Jade Makes Finals Of Prestigious Award

Waikato University's SAS-E Implementation Of Jade Makes Finals Of Prestigious Award

Waikato University's SAS-e project to implement the JADE computerised student management system has made the finals of the prestigious Computerworld Excellence Awards in the Most Successful Project Implementation of the Year category.

"This is a significant acknowledgement of the huge team effort that has made this project a success," says the SAS-e project manager, Michelle Jordan-Tong. "Going into this project we were aware of reports from other tertiary education institutions throughout Australasia who had experienced difficulties implementing new student management systems, but the JADE system has been implemented at Waikato on time, under budget, and is performing to our expectations. The support we have received from JADE Software Corporation throughout the project has been wonderful."

The implementation of the JADE student management system began in 2001 and was an extensive logistical exercise. While JADE's system had been previously implemented at three polytechnics, it required considerable enhancement and further development to meet university requirements and Waikato's goals of improving services to students, increasing market share, and reducing administrative costs. Risks needed to be managed closely, with Audit New Zealand contracted to perform independent quality assurance.

"We have just had our most efficient student enrolment period ever with more students being enrolled in less time," says director of Student and Academic Services, Dr Wendy Craig. "The focus within the implementation project on improving business processes and the JADE system's ability to automate many of the procedures related to enrolment, integrate with existing systems, and its ease of use, were key factors behind this success."

"Making the final for Most Successful Project Implementation means everyone's great work at the university has been recognised externally," says Michelle Jordan-Tong. "We are really proud of our achievement and we've got our fingers crossed for the finals."

The finals of the Computerworld Awards are on 25 June.

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