Further Information on Higher
Administration and IT Course
Assessment (November 2013)
Key messages
SQA is currently developing Course and Unit assessments. This document outlines our progress in
Course assessment for the Higher Course in Administration and IT.
Course assessment will consist of two components: an assignment that will be externally assessed,
and a question paper.
The Higher Administration and IT Course is a practical applied Course that focuses on
administration in the workplace. Developing advanced IT and problem solving skills is at the heart
of the Course. These are demonstrated in the context of organising administrative support for
events in the assignment.
The purpose of the assignment is to assess the candidate’s ability to apply their problem solving
and advanced IT skills in the context of a complex scenario, which will be an event. The
assignment will require demonstration of IT skills from the mandatory information on Course
coverage in the IT Solutions for Administrators and Communication in Administration Units.
The question paper will consist of a short stimulus text, on which candidates will answer one
question. The remaining questions will draw from topics across the Course, and will consist of a
range of short and extended response questions.
Skills developed at this level will provide good progression to further study in Administration
courses in college, and provide a good basis for many other courses in further and higher
education as well as for employment.
The Course assessment draws on approaches currently used in Higher Administration papers 1
and 2.
Course assessment will be out of 100 marks. 30 marks will be available in the question paper and
70 marks in the assignment.
Higher question paper
(publication by 28 February 2014)
The question paper will assess skills, knowledge and understanding from the mandatory
information on Course coverage in the Administrative Theory and Practice and Communication in
Administration Units. It will draw on styles of questions used in Higher Administration paper 1. The
main changes are:
November 2013
 The stimulus provided will be linked to question 1, and candidates will be required to apply their
responses to the stimulus when answering the question.
 The remaining questions will draw from other areas of the Course and will consist of a range of
short and extended response questions. These questions will not require reference to the
stimulus text.
The question paper will have 30 marks and will have a time limit of 1 hour.
Higher assignment
(publication by 31 March 2014)
The purpose of the assignment is to assess candidates’ ability to apply their problem solving and
advanced IT skills in the context of a complex scenario, which will be an event. The assignment will
require demonstration of IT skills from the mandatory information on Course coverage in the IT
Solutions for Administrators and Communication in Administration Units.
This assignment will give learners an opportunity to demonstrate:
 use of complex IT functions in word processing, spreadsheets, databases, desktop publishing,
and presentation software to produce, process and manage information and solve problems in
unfamiliar contexts
 skills in electronic research to source complex information
 skills in effective communication, taking account of its context, purpose and audience
 a wide range of administrative skills related to planning and organising to complete the
assignment
Candidates will be provided with a brief, which will contain a series of tasks. The tasks will require
the use of complex IT functions in word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation
software to produce, process, manage and communicate information and solve problems.
Some tasks within the brief are linked and, in some cases, integrated, requiring candidates to make
use of documents previously created to complete subsequent tasks. This will reflect the style used
in the National 5 Assignment.
The assignment will be completed within two hours under supervised conditions, and 70 marks will
be allocated to this component (70% of the total marks available for Course assessment).
The Higher assignment is marked externally. Candidate evidence will be submitted to SQA for
external marking. SQA will provide an annual brief for the assignment — this is to ensure skills,
knowledge and understanding are adequately sampled across the two components of Course
assessment
November 2013
Further information on Higher Question
Paper
The following is extracted from the draft Question Paper.
Candidates should read and use the passage below to answer question 1.
The remaining questions can be answered without reference to the passage.
WORKING TOGETHER
Jamie has recently been promoted at work. He is now a Senior Administrative Assistant and
has a team of six Administrative Assistants, who work in different locations. Jamie was
happy to have his new job and was looking forward to the challenges it would present for
him but has discovered all is not well.
Several members of his team seem unhappy at work and do not take part in discussions at
team meetings. At these meetings two members are very dominant and often the other team
members do not like the decisions that are made. Some team members will not work with
others or even speak with them. Last week, important customer information went missing
because the correct instructions were not passed on. This could have been a disaster for the
whole company.
Within the administrative team of six people – three have been with the company for several
years and they do not always listen to the other three members who joined two months ago
but have experience gained in other companies. This again causes tension between the
team members and some pieces of work are done in different ways by different people
leading to confusion and stress for team members. Jamie has to find a way to have his team
working together even though they are based in different locations.
Team meetings are held only once a month. Some team members do not value the team
meetings and do not make the effort to attend. Therefore Jamie spends a lot of time trying
to visit everyone to make sure that they receive the same information.
Jamie knows he has to make some changes in order to try and make his team more
effective.
November 2013
1.
2.
3.
Discuss 4 strategies Jamie could implement to create an effective team.
Reference must be made to the specific issues in the case study.
Explain the advantages of an intranet in a large organisation or one that
works across several locations.
8
3
Explain the benefits of training Administrative Assistants in customer care techniques. 6
November 2013
Further information on Higher
Assignment draft
The following is extracted from database tasks in the draft Assignment.
We have received an e-mail from Mrs Cleaver who has to move to Dunfermline with her
family by the end of July. The family are looking for a house with a minimum of 4 bedrooms
and have a budget of £230000. Mrs Cleaver would prefer a property that is carpeted
throughout. The family are planning to come to our open day and would like you to provide a
list of properties that would be suitable.
Print a copy of available properties that meet Mrs Cleaver’s requirements showing the Plot
ID, House Name, House Type, Bedrooms, Site, Expected Completion Date, Price and
Incentives.
The company has decided to offer a free holiday as a reward for the sales person with the
highest level of sales. For each sales person please find the number and value of properties
sold to date.
Print this information.
The following is extracted from spreadsheet tasks in the draft Assignment.
The company would like to know if they are keeping within their budgets for each site in the
current year. Open the document Suppliers and complete the Summary worksheet to
calculate the differences between the actual spend and the allocated budget for each site.
Print a value view and a formulae view.
Open the file Pivot and using the pivot tools make the following amendments:


Add another column to show each location and site as a percentage of the grand
total
Make the column headings more meaningful
The following is extracted from the presentation task in the draft Assignment.
The presentation Your Move will be shown in the show home on the launch day. Open the
file Your Move, action and delete the comments on the presentation.
Insert a new slide after the slide on Quality Assurance. This slide will be for ‘ten year NHBC
warranty’. Use the internet to find out what steps the customer can take if they have
problems with a new build in the first 2 years and then in years 3-10. Insert this information
onto the new slide.
The final slide should show a customer satisfaction chart. Use the information contained in
the Customer Satisfaction file to create a suitable chart.
November 2013