scope of work, Prolifics deployed a team of 20 to handle the large-scale requirements of this cloud SMS move. Functions included everything from initial outset assessment to complete network scoping to creating a test strategy, with a planned completion date in October 2022. 

Prolifics leveraged a three-way process:

• Provide and configure necessary software
• Make sure it was fit for purpose
• Provide the chance to accept the system as presented or suggest changes via a user acceptance testing (UAT) phase

In practice, this end-to-end management approach often meant combining functional testing with two-week sprints across multiple Prolifics scrum teams. In some cases, up to 12 sprints happened in parallel to ensure function models worked together and new system frameworks were capable of handling access requests from thousands of students simultaneously. 

Results

Cloud-based SMS systems help schools deliver student success at scale. The move to more agile offerings isn’t just about reducing costs – it’s about staying competitive in a global marketplace that leverages digital frameworks to enhance the student experience from application to enrollment, to records management and career opportunities. 

For PSI, making the move to cloud SMS was critical to help lay the foundation for the next 30 years. For Prolifics, the project was an opportunity to showcase end-to-end management that included data mapping, cleansing, testing, and validation. 

Along with increased efficiency and streamlined processes, the university has recognized competitive benefits that help drive sustained student success.

Learn More

To learn more about what we can do for your organization, connect with a Prolifics expert today. For more details about the University’s move to cloud SMS, download the full case study.

About Prolifics

Prolifics is a digital engineering and consulting firm helping clients navigate and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We deliver relevant outcomes using our systematic approach to rapid, enterprise-grade continuous innovation. We treat our digital deliverables like a customized product – using agile practices to deliver immediate and ongoing increases in value.

We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas – Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity – at any point our clients need them.

Email: solutions@prolifics.com or visit us at prolifics.com