Scoping and Assessment Report
Management Information System
Al Balqa Applied University
Gord Lalonde & Douglas Moffatt
SETVET WBS 4310
August 2003
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 3
PURPOSE OF REPORT ............................................................................................................................. 3
OUTLINE OF PROCESS............................................................................................................................ 3
FINDINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 4
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................ 4
ORGANIZATION, PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY FINDINGS ................................................................... 5
INFRASTRUCTURE FINDINGS ................................................................................................................. 5
MIS FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................................... 6
E-LEARNING FINDINGS ......................................................................................................................... 8
UTILITY SYSTEM FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 9
STATUS OF SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES AT VARIOUS COLLEGES............................................................. 9
ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................... 11
FRAMEWORK FOR SYSTEMS AT BAU .................................................................................................. 11
1. INFORMATION SYSTEMS ORGANIZATION......................................................................................... 13
2. PROCESSES ...................................................................................................................................... 17
3. INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................ 22
4. MIS ................................................................................................................................................. 23
5. E-LEARNING.................................................................................................................................... 24
6. DAY-TO-DAY UTILITY APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................ 24
COST IMPLICATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 26
MIS ..................................................................................................................................................... 26
INFRASTRUCTURE................................................................................................................................ 26
APPENDIX A – CONTEXT ................................................................................................................ 28
AL BALQA APPLIED UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGES ............................................................................... 28
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR MIS............................................................................................................. 28
EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION ................................................................................................................ 28
APPENDIX B – INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ................ 30
APPENDIX C – COLLEGE INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS ............................................................ 32
APPENDIX D – STATUS OF HIGHER EDUCATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................................................. 37
STATUS OF HEDP ............................................................................................................................... 37
STATUS OF SYSTEMS AT JORDANIAN UNIVERSITIES ............................................................................ 38
APPENDIX E – ACTION PLAN ........................................................................................................ 39
THE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE AND TIMELINE ........................................................................ 39
DEVELOPING THE TIMELINE ................................................................................................................ 39
APPENDIX F – ORGANIZATION, ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES .......................................... 42
THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER ROLE ........................................................................................... 42
SYSTEMS ARCHITECT .......................................................................................................................... 46
OTHER I.S. ROLES ............................................................................................................................... 47
APPENDIX G – WIDE AREA NETWORK ...................................................................................... 49
APPENDIX H - TARGET SYSTEMS................................................................................................ 51
STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM ........................................................................................................ 51
HUMAN RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM....................................................................................... 52
FINANCIAL SYSTEM............................................................................................................................. 53
INTEGRATED LIBRARY INFORMATION SYSTEM ................................................................................... 54
INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING ............................................................................................................. 54
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
ii
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Table of Contents
APPENDIX I – GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................... 56
INDEX ................................................................................................................................................... 57
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
ii
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The objective of this consulting assignment was to assess whether the Management
Information System (MIS) initiative at BAU is on the right track and would be able to support
the long-range vision of the BAU College System. It was to identify gaps and make
recommendations to eliminate them. In short, the objective was to help this initiative “to do the
right things and to do things right.”
In the course of the assignment it became apparent that for BAU to successfully implement
an MIS it must take several foundational steps to establish a framework for the planning,
implementation and operation of the MIS. BAU must enhance its information systems
governance and planning processes. In conjunction with this it must upgrade its Information
Systems1 Unit’s organization and resources. As well, improvements are needed in BAU’s
technology infrastructure and in its operational capacity to support these systems as they
become increasingly valuable and critical to the enterprise.
To address these immediate changes and to deal with the business process changes that will
inevitably come with MIS implementation, BAU will benefit from training in change
management and in project and process management.
In the course of assessing BAU’s MIS initiative, we became aware of a parallel initiative in
Jordan, the Higher Education Development Project. There are several points of intersection
between it and BAU’s initiative, and we would be remiss in our role as consultants if we did
not urge BAU most emphatically to coordinate its efforts with those of the HEDP. The HEDP
MIS and Library projects and the joint university high-speed wide area network are particularly
relevant and will be discussed below as appropriate.
The following six-part plan will direct BAU toward the establishment of a sustainable
integrated infrastructure and modern information technology applications that will support the
immediate and long-term needs of BAU. Each of these six elements contains many
subordinate tasks that are documented in the body of this report. We believe that
implementing the recommendations contained in this report is critical to success. However,
the initial requirements for the first three elements must be addressed before
proceeding with investment in the application areas (4, 5 and 6).
1. Organization
The BAU Information Systems (I.S.) Unit must be organized and staffed to properly support
the planning, acquisition and operation of increasingly complex and critical technology
throughout the university and its colleges. Its leaders must be full-time seasoned
professionals, and they must participate with BAU executives in setting directions, assigning
priorities and allocating resources.
Key recommendation: BAU must hire a full-time experienced Director of Information
Systems2, who will be a key leader for the processes outlined in this document. This step is
critical to the success of the MIS initiative.
2. Processes
Information systems serve as a proxy for the processes of the institution they support. High
quality applications are often catalysts for change. Change is a risky and difficult activity.
Therefore, processes and change initiatives led by the I.S. Unit (in conjunction with the
executive and the client departments) must be in step with institution’s strategies, reflect its
priorities, control risk, facilitate measurement and be accountable for intended changes.
The present terminology of “Computer Center” properly describes only one component of a
complete Information Systems Unit.
2 This position sometimes has the title of “Chief Information Officer” (CIO) or Vice President,
Information Systems; the responsibilities are essentially the same.
1
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
1
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Key recommendations: BAU must train executive, management and key staff in techniques
and processes for planning and managing change; and BAU must establish a Project
Management Office within I.S. and hire an experienced leader for this office.
3. Infrastructure
Modern and emerging technology favors using an integrated set of computers and
communications networks to support many types of applications. This set is referred to as
“infrastructure”. The value of a networked infrastructure rises rapidly with as increasing
numbers of people and applications are connected to it while the costs tend to grow more
slowly. BAU can achieve early and on-going benefits across its college system by ensuring
that each college has appropriate local and external connectivity and using these connections
to foster inter-campus dialogue and team work, to support general Internet access, and to rollout each layer of MIS function as it becomes available.
Key recommendation: BAU must design a minimum infrastructure configuration for each
college, including connection to a wide area network, and make its consistent installation a
priority. This will become the “nervous system” for BAU’s faculty, staff and students.
4. MIS
A Management Information System is a complex, expensive undertaking with the potential for
significant impact, either good or bad, on the institution. Its construction calls for a
researched, documented and approved plan and associated architectural design.
Working with the HEDP MIS project, it should be possible to benefit from the adoption of open
technical standards, common solutions, and pooled effort and expertise while retaining
desirable levels of independence and flexibility in implementation.
Key recommendations: BAU should halt existing MIS development initiatives across the
colleges, with some specific exceptions3, pending the definition and acceptance of a
comprehensive MIS plan; BAU should plan to participate in and influence the HEDP MIS
project.
5. E-Learning
There is considerable interest in using e-learning systems. The responsibility for defining and
satisfying the requirements for e-learning systems should be separated from that for the
development of an MIS. The requirements and accountabilities relate to different user
communities.
While e-learning and the following day-to-day applications are beyond the scope of this
report, we include reference to both for completeness; they will share a common
infrastructure with MIS.
Key recommendation: BAU should establish an “Academic Computing Advisory Council” to
provide guidance as to what e-learning systems are required, to establish benefits and costs,
to prioritize and coordinate e-learning system implementation, and to separate and clarify
these projects as distinct from administrative systems.
6. Day-to-Day Applications
The Internet with its World Wide Web (www) interface has become a universal means for
effective and affordable information access and communication. One of the most powerful
and pervasive applications provided by the Internet is email. Web sites and portals provide
access to information and to an array of communication tools and applications. The next
version of the BAU web site is near completion and worthy of implementation and on-going
enhancement.
Key recommendation: BAU should incrementally install “utility” applications for information
publishing and communications and promote their use. Policies, procedures and training are
necessary to govern the way these new broad-based tools will be used.
3
See “Preserve the value in selected in-house systems” on page 24.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
2
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
INTRODUCTION
Purpose of Report
This report has been produced by the Sustaining and Extending Technical Vocational
Education and Training project, sponsored by Canada in cooperation with the Jordanian
government. Its authors are two Canadian consultants: Mr. Gord Lalonde and Mr. Douglas
Moffatt; they have extensive experience in the application of information technology to
business and government entities, including community colleges.
A significant component of the vision of the BAU College System is “to revitalize the
Community College system of Jordan to become industry-driven, flexible, relevant and
responsive to the labor market.”
The objective of our assignment is to assess whether the current MIS initiative at BAU is on
the right track and is able to support the long-range vision of the BAU College System, to
identify gaps and to make recommendations to eliminate such gaps. In short, our objective is
to help this initiative “to do the right things and to do things right.”
Outline of Process
During the five-week period commencing July 29, 2003 we conducted numerous interviews
with BAU management and Computer Center staff and with the Deans and staff at five of the
16 BAU colleges. Visits were made to a representative sample of colleges that included:
degree granting colleges; diploma granting colleges; colleges in large and small cities. From
these interviews we gathered an understanding of the extent of the BAU and its colleges, the
breadth of academic program offerings, the type of students and the supporting IT systems
and technologies.
We have also met with various members of the BAU Computer Center development staff and
their leaders, to discuss their current development activities and the procedures and tools
they employ. Discussions with some local technology and software firms have served to
broaden our understanding of the history, context and possible directions for BAU’s systems.
Based on analysis of our findings and our experience with information systems and with both
technology successes and failures in Canadian colleges and businesses, we then formulated
our recommendations. These are documented in this report. They have been reviewed in
detail with SETVET management and discussed in summary with BAU and HEDP executives.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
3
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
FINDINGS
Overview
BAU’s senior management has a progressive vision for the development of the community
college system and a desire to move forward in its use of information systems and
technology. There are some bright young educated people working toward this vision in the
Salt Computer Center, and also some at other colleges working independently to create and
implement solutions. Several critical organizational elements are missing or under-developed,
including effective organizational structures and processes for planning; program and project
management; communication and collaboration; and I.S. budgeting and measurement.
There appears to exist at BAU an implicit choice to have on-going information systems and
technology functions performed in-house by BAU staff. The recommendations contained in
this report do not assume and do not depend on any overall build versus buy decision. We do
recognize that a completely purchased solution may not be within BAU’s budget and also that
it may not be the optimum approach. We foresee that decisions such as build or buy will be
made at the level of functional modules, and our recommendations for organizational and
process development are designed to facilitate such choices.
Function
Overview
Status
At BAU all application
development is being done inhouse within the Computer
Center.
The server environment is
Oracle database and Application
Server.
Business logic and other
database stored procedures are
developed using Oracle Forms
and JDeveloper.
Sun’s J2EE framework is used
as the architectural environment
for applications with a Model
View Controller (MVC) structure
used to separate business logic,
data persistence and client
interfaces.
Client interface development is
done using either Microsoft’s
ASP or Java JSP software
technology. The Microsoft tools
are favored when fast
development is more important
than operational performance.
The design toolkit from Rational
Rose is being acquired with
training to start soon. This
should facilitate model-based
object-oriented design and
increased code-generation.
Observations
J2EE and relational database
technologies are today’s widely-adopted
technologies, and offer a high degree of
future flexibility and maintainability if
implemented properly. The development
staff at BAU appears to be competent in
this software technology. The developers
are highly motivated and work
constructively together in small teams.
Unfortunately this local teamwork does
not extend to the inter-college space.
Development activities at various
colleges are not coordinated, and in
certain areas are competitive. There is,
however, evidence of some readiness to
collaborate if this can be done in an
environment of trust and respect.
One area that may limit future flexibility is
the use of the Oracle database
manager’s PL/SQL language. This is
typical for many Oracle-based solutions
(but not all) because Oracle has made
PL/SQL a powerful and efficient adjunct
to the standard SQL facilities inherent
with any relational database, and
because Oracle tools incorporate
PL/SQL code generation and
development. JAVA stored procedures
are now available for Oracle databases,
will handle most stored procedure
requirements, and may be even faster
than equivalent PL/SQL procedures
while offering a greater degree of
portability. Open source databases such
as MySQL are tending to adopt the OSI
SQL-99 standard for stored procedures;
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
4
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Function
Status
Observations
this is similar to but not identical to
Oracle’s PL/SQL.
Organization, Process and Methodology Findings
BAU development projects in the Computer Center exhibit effective local teamwork and
quality technical work. However, the information systems function is under-organized and
lacks experienced senior staff, particularly in view of the complexity and magnitude of its
challenges. It lacks comprehensive processes for planning and managing change.
Methodologies for strategic alignment, requirements analysis, architecture definition, business
case preparation, life cycle budgeting, system design, buy/build/outsource decision-making,
development, testing, documentation, data back-up and disaster recovery are either missing
or only partially in place.
System Development Cycle Used at BAU
PLANNING
Application and infrastructure planning is performed by the BAU Computer Center Director
(currently a part-time assignment for the University’s Dean of Applied Sciences) and the
Assistant Director of Computer Center. No plan or budget documents were available to us.
