Waiariki Institute of Technology selects Tribal as supplier

Following an extensive and detailed procurement, Waiariki Institute of Technology has chosen Tribal as the supplier of the institute’s new student management system (SMS).

An SMS is used to record student data and assist with the case management of their history with Waiariki, from initial enquiry to enrolment and academic performance through to processing their awards. An SMS with this capability will allow Waiariki to manage the student lifecycle from the beginning more effectively and efficiently, saving time and resources.

Not only will Waiariki staff benefit from the new system, but the program will also offer better service and options for students by housing all of the institute’s curriculum information. This will provide a “shopping basket” approach to allow students to package the courses they want to study, and with Tribal’s highly configurable program, may, in the future, allow for student self-enrolment.

A team drawn from across the institute reviewed a wide variety of potential solutions before selecting Tribal’s SMS as their preferred solution to replace their current system.

“We knew that we needed to find a system that could do more than simply replicate our old system in new technology,” said Jared Dawson, Waiariki’s finance director, who led the evaluation team. “We took the time to develop a detailed specification for the new system and then evaluated responses from the leading providers in the region. These responses, combined with detailed demonstrations and discussions, allowed us a great opportunity to get underneath the skin of each system and supplier.”

Tribal has been working in the New Zealand tertiary sector for over three years, delivering the highly regarded benchmarking service commissioned by the TEC. The contract for this service has recently been extended for a further two years thus providing the ideal foundation on which to build Tribal’s operations in New Zealand and deliver a wider range of its products and services.

Tribal’s student system has been implemented by over 120 customers in the UK and is used by a rich variety of organisations ranging from many of the country’s largest and most complex institutions to some of the smallest and most specialist. Waiariki is the first customer for Tribal’s student systems in New Zealand.

“Our review of the system against other options and our detailed discussions with Tribal about their plans for the system in New Zealand gave us the confidence to take a lead in the sector by choosing Tribal as our SMS supplier,” said Mr Dawson.

The system implementation will start during the spring with go live planned for the first half of 2011. Tribal is adding new members of staff to its existing team working out of the company’s Wellington and Sydney offices. The company is also recruiting New Zealanders as part of its growth strategy for the region.

Mark Sampson, Tribal’s regional director, is delighted that Tribal has been chosen as Waiariki’s new supplier:

“Naturally we believe that our system is a great student management system but it has been fantastic to see the positive reaction to it in the demonstrations we have done at Waiariki and other polytechnics in New Zealand.

“The system is highly functional with a very high degree of configurability thus making it quick and simple to tailor it to meet the needs of a wide variety of organisational needs and preferences.

“It’s an important step forward for our work in New Zealand and we are very excited at the opportunity to work with the great team at Waiariki Institute of Technology and, we hope, other customers in the months and years to come.”

ENDS

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