Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

It has been a while since the last blog post - and there have been a number of development and changes with the PALET Project to report, which are summarised below:  

From one Lloyd to Another

In May of this year, David Lloyd (Senior Assistant Registrar) took over from Andy Lloyd (no relation!) as Project Manager of PALET. Andy has taken on a new role here at Cardiff, managing a cross-institutional Project concerned with Assessment Matters. Fortunately, Andy has not been physically relocated and the Project Team are able to draw upon the knowledge, experience and learning gained through his management of PALET to date. We are also fortunate that David has been involved in PALET from Project initiation – both at an operational level and a strategic level through his membership on the Project Steering Group.

Technical Options

The team from Information Services have been working on an options analysis paper, analysing the requirements gathered by PALET to date and exploring the most appropriate technical solutions. It has now been agreed that the formal programme approval process will be managed by SITS Process Manager. Technical options are still being explored for the delivery of the "knowledgebase" and the facility for online support, guidance and dialogue, but it is looking likely that the tool 'Connections' within the University's Modern Working Environment will be able to deliver what we want.

Project Scope

Having read the overview of the Interim Reports submitted by all of the design projects, changing project scope seems to be a common challenge for many. There has been ongoing debate about precisely what might realistically be achieved with the time and resource allocated to PALET. I.e. whether the new process will accommodate the design of only New Programmes (around 5% of programme level developments) or whether it might be extended to deal with major changes to existing programmes (around 95% of programme level developments).

Now that the technical solution has been agreed, it appears that it will be feasible to design a process that can accommodate major changes to existing programmes as well as entirely new programmes. This is good news, as it means that PALET will have a much larger impact across the Institution than previously thought.

Defining the Detail

It is within the context described above that the Project Team have been working to develop the detail of a New Process. There are also a number of wider University initiatives/discussions with which PALET must align, particularly those around the areas of Portfolio Planning and Programme Information.

The Project Team are still in the process of developing the detail of the New Process, and intend to present it to the University’s Academic Standards and Quality Committee later this year for consideration. Watch this space…