The current plan concentrates on developing a small number of application modules in-house,
and installing the required servers in the BAU Computer Center. Future plans focus on inhouse development of additional SIS modules and establishing some capabilities in the elearning area.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project management appears to be relatively informal and performed by each small
development team interactively. No program or project plan documents were evident.
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
A team will first perform interviews with the target users, read any available user procedure
documents, and then proceed with application design. The typical sequence for development
is to create the database model using an ERD tool, design the major user interface windows
and menus, then build the application logic and interface code one “section” at a time. A
section will typically be a major menu item. As each section is ready, it is first tested by the
development team and then made available to the users in test mode to be tested by them
with (simulated) live data. User documentation samples provided were essentially screen by
screen layouts with brief notes for each input field.
LIFE CYCLE SUPPORT
Without documented plans and budgets, we were unable to assess the approach used for
application and infrastructure life cycle support. With the newness of most computing at BAU,
there will be little experience with the evolution of technology and software over its life.
Infrastructure Findings
At the BAU main campus in Salt a computer center is being established and a LAN has been
installed. The primary server technology framework comprises Oracle Database and
Application Server and J2EE; these are acceptable modern choices. The client (user)
interface direction is to use “model/view/controller” architecture, with near-term future
implementations targeting the Internet browser as client. This will facilitate flexibility in
supporting various types of clients in the future. The local infrastructure at the various
colleges varies widely, ranging from possibly adequate for current needs at Amman
Engineering College to totally inadequate at some smaller colleges. Connectivity among the
campuses and with external institutions is virtually non-existent for general administrative use.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
5
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Function
LAN
Status
A fiber-based local area network has
been installed on the BAU Salt campus
by an Amman-based firm.
HP Openview Network Management
software is in place.
Router is Cisco 3662; also Packeteer
Packetshaper 2500 model 2LM.
Dell servers running NT are providing
general computing. Three HP servers
running Unix have recently been installed
with Storage Attached Network (SAN)
and tape library backup facilities.
Additional servers are being
contemplated to support planned Internet
access to selected applications (e.g.
Registration).
Observations
 The LAN appeared to be
functioning well during
demonstrations
Workstations
Workstations are typically Intel-based
PCs running Windows.

WAN
Limited current capability. Firewall
installed (Cisco PIX-525-R).
A comprehensive WAN, connecting all
colleges, is seen as an important next
step.
Servers



No process yet in place for
off-site data back-up
No provision for off-site
disaster recovery for
applications
Mix of server operating
systems; Linux should be
considered as future NT
replacement and could be
piloted on mail server.
No evidence of alternate
client environments such
as Linux or Mac.
MIS Findings
There is no documented analysis and plan for an MIS program. In-house development
projects are working to create certain components of an MIS, but these efforts lack a unifying
strategy. Without a unifying framework some of these projects may produce application
software that is viable for medium- to long-term use and enhancement but many efforts will
fail.
Function
Status
Observations
Registration
At BAU, the SIS module is
There are multiple Registration solutions
perceived to be the most urgent among the universities and colleges, and
MIS module and the
no mechanism exists to facilitate sharing
registration function the most
solutions.
critical SIS component. BAU
The BAU Registration system is designed
has recently completed
for direct data entry by each student. It
development of a “state of the
automatically assigns to new students an
art” registration system and it
identifier and a password.
will see its first major user test
While there were no system requirements
in September for the BAU
or design documents available for the BAU
campus plus three Colleges in
system, discussion with the BAU
the north.
development staff and test-mode
The currently installed system
observation of parts of the system function
is limited to LAN-based clients.
indicate that this is technically a sound
A fast-track development
application. The BAU development team is
project using Microsoft tools is
proud of the “expert system” capability to
underway in the BAU computer validate each student’s course selections
center to create a Web-based
and to present recommendations in the
browser interface for
event of a discrepancy.
registration.
The extensive business logic creates
substantial server load. To manage this
There is an independent
and to avoid contention for available client
Registration system operating
workstations, registrants are divided into
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
6
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Function
Library
Study Plans
Student
Account
Finance
Status
at Amman Engineering, and it
has been adopted by some
other colleges including
Princess Alia. This system was
developed at the Engineering
College based on ideas from
the University of Jordan, but is
not using University of Jordan
code.
The BAU Library system has
been in operation at the BAU
campus for one year. It is being
made available at three
colleges in the north. Other
colleges have expressed
interest in this BAU system.
Future development planned at
BAU
Future development planned at
BAU
Future development planned at
BAU
A finance system exists at
Amman Engineering College,
and it is currently being
upgraded to improve the
interface with Amman
Engineering’s Registration
system. Details are beyond the
scope of this report.
Faculty HR
Observations
groups and assigned blocks of time during
which they are to register.
We have not examined the Amman
Engineering Registration System. At BAU
it is viewed as being inferior, while at the
Engineering College the BAU system is
believed to have less capability and to
contain “bugs”.
The BAU Library system appears to stable
and effective within its intended scope of
function and operation. The scope is
limited to controlling and borrowing local
books using LAN-based PC workstations.
Functions include
 Ordering of books from suppliers.
 Classification and Indexing of books
when they are received with
assignment of a unique book serial
number comprising language, college
and a sequentially-assigned book
number within the college.
 Search at two levels:
basic – by a selected attribute such as
title;
advanced – enabling Boolean
combination of search criteria.
 Borrowing – based on borrower ID
(faculty or student ID) and book serial
number.
 Reservation – storing a borrowing
request on the library system for a
book, establishing a sequenced queue
for subsequent borrowing
authorization; a sub-function of
Borrowing.
Comprehensive and proven Accounting
and Finance applications are readily
available on the commercial software
market. It is unlikely that BAU’s financial
requirements are so unusual that they can
not be met by licensing a suitable product
or by developing a single solution based
on standard, best practices.
This is a case where widely-used best
practices should be adopted by the
institution, moving away from custom,
personnel-dependent procedures.
undefined
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
7
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
E-Learning Findings
Amman Engineering College has implemented web site facilities for course information
publishing, including downloadable electronic books in some cases. Otherwise there are
some general plans to investigate and implement publishing facilities and tools to enable
collaboration among students and faculty at BAU. There is also discussion about establishing
electronic classroom for remote, distributed lecturing. No documented evaluations of
alternative approaches and products or services were available.
Function
Internet-based
Publishing and
Communication
Asynchronous
e-learning
Status
This has been
identified by the BAU
Computer Center
director as the first
step in providing
academic teaching
support.
The second step is
expected to be
providing electronic
communications
facilities for
student/lecturer
dialogue. The
Computer Center is
considering Oracle’s
Collaboration Suite for
this purpose.
The Computer Center
is considering the “ILearning” component
of Oracle’s E-Business
suite for this purpose.
Observations
 Amman Engineering College has some Webpublishing capabilities in place. This includes
the ability to download some professors’
books in electronic format (PDF and HTML),
helping to reduce the high cost of text books
while providing the flexibility inherent in the
electronic formats for distribution, use and
updating.
 Many organizations use open source software
products, including the Linux operating
system, for utility functions such as email.
 LearnLink, at McMaster University in Canada
(http://www.learnlink.mcmaster.ca/) uses a
product “FirstClass” 4 (www.firstclass.com) to
provide an integrated content management
and communications environment including
email, voice mail and ftp.



Synchronous
e-learning
Electronic
Classrooms
Not in use at BAU.
This involves using
computer /
communications
facilities for real-time
audio/visual/data
display and interactive
dialogue. See
“Electronic
Classrooms” below.
This may be viewed as
a special case of
synchronous elearning, using the
traditional classroom
format with some or all
students physically




There are many alternative products for this
functional space. We have not seen any
documented comparison of alternative
products and approaches. Detailed
assessment and comparison of products is
beyond the scope of this report.
There is a strong preference in the Computer
Center for Oracle products in order to have
compatibility with the Oracle Database and
Application Server products.
WebCT (www.WebCT.com) is one example of
a specialized supplier of e-learning software.
As wide area connectivity and user interface
device options and performance evolve, it will
become feasible to consider more distributed
approaches to synchronous e-learning.
E-seminars are frequently given over Internet
facilities with either integrated or separate
voice links. The live event supports audience
interaction; it may be archived for subsequent
passive viewing.
This capability requires at least 2 Mbs
communication channels, preferably 4 or 8
Mbs. This may be difficult or expensive to
obtain for Salt and some of the smaller
campus locations.
HEDP is planning some video conference
implementation by September 2004.
4
References to products and services in this report are not intended to be recommendations
for them. They are provided for informative purposes only.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
8
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Function
Status
remote from the
lecturer and
simultaneously
grouped in one or
more locations. It is
viewed at BAU as a
potential third step in
implementing elearning.
Observations
 The joint university high-speed WAN may
offer effective communication links for some
E-Classroom use within about one year.
Utility System Findings
BAU has a static web site, and an expanded dynamic web site is being developed. Amman
Engineering College has a web site. There is little evidence of other uses of Internet-enabled
applications such as e-mail, messaging, bulletin boards and electronic meetings by faculty,
staff or students. The lack of use of these tools by the institution will cause overall
performance to suffer as a result.
Function
Status
Observations
Web Portal
A development project is
 It is structured to provide both generic
underway to replace the
information access (e.g. about BAU and its
existing BAU static web
resources) and user-oriented navigation
site with one using
paths such as for faculty and for students.
dynamic page generation
It seems capable of being a portal for such
from database information
users, with a wide scope of information
using JSP technology.
access and built-in links to applications
The site will have both
such as Library and Registration.
Arabic and English
 The academic program information is said
interfaces.
to span all the BAU colleges.
 The design is somewhat BAU Salt-centric,
providing just two pages for each remote
college’s information, although with the
option to link to any independent college
web sites.
 Content updating is to be delegated to a
selected representative in each topic area.
Email
Generally not in use
The most valuable single application for
asynchronous communication within a
distributed institution and with the rest of the
world. Can also provide moderate document
and file interchange function. Lends itself to
centralized server support.
Status of Systems and Processes at Various Colleges
Context
For this analysis five colleges in the system were visited: Princess Alia, Al Husn, Amman
Engineering College, Karak College, and Salt Community College. Colleges have a degree
of autonomy. However, Al Balqa University controls their course codes and program
offerings. Programs of the same name have the same courses and course codes. College
courses are differentiated from one another through the assignment of a College number and
a department number that is embedded in the course number. Similar content is further
solidified by the application of a national exam for all graduating college students.
Faculty and staff at these colleges are uniformly, enthusiastic about the potential of
information systems. They recognized that information systems are helpful to their business
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
9
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
processes. The usual reasons given for adopting electronic systems are to reduce errors,
speed up processing and to cope with student and program growth.
Production Systems
Registration is the only module that all colleges have implemented. The duration that
colleges have been using electronic registration varies from several weeks to three years.
None has undertaken the implementation of a finance module, although Amman Polytechnic
is ready for testing. Some colleges have basic library systems.
Development Activities
Development activities range from no activity whatsoever, to ongoing activity supported by
permanent development staff. There are no common development goals or targets.
Infrastructure
Communications infrastructure is generally limited to one 64k leased line for student access
to the Internet. None of the colleges had an administrative communications link to Al Balqa
for administrative systems. There is no electronic transfer of administrative data at all. Some
colleges have a local area network to support registration systems. Administrative computers
are often used in a stand-alone mode as electronic typewriters.
If a college has an administrative system it may run on a PC. The server (sometimes a
personal computer) is generally located in or near the registration office. No special attention
is given to the administrative computing environment, security or access beyond the basic
requirements of office privacy.
Operations
There are very limited operational procedures in place. Backup rotations, offsite storage of
data, recovery etc. are not the norm. Because paper-based systems are ubiquitous, the need
for stringent business continuity planning is much less now than it will become as
computerization develops. Paper and computer records are often stored in the same office
space
None of the colleges has an IT budget. If there is development, IT faculty generally does it in
their spare time. Hardware is received from Al Balqa University as it becomes available.
Software and applications are free or received from the University. Maintenance is not yet an
issue but it will quickly become one as dependencies develop.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
10
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Looking forward, it is very clear that the demands for information systems at Al Balqa will
grow dramatically. Some good but isolated capabilities have been developed. For example,
hiring the top caliber students into Information Systems staff is an excellent venture that
provides new graduates with employment and ensures high quality staff is available to
support and develop systems. However, there is an acute need for experienced leadership,
collaborative planning, implementation and change management, and an organizational
framework that is supported by dedicated human resources.
Framework for Systems at BAU
The focus of this mission is the “MIS” for BAU colleges. However, it is mandatory to address
MIS in conjunction with an examination of the supporting technology infrastructure, the other
classes of applications that will use this infrastructure, and the people processes and
organizational structure that will affect the implementation and operation of the infrastructure
and applications.
At the application level, the MIS supports and strengthens the “business” activities of the
institution, while e-learning systems enhance the performance of the academic environment
and “utility” systems facilitate communication plus information access, publication and
sharing. Increasingly all three classes of application systems can and should be enabled and
delivered through a common information technology infrastructure and an integrated set of
human resources, organization and processes. We envision the following symbolic structure:
Applications Layer:
Infrastructure Layer:
Process Layer:
Organization Layer:
Management
Information
System
Learning
Systems
Utility Systems
Networks, Servers, Workstations
Programs, Projects, Procedures, Methodologies
Functional Structures & Human Resources
The scope of each application area, and therefore the supporting infrastructure layer, will
expand beyond the organizational boundaries of BAU:
 A complete MIS will contain functions at three distinct organizational levels: operations,
management and planning. Management and planning will involve interaction with other
educational system institutions such as other universities and the Ministry of Higher
Education and Scientific Research in the form of both human and inter-system dialogues.
