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EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY | FOCUS | 63
MOBI L ISING YOUR STATIONERY
Technology is equally vital to a university's administrative functions, and presents opportunities to revamp both front-of-house and back-office operations, as Damon Jones reports
D
igital innovations are widely trumpeted as a game-changer for HE. Coverage has often focused on
the classroom, or its virtual extensions – with distance learning, interactive lessons and online resources now commonplace. But technology for admin functions is equally as important. Digitally equipped administrators
are perhaps beter characterised as mice movers, rather than pushers of pens. Nonetheless, some old habits die hard. Fully implementing the concept of a ‘paperless office’ is challenging for many universities, whose administration partly relies on hard copy. Alarmingly, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos for printer
manufacturers Lexmark in 2010, wasteful office printouts were on the rise, with around 31 pages generated on average, per day. To streamline usage of printed resources, one option available to HEIs is storing more of their information digitally, via a ‘virtual filing cabinet’. Ellucian, a global firm providing software and services to HE, offer various tools to realise this. Based on an industry standard architecture, Documentum, the organisation has developed a product specially adapted for HE, which integrates with the Banner suite of solutions. “This kind of system offers greater efficiency through timely, compliant, and automated business processes,” comments Tracy Brobyn, consultant at
Ellucian. “In an increasingly competitive market, it can help institutions to offer a beter service, quicker response times and faster access to information.” Banner Document Management
(BDM) allows users to access archived information via the web from any location, and is directly compatible with Microsoft 2010, where it functions within standard packages, including Excel and Word. “The technology used and applications delivered provide features such as scanning, managing and indexing, as well as integration with Banner,” explains Brobyn. Although at least one Banner module is required to operate the system, once this is installed, it can, through the addition of add-ons,
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