Undergraduate Admissions: ADSS and ADMIT

This substream is considering the strategic approach to replacing the Admissions Decisions Support System (ADSS) and the Admissions IT system (ADMIT) which underpin the undergraduate admissions process in most subjects, Colleges, and Permanent Private Halls, and without them, Oxford's current undergraduate admissions process would be impossible to sustain.

The replacement of ADSS and ADMIT had been planned for after August 2013, however a review of the Undergraduate Admissions Office and its systems has concluded that the risks of continuing with the current software as it is have become too acute to wait. In recognition of this, the Student Systems Programme Board (SSPB), the Student Systems Management Group (SSMG), the Chair of the PAOM Workstream Implementation Group, Dr Robert Wilkins, and the Admissions Executive (ADEX) Chair, Ms Sheila Forbes, have endorsed an Oxford-wide consultation project to understand requirements for a combined undergraduate admissions system to replace ADSS and ADMIT and to compare these requirements with technology capabilities.

The nature and complexity of our undergraduate admissions process is such that a bespoke solution does need to be built for Oxford, although it is anticipated that there will be elements of our solution that may be adopted elsewhere in the HE sector. We are therefore working closely with Tribal (providers of SITS) on this development with the focus on ensuring an effective integration of the solution with SITS to support the end-to-end admissions process and reporting.

Members of the PAOM workstream will be working closely with the project to inform the development, together with the Undergraduate Admissions Office and academic and administrative colleagues from across Oxford with expertise in the undergraduate admissions process.

Objectives

An Oxford-wide consultation project is underway to understand requirements for a combined undergraduate admissions system to replace ADSS and ADMIT and to compare these requirements with technology capabilities. The aim is to allow for ADSS and ADMIT functionality to be rebuilt using more robust, scalable and sustainable technology, in line with our other core student systems, with improved integration and data sharing capabilities.

Membership

Dr Robert Wilkins (Chair), Tutor for Admissions, St Edmund Hall

Deb Sanders (Implementation Lead)

  • Keith Zimmerman, Director of Student Administration & Services
  • Emma Potts, Head of Student Administration
  • Tara Jewell, Head of Communications
  • Tom Payne, Interim Director of Programme & Project Delivery, IT Services
  • Shirin Tahzib, Director of Software Solutions, IT Services
  • Tony Stark, IT Services
  • Naeem Alam, Project Manager, IT Services
  • Mike Robins, IT Services
  • Guy Williams, IT Services
  • Ben Walker, Dynamics Lead Developer, IT Services
  • Richard Dunnaway, Undergraduate Admissions Office
  • Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions
  • Peter Franklin, Undergraduate Admissions Office
  • Synchronicity, Dynamics Expertise
  • Members of the PAOM workstream
  • University and college stakeholders


Timings

Recommendations will be made to the Student Systems Programme Board, the Student Systems Management Group, the Chair of the PAOM Workstream Implementation Group, Dr Robert Wilkins, and the Admissions Executive (ADEX) Chair, by May 2012 on the best and achievable course of action in time for the 2013 admissions cycle, which begins in September 2012, and for the longer term.