Even operational systems will benefit from inter-institutional capabilities, such as for
student admissions and transfers and for inter-library loans.
 Similarly learning systems can benefit from interaction with other educational institutions
and their learning systems, lecturers and course content.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
11
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
 Utility systems such as e-mail and electronic meetings similarly benefit from interinstitutional connectivity and interaction.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
12
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
1. Information Systems Organization
Al Balqa, with its 16 geographically-distributed
college campuses and some 21,000 students,
is similar in nature and size to a multi-campus
Canadian college or university. All such
Canadian institutions have recognized that the
demands of supporting administrative,
academic and utility computing and the
supporting technology infrastructure require
effective organization and full time dedicated
and experienced staff.
MIS
Learning
Utilities
Infrastructure
Process
Organization
Recommendations:
 Hire an experienced Director of Information Systems.
The responsibilities of this Director 5 will include:
o Direct the organization, development and operations of a professional BAU
Information Systems Unit
o Advise BAU executives on matters related to the effective strategic and
operational use of information technology
o Establish and maintain the policies, processes and procedures that are an
integral part of a disciplined and successful I.S. Unit and its interactions with
management, faculty, students and staff
o Deliver the reliable, efficient and secure enterprise level infrastructure
required at all BAU locations
o Ensure the establishment of a comprehensive MIS, computer-based
applications for E-learning, and the provision of robust and reliable day-today “utility” functions such as email and integrated office applications.
 Clarify and separate roles within I.S.
Define distinct roles such as project manager, architect, analyst and programmer and
develop position descriptions.
o Establish a Project Management Office within I.S. and hire an
experienced leader.
o Establish separate departments within I.S. for Development and for
Operations.
These functions require different sets of skills and knowledge, and benefit
from a clear interface between their responsibilities. Development needs a
flexible adaptable environment while Operations must deliver stable, reliable
and secure services. Operations has responsibility for network and computer
center operation and for support of the distributed workstations and
laboratory computing technology.
Following is the proposed structure for the BAU Information Systems Unit.
CIO / Director of
Information
Systems
Project
Management
Office
5
I.S.
Development
Department
I.S.
Operations
Department
See also
Appendix F – Organization, Roles & Responsibilities
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
13
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Framework for Strategic Alignment and Change Management
Strategic
Plans
Tactical
Portfolio
Operations
Management
Programs &
Projects
Institutional
Operations
Academic
Programs &
Projects
Academic
Operations
Application
Programs &
Projects
Application
Systems
Operations
Infrastructure
Programs &
Projects
Infrastructure
Operations
BAU
Strategic
Plan
I.S.
Strategic
Plan
This framework represents the flow over time from strategic planning (ideas, directions and
resource allocations) through tactical initiatives (projects to introduce change) to operations
(transaction processing, information provision, decision support).
STRATEGIC
The BAU strategic plan, reflecting educational system goals, objectives and strategies,
defines the directions, goals, strategies and priorities for BAU’s academic and administrative
management. The information systems function informs the overall strategic planning process
of opportunities to exploit emerging information technology. The I.S. Strategic Plan, a subset
of the BAU Strategic Plan, is then aligned with the BAU overall strategy and the strategies of
its academic and administrative clients.
TACTICAL DEVELOPMENT
To implement strategies, various programs6 are defined for each functional area. Application
development and implementation programs such as MIS and E-Learning will be responsive to
the program initiatives of their respective user communities. MIS for example will support
administrative programs addressing strategic objectives for operations, decision-making and
6
In this context “program” refers to a coherent set of projects.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
14
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
planning. An E-Learning I.S. program will facilitate Academic Program initiatives to offer
increasingly effective, efficient and flexible teaching and learning modes.
Within each program, projects will be approved, assigned priorities and resources, and
monitored during execution.
OPERATIONS
As projects complete their deliverables, change will be accepted and introduced into the
operations of BAU.
Proposed Information Systems Governance Structure
President /
Senate
Information
Systems
Executive
Council
MIS &
Infrastructure
Council
Project
Management
Office
(PMO)
CIO / Director of
Information
Systems
I.S.
Development
Department
Academic
Computing Advisory
Council
(ACAC)
I.S.
Operations
Department
Information Systems Unit
I.S. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The recommended I.S. Executive Council comprises VP Academic for BAU University, VP
Colleges, VP Administration & Finance, and VP Planning with support and staff participation
from the Chief Information Officer. It is responsible for overall I.S. strategy, funding and
resource allocation, and strategic and steering linkages with other institutions. Responsibility
for some of the latter may be delegated to the two subsidiary councils shown. The CIO
provides input such as information systems trends and strategic opportunities directly to this
committee, and is responsible to it for the effectiveness of the BAU Information Systems Unit.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
15
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
MIS & INFRASTRUCTURE COUNCIL
The MIS & Infrastructure Council is responsible for the administrative I.S. applications (MIS)
and the common infrastructure and utility computing applications (e.g. networks, computer
centers, e-mail, virtual campus). The CIO is a member of this council along with the BAU
Registrar and the college Deans. Chairmanship should rotate and not include the CIO.
Infrastructure scope includes shared networks, computer centers, and user workstations.
ACADEMIC COMPUTING ADVISORY COUNCIL
The ACAC is responsible for the portfolio of academic applications and any infrastructure that
is dedicated to these applications. Scope includes Library, E-Learning, E-Classrooms and
Labs. Membership comprises BAU University Deans, College Deans, and CIO. A co-chair or
rotating chair is recommended, balancing University and College interests.
BAU INFORMATION SYSTEMS UNIT
Within the I.S. Unit there are three departments.
Project Management Office
The PMO is responsibility for monitoring and reporting on all I.S. projects, setting
documentation and process standards for projects, and providing qualified project managers
to plan and manage those projects.
Development Department
The Development Department has responsibility for the execution of all I.S. change projects,
both application and infrastructure; its functions span research, analysis, build/buy
recommendations, design/customization, training, testing, implementation, bug tracking,
release management, and second-level help desk support. Release management is
performed in partnership with Operations. Third-level support is obtained from external
sources such as out-sourced service providers and product suppliers.
Operations Department
The Operations Department is responsible for the performance, security, continuity and
efficiency of all I.S. applications and infrastructure components that have been accepted for
operational use. Such acceptance is a responsibility of the MIS Council and ACAC and the
user communities those councils represent. Scope includes management of operational
interfaces with all external partners and suppliers, and first level Help Desk support.
Further detail on position descriptions for Information Systems is in the appendix.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
16
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
2. Processes
Staff at the BAU and colleges has little or no
portfolio and project management
methodology in place. There are limited formal
procedures to support life cycle system
planning. There is little budget and cost
information available about day-to-day
operations and project activities.
MIS
Learning
Utilities
Infrastructure
Process
Organization
Recommendations:
Provide process training at all levels.
Three levels of training are required:
o Strategic, to assist senior decision makers to guide the institution toward
strategic alignment and effective strategy implementation;
o Tactical, to show program managers how to best plan and manage a portfolio
of investments in change projects;
 Operational, to help with the development of standard operating procedures such as
backup, recovery, bug tracking etc. and to facilitate effective professional project
management.
Use new information systems as agents for positive change.
Information systems, particularly the MIS components, can be a proxy for the institution’s
processes. By designing and/or selecting applications around international standards and
selected best practices, the implementation process can serve as a lever to introduce desired
behavioral improvements. Avoid automating existing processes that do not meet desired
standards. Use system implementations as an opportunity to upgrade processes. Deliver
substantial training and change management support to offset natural resistance to change
and overcome lack of experience with new tools and procedures. Use pilot implementations
with willing participants to validate benefits and demonstrate practicality.
Establish an I.S. budget for each college.
Budgets are a prerequisite for delegation of authority and accountability, enabling local
optimization within an overall plan and process framework. Each expense budget should
reflect dedicated systems resources and a share of common expenses. Use central capital
budgeting for system development and acquisition investments with recovery over useful life
spans.
Establish base operational standards and service levels.
Define, document and publish standards and procedures for backup, continuity (disaster
recovery), security, privacy and levels of service for each application and user community.
Ensure that backup and disaster recovery procedures are tested periodically. Use external
experts to validate these and to test security.
Establish a comprehensive systems architecture and development process.
Retain or hire a seasoned architect and applications design and development specialist.
Duties will include training and influencing I.S. staff about the importance of process and
methodologies, and defining with the staff the architectural design and standards for
applications and infrastructure to be used at BAU. In this context “development” spans both
package solution acquisition and custom development choices. Custom development may be
performed in-house by staff and/or contractors or externally on a contract basis.
Establish Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) standards.
EAI is a component of application architecture; it is singled out here because of its critical
importance for the planned MIS initiative. The era of enterprise-wide monolithic software
solutions is passing. While monolithic tightly-coupled solutions provided benefits such as
standardization and implicit integration, they also suffered from inflexibility; vendor “lock-in”,
high cost and high risk “all or nothing” implementations, and an inability to select best-of-
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
17
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
breed solutions module by module.
Evolution in the software layer of infrastructure, such as web servers and application servers,
has provided a more flexible approach to standardization and has reduced the complexity of
application software that is built to use their facilities. The rapidly emerging open standard
known as “Web Services” is beginning to provide a common protocol for application-toapplication dialogue, facilitating a modular design both within an institution’s internal
applications and across organizational boundaries. Techniques are being developed to apply
a Web Service interface to “legacy” applications to extend their useful life and to integrate
them with newer application modules.
 Adopt Open Standards
The future of information systems, whether MIS, E-Learning or utility communications and
information access, will be characterized by attributes such as rapid evolution, expanding
scope, increasing internal complexity providing increasing ease of use and power, and
any-time any-where capabilities crossing organizational boundaries. Open standards are a
critical enabling factor for such evolution. There are several internationally-recognized and
supported bodies which are developing and promoting open standards. BAU architectures,
application and infrastructure, should be based on an informed selection of open
standards.
 Assess Open Source Software Processes
Open Source Software is software that has been developed by a distributed and selforganizing set of developers (who are frequently volunteers) and then made available for
anyone to use under a form of license that ensures its continuing public availability without
charge and prevents or limits the development of unapproved variations. This process has
been enabled by the Internet and its World Wide Web, and some of the resulting software
products have become world standards.
There are two distinct reasons for BAU to evaluate this phenomenon. Most obvious is the
opportunity to use some of the open source software products; these address a variety of
needs including web server (Apache), operating system (Linux), tools (database
managers, modeling tools, software languages), and a few applications.
Secondly, the process model used in open source development may become useful within
the Jordanian Higher Education development community. We expect that Jordanian
university and college application software needs will be satisfied through a mix of build
and buy solutions. By applying a form of the open source development process across all
these institutions, you will gain benefits such as efficiently sharing individual and
department expertise and innovation across institutional boundaries, coalescence around
best of breed solutions, higher quality software and lower development cost. To the extent
that Jordanian Higher Education developers participate in truly open international open
source initiatives, they and the Higher Education system will benefit from the learning and
participation experience. We note the recent start of an Open Source academic activity at
the University of Jordan as an encouraging event.
Implement applications institution-wide.
Functional packages such as Registration should be completely tested and then rolled out
with appropriate training to all campuses in the system before further modules are slated for
implementation. Once a module is complete and tested it should be provided to all colleges.
The roll out schedule should install the finished component at one campus, test it in place and
evaluate it for a trial period (typically brief) until it is satisfactory and then move on to the next
campus until the system is complete.
Management Process Specifics
In the context of this report, there are three levels of management process to address:
strategy implementation, tactical portfolio management, and project management.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
18
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
This process is the most difficult and the least understood. We address it here because an
MIS implementation must serve valid strategies, and can in the end only reflect how well the
institution responds to strategic directives. In most institutions and companies, including BAU,
strategy implementation takes place in a largely unsystematic manner and employs few if any
tools and methodologies. As a result, most strategies are poorly understood and even more
poorly implemented; in general the institution just goes on about its business and the strategic
plan sits on the shelf. Over time some of the strategies seep into the institution’s behavior
through the beliefs and efforts of key individuals.
We do not pretend to have perfect solutions for these challenges, and recognize the
magnitude of the obstacles presented. However we do encourage BAU to research and
assess a couple of emerging yet validated concepts.
First is the somewhat poorly-named process, “Balanced Scorecard”. Pioneered in the 1990
time frame by two consultants Robert Kaplan and David Norton, it has evolved into a widelyused and often-successful methodology that is designed to turn executive strategies into
focused and aligned actions throughout the institution. It should not be confused with KPIs;
whereas KPIs are measurements of an institution’s performance, Balanced Scorecard is a
management process which deals with facilitating organizational change and improvement in
response to strategies. If the strategies are valid and the Balanced Scorecard process is
effective, then the KPIs will reflect the improvements.
