Marks Management phase II
Project Summary
This project will seek to provide exam boards and academic department administrators with a system into which assessment marks can be fed, and through which these marks can be reviewed, compiled, and a degree classification can be calculated.
A process flow to describe the collection and processing of marks:
- Receive marks (for online and in-person assessments)
- Manage mark changes and moderation
- Calculate assessment results and awards
- Release results to Academic Records Office
Functionality will be built in SITS and eVision to import marks, calculate assessment results and store them in SITS, reducing the need to use Excel spreadsheets and manipulate the data manually.
Each department has a unique set of processes and calculations used to calculate the final degree classifications. For this phase of the project, we have been assessing a shortlist of appropriate departments and degree programmes which can be brought into a core product without needing to make changes to their classification rules.
Once determined, we will be working closely with those departments to build a system within SITS and eVision as a pilot, which will aim to deliver marks management for the exam boards for Trinity Term 2024.
Expected Outcomes
- Supported and secure marks management functionality which offers departments confidence in award calculations, whilst retaining some flexibility to manage local assessment structures.
- Assured process for managing marks and assessment results.
- Reduction in manual effort of managing Subject Access Requests (SARs) and informal marks checks.
- Foundations for delivering student feedback.
Expected benefits of the new system
Benefits Map showing the interrelation of benefits expected from the Marks Management system:
- Oxford-specific, secure platform - accommodates a variety of classification rules calculations in a single system; GDPR-compliant system
- Share marks between departments easily
- Technical support and guidance for producing results
- Audit trail of mark changes
- Work efficiency savings - reduced manual work; calculate results easily; results stored in SITS
- Efficient use of SITS student and exam data
What are the timelines
Marks management is inherently complex, so our approach is to build it in phases. In this way, we can offer value sooner, and adapt as we learn from working with departments. Digital Transformation and projects such as ADSS that iterative approach is preferred and can work well.
Phase 1 will deliver in time for exams in Trinity Term 2024. Working with a subset of departments across the 4 academic divisions, it will pilot a subset of core functions, and focus on Undergraduate Final Honours Schools. FHS have the highest number of students and exams, but also of complexity and risk, hence work in this area would add most value. Subsequent phases will include further departments and Postgraduate Taught courses, and expand the system functionality. The timeline for Phase 1 is below.
A timeline of the implementation of Marks Management:
- Now to March '23
- Definition (Analysis and Planning)
- Supplier engagement
- Requirements, data and process analysis
- Solution design
- April '23 to December '23
- Delivery (Technical)
- Technical solution development
- Testing of solution implementation
- January '24 to April '24
- Delivery (Readiness)
- Preparation for system roll out to users
- Training
- April '24 to 'August '24
- Phase 1 Go Live and Early Life Support
- UG FHS Trinity Term exams and board meetings
What does this mean for me?
If your department has been identified as a possible candidate, the project team will liaise directly with you to build a comprehensive understanding of your processes, calculations and classification rules.
You can expect a number of workshops and requirement gathering sessions to better understand the nuances of the process. After this, you can expect further engagement as the system is built, and ultimately you will be involved in extensive User Acceptance Testing ready for full use of the system in 2024.
If you have not been selected for this pilot, it means that there may be complexities around the way your department calculates its degree classifications which would require more complex development or modifications to the system or your processes, and these elements have been deemed out of scope for the first iteration.
History of the Project and its predecessors
Background and history of Marks Management projects at Oxford:
- ARD Pilot, HT & TT21
- Assess suitability of ARD
- Law, Theology, PPE, Economics
- Conclusion: system saves time and reduces risk, but ARD needs significant rework
- Questionnaire to departments, MT21
- Assess demand for change and current state
- Chairs and Exam Admins
- Demand: significant
- Current process: high risk
- Marks Management Project 2 starts
- Funding allocated from IT Development Fund
- Solution options analysis: build in eVision
- Scope definition
- NEXT: partner with departments
- Help us build the solution
- Commit to use the solution
Latest News
Coming soon
Project Team
Please contact the project team for any questions on this
Project Manager: Gavin Ahearn (gavin.ahearn@it.ox.ac.uk)
Business Analyst: Ana Matak Siviour (ana.mataksiviour@it.ox.ac.uk)
Change Manager: Owen Hutchins (owen.hutchins@it.ox.ac.uk)
Project Funding and Governance
This project is funded as part of the IT Development Fund and is being managed under the Assessment Programme of works.
Project Sponsor: Jackie Hoyle
Programme Manager: Naomi Hood
Programme Change Manager: Owen Hutchins
