At the instigation of administrative director Tony Hansson, during 2017 the Faculty Office for Medicine and Pharmacy conducted a review of education administration. This review revealed that there was clearly a desire on the part of both administrators and management for uniform, clear and electronic case management.
“By introducing clarity and transparency into case management, we have now created legal certainty in the administration of study administration cases,” says Tony Thorström, Education Officer at the Education Support Unit.
The project was implemented between January 2018 and September 2022. Existing processes were mapped in order to develop proposals for a new joint electronic case management system, which was subsequently implemented in all first and second-cycle programmes. This work was performed in close collaboration with the Legal Affairs Division at University Administration.
“It feels absolutely fantastic to have succeeded in developing a simplified registry interface,” enthuses Document Administrator Erik Lambe.
Public authority exercised efficiently and with legal certainty
The efficient management of study administration cases and ensuring the legal certainty of the University’s exercise of public authority; these were the guiding principles of the project.
“As a public authority, Uppsala University has a legal obligation to have legally certain case management processes. Along the way, we have also implemented a number of other improvements, such as automating routine manual tasks previously performed by administrators. We have also tried to simply the administration process as far as possible,” continues Lambe.
Key objectives of the project have been clarifying roles and responsibilities, creating common procedures, reducing vulnerabilities and dependence on individuals, and making it easier for students to find information and provide the correct documents on which to base decisions.
“Previously, each programme dealt with study administration cases in its own way, but students shouldn’t be treated differently depending on which programme they are studying. They must have clarity,” says Thorström.
Full functionality in a simplified interface
The e-3d3 system is a Microsoft SharePoint solution integrated with the University’s W3D3 registry system. Unfortunately, W3D3 has a steep learning curve and many employees find it overly time-consuming to handle cases in the system.
“e-3d3 is a stripped-down version of W3D3 in which the same measures can be implemented by simpler means and with fewer clicks. An automated registry process runs in parallel with case management and decision-making processes,” explains Lambe.
Efficiency benefits
The efficiency benefits of electronic administration are extensive in relation to the cost of the project, especially if e-3d3 is used at university-wide level. The cost is the same regardless of the number of users.
“The Disciplinary Domain Board has funded the development of e-3d3 but we are keen to see it used elsewhere in the University. Demands on public authorities may change in future and then we can easily reconfigure the system from the building blocks we already have,” says Thorström.
Discussion are also underway about using the system for other processes within the University, such as administering the doctoral student database.
“We have built e-3d3 so that we can use it for all manner of cases that need to be administered in the authority’s registry. It’s a very flexible tool,” says Lambe.