Second is the concept known as the “Learning Organization”. Popularized by Peter Senge of
MIT through his writings about the “Fifth Discipline”, a learning organization will work to
master five disciplines: building shared vision, mental models, team learning, personal
mastery, and systems thinking. One of the major learning opportunities for educational
institutions is the challenge of adapting and extending the learning process to exploit
information and communications technologies.
PORTFOLIO M ANAGEMENT
A portfolio is a collection of projects. A project will have several attributes, such as status (e.g.
proposed, under review, in process, suspended, completed, and cancelled), priority, grouping
(usually into “programs” comprising projects that relate to a common goal), type (e.g.
strategic, operational enhancement, required (e.g. legislated) change), organizational risk
level, technical risk level, prerequisites, return on investment, and perceived accuracy of time
and resource estimates. While there is no single correct way to manage such a portfolio, the
complexity, uncertainties, rate of change, conflicting objectives and the importance to and
impact on the institution demand effective direction, monitoring and control of the project
portfolio.
In our proposed organization (see page 15), the responsibility for I.S. portfolio management
rests with the MIS & Infrastructure Council and the Academic Computing Advisory Council.
Each is overseen by the I.S. Executive Council where the overall strategic directions and
resource allocations are set.
The objectives for portfolio management include:
1. Balance the value of I.S. investments with the aggregate risk.
2. Foster communication and alignment among the institution’s leaders, including I.S.
leaders.
3. Encourage business leaders to take responsibility for projects.
4. Align projects with the institution’s strategies.
5. Help planners to schedule resources efficiently.
6. Avoid redundant projects and kill bad projects early. Stop projects if they become
irrelevant or their expected value evaporates.
7. Coordinate organizational change, including external linkages, with project
implementation schedules.
There are some basic requirements for effective portfolio management.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
19
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
1. Projects are properly defined and documented. This is often in the form of a “Project
Charter”, discussed below.
2. A perpetual project inventory is available. A master project plan shows aggregate
resource requirements and predicted timing of outcomes.
3. Project status is regularly updated and “reported”7. Some organizations assign
projects that are underway a simple rating such as Green (good), Yellow (some
problem flags) or Red (help required).
4. Each project has an appropriate sponsor. In many instances this will be a business
unit (administration or academic).
5. Project benefits are defined and committed to by the intended recipients. Follow-up
on completed projects includes assessment of results.
6. The project governance process is defined, documented and enforced. It decides
which projects start, when they start, approves in-process changes to deliverables,
schedule and budget, and decides when projects are suspended, delayed or killed.
7. Prioritizing projects is done using a consistent methodology. This may assess factors
such as strategic fit, organizational risk, technical risk, importance, urgency, return on
investment, prerequisites and size.
8. Leaders learn to collaborate in a team environment.
PROJECT M ANAGEMENT
Project management is a difficult and specialized process. Many organizations make the
mistake of treating it as a simple adjunct to the work process of a project. The responsibilities
for creating the work product are different from the responsibilities for planning, monitoring
and controlling project aspects such as scope, configuration, quality, time, costs, risks, human
resources and communications. We have recommended the establishment of a Project
Management Office staffed with professional project managers. The PMO will define a
complete project management process for BAU. Here we can only outline its focus and broad
activities8.
Project Process Stages
Each project will progress through a typical sequence of stages such as initiation, approval,
activation, operation, modification, acceptance, implementation and post mortem. At each
stage the project manager will interact with a variety of people and will prepare and maintain
various documents and/or on-line files.
Project Charter
A project charter is a document that clearly defines the nature of a project and the process
that shall be used to manage the project. A charter is a prerequisite to project approval.
A typical charter will comprise the following sections:
Identification
Purpose
Scope
Work Product
Benefits
Constraints
Risks
Authority
Title, description, project owner, project manager, relationships with
other projects and other institutions
The need or problem the project is intended to address
What is included in the project’s responsibilities and what is excluded
Definition of the project’s deliverables
Specification of the benefits expected to result; must be accepted by
the beneficiaries
Policy, legal and other constraints
Identification of risks and mitigation strategies
Reporting relationships, resource allocations, special reporting or
accounting requirements
7
On-line reporting is often implemented for on-demand access and ability to use portfolio
analysis tools.
8 For further information and resources dealing with project management, we refer you to the
web site for the Project Management Institute at http://www.pmi.org//info/default.asp .
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
20
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Project Process
Assumptions
Project Schedule
Project Resources
Control processes and bodies, scope change control process, issue
escalation and resolution process, benefits determination process
Assumptions on which the project plan is based
Major milestones with assumptions; mandated dates with impact if
missed
Team structure, roles, responsibilities, and staffing; space and
equipment needs; vendor and external support requirements; training
requirements; funding sources
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
21
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
TIMETABLE AND MILESTONES
The summary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and timeline indicates the required major
tasks and milestones.
Please note that these preliminary dates and durations are for discussion and to aid in
executive understanding, and do not reflect either the result of detailed analysis or the impact
of limits to the resources that may be available to BAU. They must be adjusted within the
recommended project and portfolio management process described above.
.
The detailed version of this chart is included in Appendix E – Action Plan and a corresponding
project file is available from SETVET.
3. Infrastructure
Modern and emerging technology favors an
integrated set of computers and
communications networks that supports a
variety of application types; this set is referred
to as “infrastructure”. The many components of
this infrastructure, such as local area networks
(LAN), wide area networks (WAN), servers and
workstations, must be selected to match the
business processes and academic needs of
each college, to address the integration needs
MIS
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
Learning
Utilities
Infrastructure
Process
Organization
22
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
of the BAU college system, and to facilitate communication and application integration with
external organizations such as other educational institutions and the Ministry of Education.
Recommendations:
Adopt open standards for infrastructure technology and establish standard sets of
components for procurement.
The infrastructure must meet many demands over time such as assured availability and
security, interconnection with external environments, adaptation to new capabilities,
expandability in both scope and scale. The use of proven existing standards and the
evaluation of emerging standards will deliver significant benefits to BAU over time
.
Give priority to the development of a minimum LAN and WAN infrastructure
configuration for each college with capacities and speeds relative to its user
population, and promptly bring all campus locations up to this minimum.
Some colleges are drastically under-equipped for basic activities such as e-mail, Internet
access and use of emerging central application systems. BAU as a whole will gain significant
value from a relatively modest investment here.
A topology of the BAU WAN is shown in Appendix G – Wide Area Network, and cost estimate
for its initial minimum implementation are outlined in Cost Implications, Infrastructure on page
26.
Increase infrastructure capability in response to approved business requirements and
implementation plans at the application layer level.
Systems must have a clear purpose and a reason; implementation of technology without the
appropriate grounding in function may be a waste of time and money. As the colleges’
application and communications loads increase over time and as improved technology
emerges, this infrastructure can be incrementally strengthened.
4. MIS
Recommendations:
Halt existing MIS development initiatives
across the colleges, with some specific
MIS
Learning
Utilities
exceptions, pending the definition and
acceptance of a comprehensive MIS plan.
Infrastructure
The current practice of allowing individual
colleges to develop and implement what they
Process
think will meet their needs must be brought to
an end and replaced with an integrated and
Organization
methodical approach. The prioritization and
acquisition of appropriate application solutions
must be based on standards and plans that are established in collaboration with all colleges
in the system. Resources thus freed up should be applied to centrally coordinated and
distributed collaborative learning and implementing.
Plan to participate actively in the HEDP MIS project activities.
The HEDP MIS project has the potential to greatly assist BAU’s efforts in MIS development.
We recommend that BAU influence HEDP to incorporate two aspects into this endeavor:
 Plan to deliver modular MIS function on a 6 to 9 month frequency, rather than waiting
three years until a complete solution can be implemented
 Plan the HEDP MIS process to incorporate open collaborative participation by all
universities’ information systems units.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
23
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Such a joint approach can result in powerful and cost-effective common software solutions.
These can be implemented either individually by each university or centrally depending on
technical feasibility and the need for individual tailoring.
Preserve the value in selected in-house systems.
There are three existing projects at BAU that should continue in the short term: registration,
basic library, and the next generation web site/portal. (Library may be considered part of the
academic portfolio, while web portal is a “utility” application. Student Registration is properly
an MIS component.) Each of these solutions is either completed or near completion, is based
on modern software technology, has adequate quality and will deliver sufficient function to
address some immediate needs at all BAU/college campuses. The older registration system
developed at Amman Engineering College should be examined to determine if it provides
essential functions not included in the BAU solution and any such functions ought to be
incorporated into a future release of the BAU registration solution. The BAU library application
can deliver basic functions for all BAU libraries pending a future decision about the acquisition
and implementation of advanced and integrated library systems across Jordan’s Higher
Education spectrum. Consideration should be given to centralized indexing and catalogue
management. The BAU web portal is near completion and worthy of implementation and ongoing enhancement. Other BAU-implemented solutions such as English proficiency testing
and on-line examinations need not be discontinued.
5. E-Learning
There is considerable interest in using elearning systems. Infrastructure should be
developed with a view to supporting e-learning
systems. The responsibility for defining and
satisfying the requirements for e-learning
systems should be separated from that for the
development of an MIS.
MIS
Learning
Utilities
Infrastructure
Process
Organization
Recommendations:
Plan for E-learning systems and execute their implementation projects separately from
MIS
It is a tempting but unacceptable practice to confuse the needs of administrative and
academic programs and their projects. The requirements and accountabilities relate to
different user communities.
Establish an “Academic Computing Advisory Council” (ACAC).
Its responsibilities should include providing guidance as to what e-learning systems are
required, establishing their benefits and costs, and prioritizing and coordinating their
implementation.
Plan to participate in the HEDP Library project.
This is an excellent opportunity to benefit from joint exploration and analysis of a common
requirement. The notes above under MIS apply here as well.
6. Day-to-Day Utility Applications
The Internet has become a universal means for
effective and affordable information access and
communication. One of the most powerful and
pervasive applications provided by the Internet
is email. Web sites and portals provide access
to information and to an array of
communication tools and web-based
applications. Because BAU does not have a
robust LAN and WAN infrastructure, the
benefits of email and other electronic
collaborative tools are not widely available.
MIS
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
Learning
Utilities
Infrastructure
Process
Organization
24
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Many educational institutions are implementing an array of information access and
collaboration tools under a “virtual campus” umbrella.
Recommendations:
Install valuable “utility” applications for information publishing and for
communications and promote their widespread use.
Initial candidates are the next generation web site/portal and e-mail. E-mail is an important
and fundamental tool for communication and collaboration within and among institutions.
Implementation of a minimum level of infrastructure at all colleges is a prerequisite.
(See 3. Infrastructure on page 22)
Establish documented policies and procedures for their use.
An obvious mechanism for publishing these policies and procedures is the BAU web site. Email can be used to publicize changes to them.
Provide training in their use.
”Train the trainer” and computer-based training are available options.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
25
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
COST IMPLICATIONS
Complete assessment of the BAU MIS development and Infrastructure costs are beyond the
scope of this report. Following are some cost observations and estimates that can serve as
starting points for subsequent detailed planning.
MIS
For the MIS application software area, there are some critical assessments and decisions yet
to be made that will affect the one-time and on-going costs. The BAU strategy adopted
relative to the HEDP MIS project is the most important. We believe that this represents an
important opportunity for BAU, including its colleges, together with the other Jordanian
universities to move to a world-class MIS capability. Within the HEDP MIS initiative, there
should be ample opportunity to assess both buy and build options relative to specific
functional modules.
We can envision a highly successful outcome if the HEDP MIS project adopts an approach
which delivers incremental MIS function in 6 to 12 month time-frames and if the universities’
I.S. staffs become full participating members of the project. By working with the expertise and
knowledge of the other universities’ I.S. units in a collaborative and open initiative
supplemented with the HEDP-acquired consulting resources, BAU can grow its own
specialized expertise and benefit from a largely common, shared solution.
Whether BAU develops its own MIS solution or works within the HEDP for this purpose, it will
need to add information systems staff at all levels. However under the latter option, fewer
development staff will be required and the resulting solutions will almost certainly deliver
greater function and be of higher quality and their on-going maintenance and enhancement
will be less of a burden.
Infrastructure
Connectivity
The urgent need for BAU-wide college campus connectivity is beginning to be addressed.
The following is an approximate year one cost estimate for the initial minimum level. It does
not include costs associated with the main BAU computer center equipment or with
application software. Details are available in an Appendix C – College Infrastructure Costs.
ITEM
Description
Campus Connectivity
LAN, Servers, basic WAN
link
Desktop
Desktop (e.g. Labs)
Notebook with WLAN
Servers, Applications & Data
PCs for Admin 1:2 ratio
PCs for Students 1:10
PCs for Faculty 1:1
Distributed Applications &
Data
Totals
Cash Flow (JD 000)
Purchase
Operate
572
66
Expense
206
629
1,156
1,441
124
63
116
144
12
220
501
865
46
3,922
400
1,838
We have not seen plans for applications and databases that might be distributed to the
campuses rather than contained in the main computer center(s). Servers for such use should
only be deployed after analysis and approval of such distributed server computing. An
alternative may be to increase the WAN connection speeds and use centralized servers.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
26
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Expense includes straight-line depreciation. Obviously the PC costs depend directly on the
coverage ratio selected. Some Canadian colleges have moved to a notebook per student
approach, using a lease financing arrangement.
