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Bolton and XCRI 27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson Bolton and XCRI 27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson Bolton and XCRI
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott WilsonBolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Bolton and XCRI
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Or… Overcoming the chicken-and-egg conundrum of XCRI adoption
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
At the University of Bolton, we’ve realised a lot of benefits from adopting XCRI…
…Even though we don’t think anyone is seriously using our XCRI feed yet!
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Delivery units developand manage offerings
Providers integrateprogrammes into a singleofferings catalog
Aggregators combinecatalogs from multipleproviders
Brokers take aggregateddata and build new servicesaround them
nternalciency gains
businessprocessimprovements
strategiccapability
qualityassurance,standardisation, andconsolidation ofduplicate offerings
cost savings ondata input
additional channels
availability of additionalproviders
new businessopportunities and revenue-sharing partnerships
new added-valuebusiness models
XCRI 1.0 Pilot, 2007
XCRI 1.1 for HE & 14-19, 2007-2008
ts Realization, 2008-2009
Departments and unitswithin providers
Universities, colleges,training providers
UCAS, HotCourses, LearnDirectSUFI, Graduate Prospects, LLN's,14-19 regions
Web 2.0 applications (e.g. Facebook)Skills Brokers, Independent IAGproviders, Recommender servicesVARs
UB 2009
UB 2007-2009
UB 2009-2011
UB 2012-
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
How we adopted XCRI
- JISC-funded XCRI mini-project in 2007- Initially looked at SITS IPP extensions - Abandoned in favour of creating a new course
database, focusing on marketing and web search
- The Course Database is now the catalyst for a range of innovations and improvements at UB
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
The Marketing Perspective
• Lack of national standard has been a major headache• 3 staff involved in updating external sites:• 1-UCAS, 2-HotCourses, 3-innumerable local, regional,
sectoral, subject and national initiatives• Value of target sites not easy to judge• Accuracy and timeliness very hard to manage, creating
problems for the public with outdated info around on web• A thankless and rather dull job staff would rather avoid!
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Prospectus Push
• Staff still view course information in prospectus-centric way, e.g. an annual push
• Despite the fact that course search has up to 4x as many users per week than our annual total of printed prospectuses!
• Still have to use “prospectus push” to goad staff into taking action on course information
• … but XCRI has enabled us to take a more managed all-year-round view of course information
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
The Bolton Course Database
Designed from scratchRequirements gathered from marketing, QA, and
student data managementA lot of differences in language/terminology and
data requirements - also different views of what a “course” was!
In the end, database design primarily based on XCRI with marketing and QA requirements
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
While originally developed to support generating the XCRI feed, the DB is actually used to support:
• Course search on our website• On-demand prospectuses and course
information sheets• Prospectus printing
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Course Search Project• Identifying the information needs for effective search was
pretty challenging, and delayed implementation• Initial import was a big job, involving inputting data from
hundreds of Word files. But never again, except for brand new courses! All updates go directly into course database
• XCRI and Course DB enabled us to take a more managed approach, and improve quality of both data and results
• Live update of course staff contacts from HRMS is a big improvement - saves a lot of effort and improves accuracy
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
Course Search Project
• Printing templates/stylesheets based directly on course db results enable schools or individuals to print their own information sheets or mini-prospectus - much cheaper!
• Have been enable to work on consistency of style and quality of content with new central management of course information
• Overall the course “portfolio” doesn’t have much overlap or waste, but we don’t really have a good picture at module level
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
In the future we can see further value from this investment in XCRI realised by:
• Supporting innovation in the course validation process
• Developing new services that rely on course information as core data
• … as well as the original core purpose of reducing time spent updating course information on other people’s websites…
(Potentially the biggest win will be the “tertiary” sites)
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
How we implemented XCRI
• SQL Server database• Intranet application for managing courses,
owned by Marketing• Live connection to HR database & Active
Directory for keeping course contacts up-to-date• Versioning and auditing• Course Search service linked from website
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
How XCRI fitted our needs
• A good fit for our existing marketing fields; only notable missing areas are:– Keywords (vs subject)– Related courses linking– Employment sector
• A good fit for the entities for our database• Course/Presentation distinction in particular very
useful• Potential areas to expand into
Bolton and XCRI27th March, Leeds, Scott Wilson
What’s next?
• Linking cost element directly to fees, bursaries, scholarships
• Google Analytics• Integrating with validation process• Custom reporting to support planning• Extending approach into managing modules -
building the business case based on the value realised in managing courses
