UNIT-e information securely accessible to students anywhere
This summer students at Havering Sixth Form College (HSFC) were able to access their own progress reports and A or AS Level results from anywhere in the world.
HSFC in line with many colleges uses UNIT-e to record student progress, grades, reports and exam results. This information was originally only available from within the UNIT-e system, and only staff on site at the college could access it. This had meant generating paper exam results reports for students and issuing them by post or within college. Not only time consuming but expensive and open to error and loss of confidentiality.
HSFC has been working with Parabola since 2007, when they managed the implementation of SharePoint 2007. As soon as Capita developed the facility for UNIT-e reports to be accessed via SharePoint, the most cost-effective solution was for the College to use SharePoint as the point of access for students.
Security was of paramount importance as the college had to be completely confident that each individual student would be able to see only their own information. The system had to work on-site as well as remotely.
The solution was to use SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services which enabled an interface to the reports. Students were then able to access their own information using their existing network login. Parabola installed and configured SSRS, followed by a security gateway during the Spring of 2011.
The project was completed in time for the issue of student results in August 2011.
The online release of exam results and reports is now a simple task and requires no paper and much reduced administrative effort. Furthermore, students appreciate being able to access results even if they are travelling during the summer; a much better solution than asking a friend or parent to read them over the phone.
Andrew Acreman, CIS Manager at the college commented that the system now "provides much more information, quickly, securely, and in a personalised and targeted way".