The connectivity capacities and costs should be expected to increase noticeably in following
years as applications such as MIS, Library, e-mail and E-Learning expand. Extension of the
planned joint university high-speed fiber network to college campus locations may offer future
capability more effectively.
Computing Centers
The computing center being established at the main Salt campus is a very good start. Its
increasing orientation to network-based computing is in line with current technology
developments. As the scope and importance of supported applications increase, attributes
such as continuity, security, data backup and disaster recovery will be vital. Continuing
investment in these capabilities for tools and expertise is necessary.
In addition we recommend the creation during the 2004 to 2005 time frame of a second
computer center facility. The primary reason for this is to provide “hot” backup for critical
applications. This means that in the event of a disaster at either computer center, the
remaining center is configured to immediately being running all essential BAU applications
and network support. During normal operations the two centers would share the total load.
The second computer center should probably be located in the Amman vicinity where a
substantial portion of the BAU load will originate and where good high-speed communication
links are available. The two computer centers should be linked by a communications channel
to facilitate general networking, load sharing and data back-up. Depending on the evolution of
the joint university technology venture, it may become feasible to use a shared computer
center to provide such redundancy for hot backup and also to provide critical data mirroring
and/or backup function.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
27
SETVET BAU MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix A
APPENDIX A – CONTEXT
Al Balqa Applied University and Colleges
In 1996 His Majesty King Hussein established Al Balqa Applied University, with a mandate to
manage and undertake reform of the national community college system. The total system
has approximately 21,000 students who are studying graduate, undergraduate and two-year
diploma courses at sixteen colleges and Al Balqa Applied University itself. The campus
locations are widely distributed throughout Jordan 9.
Until 3 years ago all administrative systems were paper based. Two major MIS initiatives are
underway in Jordan’s post-secondary education system, one across the eight public
universities and one for BAU’s college system. The Higher Education Development Project
(HEDP) is working to guide and fund improvements to information technology networks,
management information systems, library systems and related faculty training at Jordan’s
universities10. HEDP is also providing funding toward the technology infrastructure needs of
BAU and its colleges. The Canadian-sponsored Sustaining and Extending Technical and
Vocational Education and Training project (SETVET) is providing a variety of consulting
assistance to BAU, including its MIS initiative.
The Business Case for MIS
An MIS system will provide benefits in many ways, including the following:
 Increased efficiency and accuracy for automated processes; including the ability to
provide self-service options for all faculty, staff and students
 Collection of internal information in some form of “data warehouse” for use in
management of operations and in planning. Support for measurement of internal KPIs
is one target aspect of this mechanism.
 Ability to plan and control an increasingly complex and flexible academic structure
and delivery process. (See Evolution of Education below)
 Support for important strategies such as more relevance and responsiveness to the
labor market.
As part of the MIS process management, we recommend the definition of clear benefit
objectives in areas such as the above, and the incorporation of these objectives into a
strategy implementation management process such as Balanced Scorecard.
Evolution of Education
Technologically assisted and mediated instruction
Education is at a crossroads. For thousands of years the model has required a teacher and a
student to gather in the same place at the same time to participate in an interactive process
that leads to learning. Information and Communication Technology is making it possible to
engage in the learning process anywhere and at any time. The same technology is making it
possible to duplicate exemplary processes regionally, nationally or internationally. Although
technologically mediated instruction as we are coming to understand it has only been
available for about ten years, there is little doubt that its impact will be significant and far
reaching.
Research
Communications and collaboration are essential components of the research community that
are enhanced through the use of information and communications technology. Joint
development of papers is easily done through shared work systems. Conversation and
9
See Appendix G – Wide Area Network
See Appendix D – Status of Higher Education Information Systems Development
10
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
28
SETVET BAU MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix A
debate over the development can be can be facilitated through the judicious use of
information technology.
Modeling
Modeling and simulation are making it possible to replace some of the most expensive
components of education with very effective models. Generally science and technology
programs require access to expensive laboratory components. These components (titrations,
mass spectrographs, motion, sound etc.) can be replaced or at least supplemented using
computer-generated simulations. In many cases the use of computer simulation technology
can be almost an exact replication of the real event: motion, sound, measurement etc. It can
also provide facilities unavailable in the real device, such as repeatability and variation in
speed and resolution.
Life Long Learning
Learning is no longer limited to the early years. The rapid pace of technology demands that
people keep current if they are to be valuable in the workplace. Employment now demands
that learning be life long. Workers caught up in the demanding routines of the workplace
cannot take time out to return to school for a year in the formal degree-based models of the
last century. They must have access to training on demand. This calls for various modes of
e-learning.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
29
SETVET BAU MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix B
APPENDIX B – INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGE
The Proxy and the Lever
The software systems used in the application of information technology are proxies for the systems of
the institution. For example a college’s registration system is modeled by its computerized
registration system. Eventually the electronic teaching and learning systems that a college supports
will replicate its processes of teaching and learning. At the same time, implementation of automated
systems is an opportunity to institute improvements to existing practices; the new system can serve
as a lever to facilitate process improvement. This situation creates two significant challenges.
The first challenge is to make the electronic systems of the institution consistent with its administrative
and learning processes. For if there is not a match the systems will not serve any purpose.
Computer systems are put in place to make processes faster, cheaper and better. Information
systems are not deployed for the sake of the technology. They have a purpose and a reason.
Therefore implementation of systems without the appropriate grounding in business function is a
waste of time and money.
The second challenge is to use the computer systems to improve the business processes that they
are intended to support. Few institutional practices and processes are well understood after they
have been in place for some time. The original intent of the processes gets covered up with the
practicalities of making things work. General procedures are adjusted to accommodate the unique
circumstances of day-to-day activity. Things change and the processes take on a life of their own.
The implementation of a new system presents a chance to review and revise business processes to
make them more efficient before they are automated. There is little point in automating an inefficient
process.
The solution to these two challenges is to ensure that both the user community and the technology
community are well represented on design and implementation project teams. The user
representatives make the administrative and learning decisions and the technology experts make the
technology decisions. At the same time these two groups must work jointly to identify and select the
opportunities for process improvement.
Managing the Risk
The implementation of information systems is a very risky business. More than half of major I.S.
projects started fail to meet objectives of benefits, schedule and cost 11. Careful attention to the
implementation processes has been found to improve the probability of success.
To best manage the implementation of information systems, use a disciplined approach to the
management of the tasks and the achievement of the goals. Each program must have a leader who
can envision the benefits of the target state, is accountable for their achievement, and can remove the
business obstacles that will get in the way of change. The target state must be understood and the
business owners and the technology team who will build the desired system must share the vision.
This can be a very difficult and time-consuming process. A clearly written statement of the desired
goals and outcomes is a fundamental part of the project definition.
11
One survey of 256 companies indicated that project failures were 86% related to management
issues such as poor project management skills (32%), ineffective communication (20%), unfamiliar
scope (17%) and improperly defined objectives (17%). Only 14% of failures were attributed to inability
to cope with technology.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
30
SETVET BAU MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix B
Since the target state for large initiatives such as MIS is a distant goal, it is advisable to divide the
total task into several steps and define milestones of results through time. These milestones should
take the project toward the desired goal, and should each contribute to making the business of the
institution faster, better or cheaper. Be sure to measure and monitor the realization of benefits as
each stage is completed.
When a new building is to be constructed, we expect architectural and engineering drawings to be
prepared and approved before work starts and we also accept that professional management of the
construction project is required. The management information system that Jordan’s higher education
institutes are seeking will cost more than most of the buildings in the country. Allocating the time and
resources to properly plan and execute its design and implementation is appropriate.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
31
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix C
APPENDIX C – COLLEGE INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS
In the following table, we first estimate the configuration and costs for two campus size ranges and then extend the costs according to the number of
campuses for each size. See the notes at the end of the table.
Estimates for BAU Minimum LAN/WAN Configuration
Year 1
All money values in JD
ITEM
Unit Costs
Description
Unit
Acquisition
Quantity
Lease
Maint- Depreciation
enance
(pur. /lic.)
per (per month)
(months)
month
Average Faculty=40, Students=730, Staff=77
Cash Flow
Expense
Purchase
Operating
(average)
Small Campus
Up to 1500 users
Firewall
Intel PC + Linux
Ea
1000
8
48
1
1,000
100
350
Server, Internet
e.g. HP ML370
Ea
4350
36
48
1
4,350
435
1,523
Operating Software
e.g. Linux ES
Ea
250
12
1
250
0
250
Bandwidth Control
Packetshaper 1500
Ea
4000
33
48
1
4,000
400
1,400
Router
Ea
1200
10
48
1
1,200
120
420
Switch
Level 2, VLAN
Ea
1000
8
48
1
1,000
100
350
Switches/Hubs
Level 1
(departmental)
Ea
200
2
48
4
800
80
280
WLAN Access Points
Ea
300
3
36
6
1,800
180
780
LAN Cabling
Run
65
60
100
6,500
0
1,300
Cabinets, Racks
Ea
150
60
6
900
0
180
UPS
Ea
500
4
48
1
500
50
175
Ea
200
25
1
200
300
300
22,500
1,765
7,308
3,375
265
1,096
WAN/Internet
Connection
Connectivity Totals
Connectivity
Contingency
Workstations (Admin.)
150 Kbs
15%
1:2 Ratio
Workstations (Students) 1:10 Ratio
Ea
500
4
48
39
19,500
1,950
6,825
Ea
500
4
36
73
36,500
3,650
15,817
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
32
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix C
Estimates for BAU Minimum LAN/WAN Configuration
Year 1
All money values in JD
Unit Costs
ITEM
Description
Unit
Notebooks (Faculty)
WLAN Adapters 1:1
Ea
Acquisition
Lease
1000
Quantity
Maintenance
8
Depreciation
24
40
Workstations Totals
Workstations
Contingency
Server, Applications &
Data
Operating Software
10%
e.g. HP ML370
Ea
4350
e.g. Linux ES
Ea
250
36
48
1
12
1
Application Server
Totals
Totals
Cash Flow
Expense
Purchase
Operating
40,000
4,000
24,000
96,000
9,600
46,642
9,600
960
4,664
4,350
435
1,523
250
0
250
4,600
435
1,773
136,075
13,025
61,482
Medium Campus
Up to 6000 users
Firewall
Intel PC + Linux
Ea
1000
8
48
1
1,000
100
350
Server, Internet
e.g. HP ML570
Ea
11500
96
48
1
11,500
1,150
4,025
Operating Software
e.g. Linux ES
Ea
250
12
1
250
0
250
Bandwidth Control
Packetshaper 2500
Ea
7000
58
48
1
7,000
700
2,450
Ea
1200
10
48
1
1,200
120
420
Router
Average Faculty=166, Students=2451, Staff=270
Switch
Level 2, VLAN
Ea
1500
13
48
1
1,500
150
525
Switches/Hubs
Level 1
(departmental)
Ea
200
2
48
12
2,400
240
840
WLAN Access Points
Ea
300
3
36
15
4,500
450
1,950
LAN Cabling
Run
65
60
200
13,000
0
2,600
Cabinets, Racks
Ea
150
60
15
2,250
0
450
UPS
Ea
750
6
48
1
750
75
263
Ea
200
75
1
200
900
900
45,550
3,885
15,023
WAN/Internet
Connection
Connectivity Totals
500 Kbs
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
33
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix C
Estimates for BAU Minimum LAN/WAN Configuration
Year 1
All money values in JD
ITEM
Connectivity
Contingency
Workstations (Admin.)
Unit Costs
Description
Unit
Acquisition
Lease
Quantity
Maintenance
Depreciation
15%
1:2 Ratio
Ea
Cash Flow
Expense
Purchase
Operating
6,833
583
2,253
500
4
48
135
67,500
6,750
23,625
Workstations (Students) 1:10 Ratio
Ea
500
4
36
245
122,500
12,250
53,083
Notebooks (Faculty)
Ea
1000
8
24
166
166,000
16,600
99,600
356,000
35,600
176,308
35,600
3,560
17,631
WLAN Adapters 1:1
Workstations Totals
Workstations
Contingency
Server, Applications &
Data
Operating Software
10%
e.g. HP ML570
Ea
13500
e.g. Linux ES
Ea
250
113
48
1
13,500
1,350
4,725
12
1
250
0
250
13,750
1,350
4,975
457,733
44,978
216,190
Application Server
Totals
Totals
BAU Extensions
Note: ignores any equipment already in place
Cash Flow
Expense
Purchase
Operating
Connectivity
310,500
24,357
Workstations (Admin.)
257,400
25,740
90,090
Workstations
(Students)
Notebooks (Faculty)
481,800
48,180
208,780
528,000
52,800
316,800
55,200
5,220
21,270
1,632,900
156,297
737,784
261,913
22,339
86,379
Small Campus
12
Servers, Applications &
Data
Sub-Totals
Medium Campus
BAU Salt, Amman Engineering, Princess Alia, Irbid, Al Husun
Connectivity
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
100,844
5
34
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix C
Estimates for BAU Minimum LAN/WAN Configuration
Year 1
All money values in JD
ITEM
Unit Costs
Description
Unit
Acquisition
Lease
Quantity
Maintenance
Depreciation
Cash Flow
Expense
Purchase
Operating
Workstations (Admin.)
