IS Applications have recently completed a project to update the online administrative platform used by the Centre for Open Learning, the University’s department for continuing education. The current platform, CESAR, is a bespoke system that was developed in-house from scratch. CESAR itself has been in operation since January 2015 and this project delivered the following extensions: More publishing controls for system administrators: Courses can now be unpublished/deactivated for any given session, e.g. 'summer session', without having to re-enter all the course details the next time it is published or reactivated. More targeted reporting capabilities: The Finance Office can now run reports on all students in the system with outstanding balances. Administrators can now run course-by-course reports on student contact details to notify them if their course is cancelled. These new additions to the system were created in response to feedback from the Centre for Open Learning (formerly the Office of Lifelong Learning). Having worked with CESAR for over a year, they identified these features as useful additions to the system and our project services team were able to deliver them on time and on budget. The addition of publishing controls has given us greater flexibility in how we display our courses online, allowing us to select individual courses or publish/unpublish courses for entire terms in one quick process. The financial reports that are now embedded in CESAR have allowed the finance team at COL to have instant access to important student account information in relation to outstanding balances, enabling them to better manage course enrolment income. Jemma WallaceResource and Project Manager, Center for Open Learning Publication date 29 Jun, 2016
