Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design

About

One of my major projects at Whitecliffe was to replace the current Student Management System that was no longer supported. In developing the business case for the project, I uncovered a number of impacting and systemic problems with internal processes, policies and procedures which had to be reviewed from the ground up whilst replacing the system.

Problem/Goal

Provide a user experience which reflects the high quality of education provided at Whitecliffe to all stakeholders and a solution ready for the mid year 2018 enrolments and is used by staff across all departments on a daily basis which have their own unique ways of working. The New Zealand government has a list of approved systems that can be used by tertiary providers due to the reporting requirements that feed current/enrolled student data directly to Ministry of Education systems.

Who/what

Due to the large scale of the project we hired a Project Manager and formed a dedicated project teams/committee with members made up from each department at Whitecliffe. We also worked closely with implementation specialists from each vendor. I was the project owner and all team members reported in to me.

Project Methodology

Research and Analysis: To begin the project, I reviewed all feedback including; notes, memos and emails from staff and students. I also interviewed staff from each department to get an understanding of how they were currently doing daily tasks across the system, which systems were used/not used, and if any gaps in processes or technology existed.

Next I created a sample profile for each of the stakeholders including common tasks they completed across the digital technology stack. This later would be used for quality assurance purposes when testing the solution prior to release.

Using these profiles I worked with each department to compile a list of requirements for their tasks and identified which polices and processes related to each. This was used as part of the tender process to identify the new Systems that would be included in the transition. Documentation: The analysis and tender process (for vendors) results were complied into a business case and signed off by the Senior Management team and a budget created for financial tracking of the project. This included a rollout plan for system migration and risk mitigation strategies.

Deilverables

• ‘Digital World’ analysis and communications review document
• Requirements document
• Business case document and implementation plan
• Process documents and related detailed information
• Staff manuals and application portal content
• User testing document and QA plans for application and student portals
• HTML/CSS Development of student portal
• Weekly project progress reports

About

In my role of Director of Projects, Systems and Communications I was in charge or major projects including redevelopment of campus facilites. I completed the following projects:

• Level 4 administration office redesign and build project: I managed the redesign and build of the administration area, converting smaller offices into collaborative open multipurpose space for projected increase to staff headcount and mixed delivery teams of administration staff.
• Level 5 student lab redesign and build project: I designed and managed the build of a new multipurpose student design lab and delivered on time and under budget with a capacity of 19.

Canon print & cut hub project

I reviewed the existing printing facilities and feedback from students, formed a business case and managed the implementation of a new printing and innovation centre. This included room design, compliance/health and safety review, project management and vendor management to turn old classroom into multipurpose revenue generating print and cut hub with sponsorship deal with Canon. Hub includes two large format printers, 3D Printer, Laser cutter and electric guillotine, see the case study by Canon.

Fashion department natural dye studio redesign and build project

I worked with multiple vendors to redesign and upgrade natural dye making studio which included major upgrades to new air extraction and flirtation system.

Who/what

Due to the large scale of the project we hired a Project Manager and formed a dedicated project teams/committee with members made up from each department at Whitecliffe. We also worked closely with implementation specialists from each vendor. I was the project owner and all team members reported in to me.