Standalone Systems
Examples of large stand-alone systems are rare, but a Time Recording system operating in one particular department and a Library Management system are two possibilities. Even then, it is difficult to imagine that the Time Recording system would not benefit from being integrated with the Human Resources system for employee and payroll information or the Library Management system being linked to the Student Record system for data on the students and their studies.
Linked Systems
The decisions to be made when planning a system implementation are to do with the extent to which the new system should be linked with others and how they are to be linked.
Linked systems are common and the following are just a few examples:
a Payroll system linked to a Finance system to pass salary and expenses transactions to the General Ledger;
a Research Grants Administration system linked to a Finance system to pass research expenditure and billing information to the General and Project Ledgers;
a Student Record system linked to an Examinations system to pass students' course information to examination timetables;
a Student Accommodation system linked to a Student Record system to pass students' term-time addresses to the Academic office;
a Human Resources system linked to a Payroll system to pass staff data to payroll processing records;
Human Resources, Finance and Data Warehouse systems being linked to produce institute-wide management reports; and
Human Resources, Finance and Student Record systems being linked with a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in what is often known as a Managed Learning Environment (MLE).
The last example is represented above. The challenge of creating an advanced MLE probably represents the ultimate step in integration currently. It should be noted that there is not a unique definition of the components of an MLE - the MLE can comprise whichever system components and processes are appropriate for the organisation to serve different kinds of organisation and user needs - and so the example here is purely illustrative. The most basic type of MLE involves integrating the learning environment tools (whether an off-the-shelf VLE or a collection of tools) with the registration and course structure elements of a student records system. At the other end of the spectrum, some institutions attempt to add applications such as library catalogues and management systems, personnel and finance systems, and timetabling systems to this heady mix. JISC infoNet has an infoKit on Creating an MLE that looks at the particular issues involved in creating this type of integration. The JISC is also looking at integration between institutions on a regional basis in its MLEs for Lifelong Learning programme and the Distributed e-Learning strand of the e-Learning programme.