371,250
37,125
129,938
Workstations
(Students)
Notebooks (Faculty)
673,750
67,375
291,958
913,000
91,300
547,800
68,750
6,750
24,875
2,288,663
224,889
1,080,950
Servers, Applications &
Data
Sub-Totals
Wide Area Network
Links
WAN Domestic Link
Per JT Contract Annex 4
1 Mbs
Ea
160
1
0
1,920
1,920
Internet Link
1 Mbs
Ea
1418
1
0
17,016
17,016
0
18,936
18,936
Connectivity
572,413
65,632
206,159
Workstations (Admin.)
628,650
62,865
220,028
Workstations (Students)
1,155,550
115,555
500,738
Notebooks (Faculty)
1,441,000
144,100
864,600
123,950
11,970
46,145
3,921,563
400,122
1,837,670
Sub-Totals
Overall Totals
Servers, Applications & Data
Totals
Notes:
1. Depreciation is simple straight line.
2. Annual maintenance is assumed at 10% of purchase price.
3. Tax implications not addressed.
4. Unit Prices are initial estimates only.
5. Years 2 and subsequent: add effects of capacity upgrades, capital cost replacements, and inflation.
6. Some Connectivity equipment may already be installed at BAU Salt.
7. Existing workstations have not been netted out.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
35
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix C
Estimates for BAU Minimum LAN/WAN Configuration
Year 1
All money values in JD
ITEM
Unit Costs
Description
Unit
Acquisition
Quantity
Cash Flow
Expense
Lease
Maint- Depreciation
Purchase Operating
enance
8. Application and file server requirements need to be verified based on approved plans for distributed processing at each campus.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
36
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix D
APPENDIX D – STATUS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT
Status of HEDP
The Higher Education Development Project (HEDP) is a 5-year project designed to improve
Jordan’s higher education institutions through the provision of equipment, technical services
assistance and training. It will operate from 2001 through 2005. The National Steering
Committee (NSC) sets the overall policy, guidelines and directions of the project. Funding is
via a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The focus areas for HEDP are:
 Improvements at Jordan’s universities for information technology networks, management
information systems, library systems and related faculty training
 Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Higher Education Council Secretariat and
Higher Education Accreditation Council and the planning and management capacity at the
university level
 Reform of the Community College System at Balqa Applied University through governance
and management, new program development, human resources development and facility
and equipment upgrade
 Strengthening the project implementation capacity at the universities and the Ministry of
Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR) through training and better tools.
The existing information systems at Jordan’s universities are characterized, for the most part,
as:
 Varying in sophistication and quality
 Not fully integrated, with limited inter-operability
 Based on old technology, with limited maintainability, scalability, standards usage and
flexibility
 Not able to support management information and decision-making requirements at the
university level and at MoHESR and the Higher Education Council (HEC)
A university MIS is expected to comprise the following modules:
 Student Information System
(SIS)
 National Admission System
(NDS)
 Financial System
(FS)
 Human Resource Information System incl. Payroll (HRIS)
 Inventory and Supplies System
 Resource Management System
An RFP is being issued to retain a specialized consulting firm to perform analysis and
planning for a university MIS project; participate in design of the information systems; monitor
and supervise development, implementation and deployment; prepare technical and
functional specifications; develop a human resources plan and provide advice on information
technology issues. Work effort is estimated at 55 work-months, with 43 work-months during a
10-month first phase culminating in the launch of the implementation plan and 12 workmonths during a two-year second phase of implementation, deployment and follow-up. Phase
two will also include 3 work-months of local consulting effort for implementation assistance.
Anticipated elapsed durations and timings for some major HEDP projects are:
Activity
Duration
Start
(Weeks)
MIS Design Tendering
48
1 Jan 2003
MIS Design
40
4 Dec 2003
MIS Implementation Tendering
38
29 Jul 2004
MIS Implementation
87
21 Apr 2005
Library System Study
105
5 May 2001
Library System Tendering
44
10 May 2003
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
End
3 Dec 2003
8 Sep 2004
20 Apr 2005
20 Dec 2006
9 May 2003
12 Mar 2004
37
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Activity
Library System Implementation
Library System Hardware Tendering
Library System Hardware
Implementation
PCs for Students & Faculty
Tendering
PCs Implementation
Video Conferencing Facilities
Tendering
Video Conferencing Implementation
Appendix D
Duration
(Weeks)
26
33
21
Start
End
13 Mar 2004
10 May 2003
6 Mar 2004
10 Sep 2004
5 Mar 2004
30 July 2004
34
10 May 2003
2 Jan 2004
21
33
3 Jan 2004
1 Sep 2003
28 May 2004
2 May 2004
21
3 May 2004
26 Sep 2004
Other HEDP projects have addressed or will address the acquisition of equipment for various
laboratories and research facilities at universities and community colleges.
Plan data regarding an educational wide area network is not available.
Status of systems at Jordanian Universities



University of Jordan has implemented a web-based student registration system, and
it is deemed potentially worthy of retention in a future MIS. Many of the other
applications at JU are based on older technology such as COBOL, and are expected
to be replaced as a result of the HEDP.
The pubic universities have formed a joint non-profit venture (referred to as
“University Technology Company”) to create and operate a shared high-speed wide
area network using fiber optic technology.
HEDP has had difficulty in obtaining effective I.S. plans from the various universities
and is in the process of engaging a consulting firm to carry out a multi-year
assignment to perform analysis, design, acquisition and implementation of MIS and
Library software for the Higher Education institutions (see plan schedules above).
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
38
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix E
APPENDIX E – ACTION PLAN
The Work Breakdown Structure and Timeline
Following is an initial Work Breakdown Structure and timeline for the implementation of the
recommendations in this report. We have included appropriate linkages among the tasks to
facilitate orderly and expeditious progress. The durations of tasks are preliminary estimates
only.
We expect, once the recommended I.S. Director and Program Management Office are in
place, that this plan will be further developed in detail and appropriate adjustments and
extensions will be defined. This WBS addresses, at a moderately high level, two aspects of a
project plan: deliverables and schedule. The remaining third aspect is resource requirements
definition which will be added by the recommended BAU I.S. organization and I.S. steering
and governance councils. The resource requirements depend on many decisions yet to be
made. Some of these decisions are wide-ranging in their impact, such as the decision as to
how to participate in the HEDP MIS project. Other decisions have a narrow impact, such as a
decision to either buy or build a student registration module. Further, for in-house software
development tasks, the resource requirements will vary depending on technology and
standards choices, development methodology selected, the skill levels of the developers, the
tools used, the caliber of the user representatives and the complexity of the required
functions. Performing this detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this report.
Periodic modification of this plan will be an on-going characteristic of the planning and
implementation processes recommended in this report.
Developing the Timeline
The following notes outline the process used to define the proposed BAU timeline.
Objective
Create a task timeline that will serve as a framework for the implementation by BAU of an
MIS. Include Infrastructure tasks that are prerequisites. Indicate for completeness the likely
tasks for implementation of E-Learning and Utility applications that will compete for allocation
of I.S. resources.
Approach
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Include all significant tasks
Identify task relationships
Establish a reasonable high-level completion target
Determine required task start timing
Indicate appropriate task durations
Limitations
1. There is no assessment of the nature and complexity or workload estimates of most
of the tasks in the chart.
2. There are no available estimating metrics for these tasks that can be regarded as
reliable.
(Both of the above are expected to be addressed as part of the BAU MIS
development and implementation process.)
Assumptions & Guidelines
1. BAU will manage its own internal infrastructure and application software
implementations.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
39
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix E
2. Task times will not be significantly affected by any build versus buy choices; although
certain resource requirements will. (See Resourcing below)
Observations
1.
2.
3.
4.
There are at least 29 MIS modules.
There are at least 8 Financial System modules.
There are at least 4 HRIS modules.
Each will have sub-tasks related to requirements definition, analysis, acquisition or
development, testing, training, infrastructure preparation, acceptance, implementation
and roll-out to all campus locations.
Recommendations
1. MIS should be completely implemented within 36 months, ending by August 31,
2006.
2. General communications capabilities and modules for Finance, HRIS, and approved
Academic projects such as Library, Web publishing, and E-Learning should be
implemented in parallel with MIS tasks and when appropriate, in parallel with each
other.
3. Much early emphasis should be given to using open standards and establishing
forward-looking architectures for both infrastructure and applications.
4. Open, flexible and efficient standards for tools and methodologies should be
established for business case development, project planning and management,
modeling, design, development and testing.
5. Maximize participation in, and benefits from, the Higher Education initiatives for MIS,
Library, High Speed WAN and E-Learning.
Resourcing Considerations
1. Each application module will require resources for requirements definition, analysis,
business case development including build/buy/outsource decision making, project
planning, project management, architecture alignment, functional and integration
testing, training (planner/coordinator, trainers and users), data creation or conversion,
implementation, roll-out, and operational assessment.
In addition one of the following will apply to each development task in accordance
with the build/buy/outsource decision made for the module:
:
2. For in-house development tasks, resources will be needed for object modeling, data
base design, interface design (view or views), user interaction development
(controller), application logic development (model) and database logic (persistence).
Each development component will need to perform in-line unit testing and frequent
software integration.
3. For purchased modules, resources will be required for initial product training and for
preparing the product for implementation through activities such as defining and
setting parameters, developing supplementary functions such as reports and “plug-in”
custom software functions, establishing integrations with other modules.
4. For outsourced development of modules, internal resources will be needed to
manage the supplier’s progress and coordinate their activities with internal user
representatives, to ensure that appropriate test data and infrastructure resources are
made available as required, and to supervise the supplier’s interpretation of BAU’s
requirements, architectures and standards.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
40
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix E
Insert WBS Gantt chart here, replacing this page.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
41
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix F
APPENDIX F – ORGANIZATION, ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
The Chief Information Officer Role12
Responsibilities
A CIO (Chief Information Officer) is a senior executive responsible for all aspects of the
institution's information technology and systems. CIOs direct the use of IT to support the
institution's goals. With knowledge of both technology and business process and a crossfunctional perspective, they are usually the managers most capable of aligning the
institution's technology deployment strategy with its business strategy. CIOs oversee
technology purchases, implementation and various related services provided by the
information systems department. However, at many leading-edge organizations, the CIO
delegates many of the tactical and operational issues to a "trusted lieutenant" in order to
focus on more strategic concerns.
The "information" part of the CIO's job is increasingly important. The effective and strategic
use of common enterprise-wide information requires someone with a cross-functional
perspective. CIOs have taken a leadership role in reengineering their organizations' business
processes and the underpinning IT infrastructures to achieve more productive, efficient and
valuable use of information within the enterprise. Many also take a leadership role in
knowledge management and the valuation of intellectual capital. Similarly, CIOs are in an
ideal position to lead organizations' Internet and Web initiatives.
CIOs usually report to the CEO, COO or CFO, and they often have a seat on the executive
steering committee or board (or at least have frequent and close access to top officers). While
the specific title CIO is generally a clear indication of an IT executive's senior rank and
strategic influence, many executives with the title VP or director of information technology,
systems or services hold comparable positions.
CIO Behavior
Behaviors to avoid (left column) and those that are recommended (right column)
10 Worst Mistakes a CIO Can Make
6 Ways to Succeed as CIO
1. Reign from your office. Let your assistant
book your calendar on a first come, first
served basis so that you have meetings every
half hour with your direct reports and vendors.
Don't listen to the little voice telling you that
the majority of your time should be spent with
your customers and the front line of the
business. Instead, delegate those activities to
your staff.
1. Recognize that your customers, the users
and beneficiaries of your unit’s services,
deserve your time and attention. Give them
opportunities to tell you how satisfied they
are, what their problems are, and what they
would like from you. Inform them of trends in
information systems and technology that
may be of interest to them; help them to
innovate.
12
Much of the CIO role description is from www.cio.com.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
42
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix F
10 Worst Mistakes a CIO Can Make
6 Ways to Succeed as CIO
2. Be strategic, not tactical. Believe executives
when they say, "We need a change-agent CIO
to help lead business transformation."
Dedicate all your time to leading strategic
initiatives. Ignore the grumbling about your
high cost structure, poor customer service and
uneven operational performance.
2. Balance investment of resources across
operational, tactical and strategic initiatives.
Adopt a portfolio management approach,
constantly striving to stay aligned with the
organization’s needs and directions,
enabling it to optimize the value delivered
and to adapt to evolving opportunities and
threats.
Function as a member of the management
team to deliver value through the
organization’s collective performance.
3. Be tactical, not strategic. Believe executives
when they say, "After a period of hefty IT
investments, we are well positioned with our
capabilities and need somebody to get the
costs under control." Focus solely on
operational excellence, relying on budget
constraints to manage demand.
4. Address demand on a "you pay, we play"
basis. Cash all the checks the business is
willing to endorse to IT. Assume that a
willingness to pay corresponds to a value
proposition and that you will not be held
accountable for unrealized value and soaring
operational costs
5. Say "yes" to everything. Agree to all client
requests, and trust that you can get internal
supply to flex infinitely with demand by using
tactics like outsourcing, skill development and
improved processes. Ignore the fact that there
is a practical limit on the number of
investments that can be well managed and the
amount of change a business can absorb.
6. Always say "no." Institute a governance
monarchy and appoint yourself king. Assume
that you were hired to take tough stands, and
eschew the other tactics for managing demand
(strategy making, senior executive governance
and investment management) as inefficient.
7. Subscribe to the big bang theory of
development. Ignore the mountains of
research about the need for short cycle time of
projects. Approach multi-year initiatives as a
single project with a known destination.
Assume that the business context and
leadership will stay stable over the long term.
3. Create a long-term strategic vision for the
use of information technology and develop
broad initiatives that will translate strategy
into relevant operational change.
Recognize that accurate future visibility has
a short horizon and execute short focused
projects with constant assessment and
adjustment of your tactics. Keep deliverable
time frames in the 6 to 9 month range, and
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
43
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
10 Worst Mistakes a CIO Can Make
Appendix F
6 Ways to Succeed as CIO
set benefit objectives with your users and
monitor their achievement.
8. Treat architecture and security as outputs
rather than inputs. Shape infrastructure on a
project-by-project basis, and ignore your
fiduciary responsibility to leave the place in
better shape than when you arrived.
9. Pretend that your organizational weeds are
really untended flowers. Deal with poorperforming employees by working around
them or lowering your standards. Use
outsourcing to get critical skills, and focus your
in-house resources on keeping the business
running.
10. Rely solely on your gut. Support the
Balanced Scorecard approach to drive and
monitor strategic change, but don't bother
putting measurement systems in place for cost
and urgency reasons. Use gut and instinct as
your guide, and assume that your unwritten
record of accomplishments will stand on its
own as the political winds kick up dust in your
direction.
4. Recognize that some things have long
half-lives and others have shorter ones.
Organizational vision, goals and policies
together with supporting infrastructures will
endure longer. Some applications will have
a long life cycle and others a shorter one.
Practice life cycle management and
recognize when to invest in upgrades and
when to move to a new level.
Enhance the organization’s capital by
building, maintaining and improving both
technical and process frameworks, and by
encouraging and facilitating the retention
and sharing of knowledge.
5. Invest in your human resources and
assist them to achieve their personal goals
in a collaborative and challenging
environment. Use in-house resources for
your most critical and highest potential
tasks; provide effective tools and training.
Outsource tasks and services that are
peripheral to creating value and employ
contract services for peak loads and
seldom-required specialized skills and
knowledge.
Use human resource development and
management techniques to encourage and
grow good performers and to redirect
consistently poor performers to more
suitable positions or organizations.
6. Measure everything that must be
managed. Use a Balanced Scorecard
process to enable the organization to
effectively implement strategy. Use Key
Performance Indicators to monitor
operational performance. Don’t confuse the
two. Publish results and recognize and
reward high performers, both individuals
and teams.
The Top Ten Attributes of an Effective CIO
10. Ability to hire, develop and retain high quality IT professionals. Surprisingly, this
critical proficiency is often not higher on the list of required attributes of a great CIO, and
sometimes not at all. The ability to attract, grow and groom, and hold on to excellent
employees is too often broached by me rather than my client, and then is it is almost always
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
44
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix F
added to the list if it was missing. Accordingly, I give high marks to CIO candidates who
spontaneously promote and substantiate their prowess in this area in an interview with me.
9. International or global experience. This item probably would not have been on this list
ten years ago. As companies from all corners of the world seek to serve international outlets,
and cross-border acquisitions become more common and create larger global corporations, it
is frequently expected that a top CIO possesses an appreciation of foreign cultures and an
understanding of doing business in foreign markets. Knowledge of a specific market, country
or language is sometimes required. More generally sought is an openness and awareness,
based on experience, that there are different ways of interacting with customers, suppliers,
partners and employees, and diverse modes of conducting business in other parts of the
world.
8. Knowledge of and experience in a specific industry. A very common request —
sometimes the client will insist on finding individuals from their own industry, for example
banking, retailing, insurance, hospitality and the like. To increase the potential candidate pool
I usually suggest consideration of candidates with alternative experience in industries with
parallel business models, and the client will often expand the acceptable range of commerce
sector experience. Occasionally a client will specifically request that a CIO candidate search
be filled from another industry in an effort to import new ideas and thinking from a more
progressive sector of the economy.
7. Ability to create and manage change. This is a very common and important requirement
since most searches are not initiated to simply replace a CIO who has moved on. Far more of
these assignments are undertaken for newly created positions in organizations that have
never had a CIO, or to significantly upgrade the post from a legacy set of responsibilities to a
true CIO role. Changing the posture of the IT function from an operational necessity to a
strategic element is the highest priority here, with expectations of quantum improvements in
both IT planning and execution. The ability to create change in the corporation’s operating
and business processes, for both efficiency and competitiveness, is also commonly sought.
Business process reengineering (BPR) and continuous process improvement (CPI) are on the
minds of many CEOs, especially in tougher economic conditions.
6. Communications skills. The ability to intelligently articulate a strategy, an idea, a thought
or a feeling in a clear and appropriate manner is an absolute must. Add in great listening skills
as well as strong abilities in negotiation, persuasion, and conflict resolution. This requirement
can encompass the written word, one-to-one verbal communication, group ‘platform’ skills,
and public speaking.
5. Management skills. Proficiency in directing and supervising people, projects, resources,
budgets, vendors, and other business partners is essential. Great managers are also
expected to be accomplished team builders, motivators, coaches and mentors. Setting
priorities, assigning the appropriate resources against those priorities, and delivering on time
and on budget are always seen as key requirements for a top CIO.
4. Relationship skills. From the vantage point of the CEO or COO searching for a CIO,
whether for a new position or a replacement, dysfunctional connections and low rapport
between the CIO and other C-level officers and business unit leaders is a highly observable
and all too common reason for failure. This expectation also extends to interactions with
customers, suppliers and partners. Relationship building takes interpersonal communication
to the next level by establishing and maintaining a strong understanding, rapport, bond and
trust between individuals.
3. Business savvy. In the eyes of senior management as well as peers, the most visible and
frustrating shortcoming of senior IT managers is a lack of understanding of business — both
the employer’s specific area of commerce as well as business in general. CIOs that don’t
make a strong effort, or don’t have the capacity to develop an in-depth knowledge of the
industry served and the company’s business strategy, operating model, value proposition,
market position and competition, are doomed to fail since they are inherently limited in the
value that they can add to the organization’s progress and well being. Similarly, a foundation
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
45
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix F
in the principles of accounting, finance, supply chain management, marketing, sales and
distribution channels, both traditional and online, is necessary to succeed and therefore
required by senior management.
2. Expertise in aligning and leveraging technology for the advantage of the enterprise.
This requirement is always a cornerstone of the CIO search specification process. Specific
facets of technology such as ERP, Web infrastructure, e-commerce, CRM, sales force
automation, data warehousing, etc., come up frequently but are often downgraded to
‘preferred’ status. Even less commonly required is experience with specific application
software packages such as SAP (the most requested), or any particular operating software
platform such as UNIX, and almost never any specific brand of hardware. By way of contrast,
these elements were far more frequently required of MIS Directors, the previous generation of
IT leaders.
1. And the number one requirement for the position of Chief Information Officer is:
Leadership. This is the quality that is not only in every search specification, but most
frequently comes up first and most emphatically as in, ‘What we really need is a leader.’
Leadership is that subjective but easily discerned quality that sets great CIOs (and other
types of great managers for that matter) apart from good CIOs. Leaders are special people —
visionary, passionate, inspirational, wise, charismatic, confident, influential, risk taking,
encouraging, positive, reassuring, creative thinking, goal setting, helpful, supportive,
principled, honorable, fair and open individuals. Leaders serve as role models. They stimulate
ideas and they coax the best from, and give recognition to all those around them. Leadership
is the very best career currency one can have.
Systems Architect
When we erect physical structures such as building and bridges, and manufacture complex
machines such as airliners and cruise ships, we automatically expect the definition of a sound
design and specification prior to the construction. Because early software development was
necessarily limited to fairly simple tasks and operated as a cottage industry of artisans, the
concepts of formal overall design and the associated definition of architecture were not
intrinsic in the development process. Today we are building complex structures in software,
and their attributes such as quality, performance and reliability are just as important for the
owning and using communities as they are for aircraft and office towers.
An effective systems development organization today will define one or more system architect
roles. Such a function may be performed by one individual, by a few, or by a design team. A
systems architect will make broad choices of technologies to be used and will specify how the
hardware, software and networks will inter-operate. The role may be divided into specialist
areas such as Network Architect and Software Architect. A Software Architect will have
responsibilities such as defining the mechanisms for application integration and creating the
“object model” and the framework for interactions among the software objects. A Network or
Infrastructure Architect will be responsible for technology selection, overall design, and for
establishing frameworks for security, reliability, performance, control and recovery
Architects typically have more experience that most development team members, typically at
least five to ten years, and benefit from abilities such as conceptual thinking, understanding
users’ requirements, communication, integration and understanding of system interactions
and trade-offs. Their work is analytical and structured rather than research-oriented, although
an ability to innovate can be valuable. A Systems Architect may well be the leader of the
Development Department.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
46
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix F
Other I.S. Roles
Following are brief descriptions of several typical roles found in Development and Operations
departments. They are shown in four levels of responsibility, experience and knowledge,
ranging from senior to trainee. In an object-oriented environment, the importance of database
will diminish and that of object designer and application architect will become dominant.
Development
Operations
Data
Analysis
Development
Network
System
Support
Admin)
Database
Analyst – Senior
Business
Analyst - Senior
Systems
Programmer
Analyst - Senior
Network
Administrator
Systems
Administrator
Designs and
maintains the
database and
dictionaries,
monitors
standards and
procedures and
integrates
systems through
database
design.
Under general
direction
formulates and
defines systems
scope and
objectives on
both user needs
and a good
understanding
of business
systems.
Devises or
modifies
procedures to
solve complex
procedural
problems.
Competent to
work at the
highest
technical levels
of most phases
of systems
analysis
Under general
direction assists
with formulation of
system scope and
objectives through
research and factfinding. Designs
codes tests,
debugs and
documents
complex programs.
Analyses and
revises existing
system logic as
necessary. More
than 5 years
experience
Most complex
testing and
analysis of all
elements of the
network: power
software,
communication
devices.
Monitors and
controls
performance
All activities
related to
system
administration.
Long term
requirements of
operation and
administration,
installation,
maintenance,
configuration,
integrity,
enhancements
and improved
reliability
Systems
Programmer
Analyst Intermediate
Network
Technologist
Systems
Technologist
Help Desk
Support
Second Level
Performs
software
installations,
upgrades to OS
and layered
products.
Monitors and
tunes to
optimize
performance.
Hardware and
software audits,
and compliance
with standards.
Provides
second tier
support to
users for PC,
server
applications
and hardware.
Handles
problems that
first tier helpdesk is unable
to resolve.
Recommends
systems
modifications to
reduce user
problems
Database
Analyst –
Intermediate
Develops and
maintains
moderately
complex
databases with
respect to JCL,
access methods,
device
allocations,
validation and
statistical
methods: 2 – 5
years
experience
Under general
supervision assists
with the
development of
scope and
objectives.
Designs, codes
tests and debugs
programs.
Maintains and
documents those
programs.
Analyses and
revises system
logic as necessary.
2 – 5 years exp
Moderately
complex tasks:
network
monitoring,
operations, and
installation.
Resolves routine
tasks/activities
and routine
problems: 2 – 5
years
experience
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
47
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Development
Data
Analysis
Appendix F
Operations
Network
Admin)
System
Support
Systems
Programmer
Analyst – Junior
Network
Technician
Systems
Technician
Help Desk
Support First
Level
Under direct
supervision assists
in formulating
modules through
research and factfinding to develop
or modify
information
systems. Designs,
codes tests and
debugs programs.
Under
supervision
assists in
network
monitoring,
operations,
installation and
or maintenance.
Resolves routine
problems. This
is an entry level
position
Under
supervision
maintains the
integrity of the
systems server
environment.
Installs system
software,
upgrades,
planning,
scheduling and
testing.
Performs
backups,
maintains tape
libraries.
Maintains
production
change control
schedule.
Plans
operations
schedule.
Development
Ensures the
timely process
through which
problems are
controlled.
Responsible for
problem
recognition,
research,
isolation and
resolution and
follow up. May
provide
guidance to
more junior
staff.
Help Desk
Support
Analyst
Under direct
supervision act
as first point of
contact for user
community.
Maintains
record of action
taken
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
48
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix G
APPENDIX G – WIDE AREA NETWORK
The BAU WAN should provide the following:
Secure connection from each campus’ LAN to the BAU Computer Centers
Secure high-speed connection between BAU Computer Centers (future)
Access from each campus’ LAN to the Internet (may be centralized)
Connection with MoHESR and other institutions as required; via UTC WAN in future
The WAN should support both public and private13 computer data traffic and be able to
support digital network telephony using voice over internet protocol (VOIP) in the future. Its
bandwidth will need to grow to support planned applications such as remote electronic
classrooms.
The BAU user topology is shown in the following network schematic. Numbers are the total of
Irbid
Irbid UC 2290
Al Husun UC 1718
Ajloun UC 1227
Zarqa UC 968
Amman (8329)
Salt (6061)
Princess Rahma C 683
BAU UC 4887
Amman UC 1283
Technology Engineering UC 3746
Salt C 1174
Usoul Al Ddin UC 708
Internet
Connection
Royal Geographic C 115
Princess Alia UC 1794
Karak C 1208
KEY
Conceptual
Connections
Tafilah Applied UC 1321
University &/or College
Shobak C 328
Ma’an C 699
UC + Computer Center
City
Aqaba UC 445
13
Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology is often used to establish private communication
links over public networks such as the Internet.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
49
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix G
faculty, students and staff on each campus as of the 2002/2003 academic year.
This configuration shows the recommended future two computer centers, one in Salt and one
in the Amman area. This serves the requirement for redundancy to facilitate disaster recovery
and continuity of critical services. It also provides a hub in the Amman area where high-speed
WAN connectivity is available and where a substantial portion of the load originates. Each
computer center should be configured to handle all critical applications on its own, to protect
against one computer center becoming unavailable.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
50
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix H
APPENDIX H - TARGET SYSTEMS
The purpose of this appendix is to outline a target . After analysis it is clear that all modules
outlined below would not be appropriate for BAU. Furthermore, many modules might be
combined to great advantage. Nevertheless the outline below will provide a standard for
some benchmark planning.
A typical MIS for a significant post secondary institution would comprise the following
elements:
 Student Information System (SIS)
 Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
 Financial System (FS)
 Facilities Management System (FMS) – may be viewed as a component of the
Financial System
In addition to the above MIS functions, BAU will need additional systems capabilities for its
academic operations:
 Integrated Library Information System (ILIS)
 Instruction and Learning Systems
The elements outlined above may be tightly coupled into a monolithic information system.
SCT, Oracle and PeopleSoft have all developed these kinds of solutions and launched them
with differing degrees of success. Large, tightly coupled systems are falling out of vogue and
being replaced with loosely coupled systems that rely on integration engines to provide data
transfer and queuing services.. There are a number of advantages to selecting a loosely
coupled approach that include:
 Greater opportunity to develop a blend of built and bought modules
 Greater opportunity to upgrade modules on an as-needed basis, rather than
undertaking a complete system replacement
 Greater opportunity to react to “de-supported modules” that don’t turn out to be
viable offerings for the vendor
 Greater opportunity to react to complete vendor failure
 Greater opportunities to select best of breed modules
Some detail is provided on each of these target systems in turn. However, this is not intended
to influence the build/buy analysis that will be necessary, likely on a module-by-module basis
Student Information System
Typical Modules
Basic Student Information Management
General Person
Track people before they are designated, role independent
Recruitment
Identify, track and select desirable candidates
Admissions
Change a candidate into an applicant; includes transfers
Registration
Change an applicant into a student with valid selected
courses
General Student
Track a student’s progress
Academic Program Management
Course Catalogue
Define programs of study and courses
Academic Records
Record students’ course results
Degree Audit
Verify degree requirements are met
Faculty Management
Faculty Load
Track and manage faculty assignments
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
51
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Supporting Systems
Scheduling
Student Billing and
Payments
Events
Student Services
Self Service and Web
Access
Placement and
employment records
Alumni tracking
Appendix H
Optimize scheduling of educational events and associated
resources
Specialized interface to Accounts Receivable
Manage special activities not necessarily part of a program
Housing, loans, awards, financial aid
Enable direct student access to selected business and
academic applications and information
Track student and graduate employment
General tracking of all graduates
Outlook
Function
Student
Information
Academic
Program
Management
Faculty
Management
Supporting
Systems
BAU Outlook Summary
Student Identification done.
Recruitment not required
(yet).
Admission basics done.
Registration ready for pilots.
Registration Web interface
in development.
Student Account to be done
next year.
The registration module
contains course codes.
Only final grades are
supported. Course
descriptions are not
available. Academic
records and degree audit
are paper based
Faculty can obtain a class
roster, and class grade
sheets
Class schedules are
recorded, but no scheduling
support is available. No
other support systems are
available.
Recommendations
Link Admissions to MoHESR for
electronic transfer of new students’
admission information.
Plan to integrate Student Account
(tracking) with on-line course
delivery solutions and with
automated examinations.
This is a complex and anomaly
filled part of academic record
tracking. This module should be
left to late in the development or
purchase cycle. Plan to delay this
module as long as is reasonably
possible
Faculty loading can be developed
relatively easily with positive effect
to a broad base of system users.
Consider implementation of this
module early.
Class scheduling systems are
extremely complex modules.
There are stand-alone options
available
Human Resources Information System
Typical Modules
An HRIS within this context would really be an Employee Information System. The
relationship with the Student Information System is very significant, as many students will
inevitably become employees. This is the case for the BAU Information Systems department.
Advantage can be taken of student files that have already been defined in the SIS. Typically,
these systems would contain the following modules:
 General Person (basic employee record)
 Payroll
 Training, Education and Succession Planning
 Career Records – roles, performance assessments, skills inventory
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
52
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment

Appendix H
Health and Wellness tracking
Outlook
Function
Employee
Information
Payroll
Development
Tracking
BAU Outlook Summary
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Recommendations
Aim for a standard common solution
for all higher education institutions.
Payroll will have to be
individualized. Nevertheless, similar
solutions will be advantageous in
the long term
Financial System
Typical Modules
Within this context the financial information system will have a relationship to the Student
Information System, particularly with the student-billing engine. Potential modules are:
 General Ledger
 Accounts Receivable
 Accounts Payable
 Fixed Assets Accounting
 Lease Management
 Budgeting
 Treasury - funding management
 Purchasing – may include distributed delegated authority
 Activity-based Costing
 Asset Management – life cycle management and maintenance
 Facilities (buildings, parking lots etc)
 Real Estate
 Fixed Equipment
 Fleet
Status and Recommendations
Function
General Ledger
Accounts
Receivable
Accounts
Payable
Fixed Assets
Lease
Management
Budgeting
Treasury
Asset
Management
Vendor
Management
Procurement
Inventory
Management
BAU Outlook Summary
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Not available
Recommendations
Standardize finance and
purchasing system requirements
across colleges, meeting all
normalized requirements at
Operational, Management and
Planning levels.
Adopt best practices.
Consider purchased solutions.
Investigate middle tier options as
opposed to “best of breed”
offerings, which may by
overpriced.
Ideally aim for a common
solution for all higher education
institutes.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
53
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix H
Integrated Library Information System
Typical Modules





Catalogue module
Patron Module
Loans Module (including inter-library)
Fines and Fees Module
Procurement
In addition advanced functions such as on-line database searching and e-books access may
be provided.
Outlook
Function
Catalogue
Inventory
Patrons
Loans
Fines & Fees
Procurement
Inter-library
BAU Outlook Summary
Elementary catalogue
available
Elementary inventory
available
Based on Faculty and
Student IDs
Local only
Not available
Basic functions in place
Not available. Policy issues
may need to be addressed.
Recommendations
Standardize on the existing
basic BAU application and
implement for all colleges in the
near term. Consider centralized
catalogue management to
leverage expertise, especially for
smaller colleges.
Before adding features,
collaborate with the HEDP
Library initiative to assess buy
versus enhance options.
For the future evaluate
advanced capabilities such as
on-line e-books access services,
print-on-demand, and machine
translation.
Libraries have been most
successful with application
sharing and with open source
developments. Investigate
opportunities for inter-library
cooperation.
Instruction and Learning
Typical Modules
There will be distinct requirements depending on the educational and learning styles adopted.
However, the linkage to the student information system needs to be fundamental. Ensure
that no data has to be entered more than once. There are a number of components of
instruction and leaning modules that are typical and these include:
 Lecture Style support – may benefit from multi-media and Internet access
 Laboratory Style particularly as regarding sound and motion experiments and similar
work where computer measurement is the norm
 Field Work and Practicum
 Cooperative Education
 Technologically mediated
 Synchronous
 Asynchronous
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
54
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix H
Outlook
Function
Information
Publishing
Faculty and
Student
Interaction
Asynchronous ELearning
Synchronous ELearning
BAU Outlook Summary
Generally not available –
this is the current BAU elearning plan priority 1.
Some capability already
exists at Amman
Engineering College
Not available – BAU plan
priority 2
Recommendations
Assess Amman engineering
publishing approach for
adoption across BAU colleges;
integrate with BAU’s next web
site/portal.
Evaluate various “virtual
campus” products for
interactive environment.14
Not available
Not available – electronic
classrooms are plan priority
3
In conjunction with virtual
campus, assess course
development and delivery
tools such as LearnLinc
(synchronous) and WebCT
(asynchronous)15.
Ensure that leaning systems
take advantage of electronic
student records available in
the SIS
14
Example virtual campus implementations may be viewed at McMaster University
http://www.learnlink.mcmaster.ca/ and Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and
Technology http://www.siast.sk.ca/virtualcampus/.
15 Commercial products are referenced for information only; no endorsement is implied.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
55
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Appendix I
APPENDIX I – GLOSSARY
BAU
Client
E-Learning
Extranet
HEDP
I.S. or IS
I.T. or IT
Internet
Intranet
LAN
Life Cycle
MIS
Portfolio
Program
Project
Server
WAN
Al Balqa Applied University and its Colleges
A user workstation or other device enabling human access to information
system functions via an appropriate network connection
Various educational modes that exploit audio/visual and
computer/communications tools; may operate in synchronous or
asynchronous mode
A network of controlled-access Web resources that is available only to specific
external users, such as those in partner organizations. (see also Internet,
Intranet)
Jordan’s Higher Education Development Project
Information Systems – a set of application software and data and user
procedures designed to apply information technology to a human need.
Information Technology – a set of computing and data storage hardware,
digital network components and the operating software that enables and
controls the hardware
A global public network comprising many communications links among servers
that provide a variety of facilities such as web pages and e-mail.
A network within an organization that uses Internet technologies to enable only
internal users to find, use, and share web-enabled applications, documents
and Web pages. Intranets use traditional Internet protocols such as TCP/IP
and HTTP to transfer data. They usually reside behind firewalls, for security,
and are not limited by physical location—anyone around the world can be on
the same intranet. Intranets also link users to the outside Internet, and with the
proper security in place may use public networks to transfer data. Design
should focus on users’ roles rather than organizational structure.
Local Area Network - connects servers and clients in a building or on a
campus; may use cable and/or wireless links
As applied to information systems, the complete set of stages that a system
goes through during its lifetime, from inception through implementation, use,
growth and change, and eventual discontinuance or replacement.
Management Information System – a collection of computer-based software
applications and data bases that serve to facilitate the operation and
management of an organization
In Change Management, a collection of programs and their projects. Portfolio
management aims to balance factors such as needs, rate of investment, rate
of change, risks, strategic alignment, and short versus long term objectives.
A focused change initiative with specified goals and budget. It is executed
through a series of one or more projects. A program ends when its goals have
been met or when it is deemed no longer viable.
A coordinated collection of tasks designed and executed to produce a
specified deliverable within a time frame and a budget. Resources are
assigned to tasks.
A computer designed to provide application computing and data access
services to many clients via network connections; may be specialized as for
web page serving, database access or application processing.
Wide Area Network – communication links that connect LANs in different
geographic locations
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
56
SETVET MIS Scoping and Assessment
Index
INDEX
Academic Computing Advisory Council .................................................................. 2, 16, 19, 24
budget ................................................................................................... 5, 10, 17, 20, 43, 45, 56
change ...................................................... 1, 2, 5, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 30, 43, 44, 45, 48, 56
classrooms........................................................................................................................... 8, 16
communications ........................................................................................................... 10, 28, 45
development process ................................................................................................................ 5
e-learning ................................................................................................... 2, 5, 8, 11, 24, 29, 55
email .......................................................................................................................................... 9
finance ................................................................................................................................. 7, 15
HEDP ............................................................................. 1, 2, 3, 8, 23, 24, 26, 28, 37, 38, 54, 56
infrastructure .......................................................................... 2, 5, 10, 16, 19, 22, 24, 26, 32, 46
integration .............................................................................................................................. 17
Internet ................................................................. 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 18, 23, 24, 35, 42, 49, 54, 56
labor market ......................................................................................................................... 3, 28
LAN .......................................................................................... 5, 6, 7, 22, 23, 24, 26, 32, 49, 56
Management Information System ..................................................................................i, 2, 56
MIS ....................1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 37, 38, 46, 51, 56
open source ........................................................................................................................... 18
planning ......................................................................................................................... 5, 52, 53
portfolio management .............................................................................................................. 19
project management ............................................................................................ 2, 5, 13, 16, 20
Project Management Office .................................................................................. 2, 13, 16, 20
registration ........................................................................................... 6, 7, 9, 10, 18, 24, 51, 52
SETVET .......................................................................................................................i, 3, 22, 28
standards ................................................................................................................................ 18
Sustaining and Extending Technical Vocational Education and Training ................................. 3
training .................................................................................. 2, 4, 16, 17, 18, 25, 28, 29, 37, 44
WAN ................................................................................ 6, 8, 22, 23, 24, 26, 32, 35, 49, 50, 56
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES©
57