An Operation Framework of Educational Process Management Enhanced by Information Technology ——Take Graduate Financial Aid Management as an Example Jingsai Liang
Xibin Han
Yingqun Liu
Institute of Education 3rd Floor, North Building of Architecture, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084, PR China 86-10-62780367
Institute of Education 3rd Floor, North Building of Architecture, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084, PR China 86-10-62789900
Institute of Education 3rd Floor, North Building of Architecture, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084, PR China 86-10-62772006
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
(HE) sectors. Almost all Chinese universities have set up management information systems (MIS) for their student affairs management, human resource management and other educational resource management. But most of them develop the kind of MIS based on the requirement analysis of traditional management workflows in universities. As a result, IT is used simply to automate traditional working procedure rather than to optimize the management process. This kind of MIS could not be adaptive to change of organizational management in universities.
ABSTRACT Management information systems are used simply to automate traditional working procedure rather than to optimize the management process in Chinese universities. In this study, we explore a framework based on the operation cycle of business process management for implementing educational process management enhanced by information technology to improve the management successively. Taking the graduate financial aid management process in a Chinese university as study case, we discuss the four main stages of the operation framework, including identification & extraction, modeling, simulation & analysis, and execution & monitoring. The positive effects of the operation framework applied in the case show that the reliability and feasibility of the framework is validated.
Recent year the idea of business process management (BPM) was used to deal with the change in HE sector. Based on this idea the MIS may be developed with a process driven approach rather than a functionally driven one. Many studies[1-4]have reported the BMP in business sectors could improve their key processes, but a few was conducted in HE sectors.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
In this study, we explore an operation framework for implementing educational process management enhanced by IT to improve educational management successively. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to apply IT to promote educational process management (EPM) effectively.
K.4.3 [Computersand Society]: Organizational Impacts– Reengineering. J.1 [Computer Applications]: Administrative Data Processing– Education. H.4.1 [Information Systems Applications]: Office Automation– Workflow management.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
General Terms
Many studies reported that BPM could fulfill the requirement of adapting business processes to an ever changing environment effectively [4,5].
Design, Human Factors.
Keywords
BPM is a customer-focused approach to the systematic management, measurement and improvement of all company processes through cross-functional teamwork and employee empowerment[6].Originating from business process reengineering, it attempts to ensure long term success continuously for an organization. It has relative refined tools and operation cycle which involved in process identification, modeling, analysis, optimization, implementation, execution, monitoring [6].
Educational process management (EPM); business process management (BPM); management information systems (MIS); graduate financial aid management; education management
1. INTRODUCTION Information technology (IT) has been widely used to improve organizational management and performance in higher education Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. ICIMCS’12, September 9–11, 2012, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1600-2/12/09…$15.00.
As making great successes in various enterprises, the BPM is attached more significance in the educational management area. Hu [7] applied the BPM to the graduate enrollment management coupled with optimization for graduate financial aid process supported by IT. However, the study did not illustrate the details related to optimization and did not report the effects of the BPM on the process based on IT.
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Ewy and Gmitro [8] believed that the lacking of understanding about how to manage process was a prevalent reason for inability of educational organization to improve. And they also held that process management “is not just a key but the key to educational improvement”. Their study also provided a wide range of examples for process manager, professional educators or thoughtful staff. However, the purpose of their study only concentrated in the process of designing rather than giving sufficient suggestions on whole stages of lifecycle of BPM.
4.1.1 Process Identification & Extraction
In the study of Cai [9], the BPM was applied to instructional management in colleges and some concrete processes were designed and executed. But the stages of implementation and evaluation were not stated.
（1） Setting up assistantship positions: setting up assistantship
In the stage of identification & extraction, educational process is identified as specific phases with activities. There are three types of the graduate financial aid in the case, scholarship, assistantship and student loan. Owing to three processes are very similar, we take the assistantship management process as an example to discuss the process identification & extraction. The process of the assistantship management is identified as three phases with some activities: positions, rates and the time available for application. （2） Applying for assistantship positions: starting up for the
application process by the administrator, students’ previewing the assistantship positions and rates, students’ filling out, checking, modifying and submitting application forms.
Although there were some suggestions and practices of BPM in education in existing studies, we could not find the specific and concrete approaches to implement educational process management (EPM) with IT support.
（3） Review and notification of the application for assistantship
3. RESEARCH METHOD
positions:review by tutors (advisors), approval by departments and the university, generating confirmation records and outputting reports.
In this study, we firstly propose a framework of EPM supported by IT based on the operation cycle of BPM. And then we take a university as study case to discuss in detail the main stages of the operating framework. Finally we demonstrate the effects of using the framework to improve efficiency of management in the university.
4.1.2 Educational Process Modeling In the stage of modeling, the model for education process was created through the way of using IT tools. We use IBM Websphere Business Modeler 7.0 which widely used for business process modeling, analysis, and process execution to create the model for the assistantship management process described in last section.
The study case is one of top 40 universities in China with the enrollment of 6700 full-time postgraduate students. The university has established its MIS called THEOL for managing postgraduate student affairs. But the THEOL designed with traditional methods could not be used to optimize the management process. As an example, we choose the graduate financial aid management process supported by the THEOL to discuss the main stages of the operating framework and evaluate its validity.
The model for applying for assistantship positions process, the second phrase in the assistantship management process is shown in Figure 1. In the flowchart, the rectangle-shaped box with the words in it represents an activity in process and the words are the description of the activity. The time above the box indicates working duration. The activity is finished by user that is annotated below the box. For example, the second rectangle-shaped box in the flowchart represents the activity named as previewing assistantship positions & rates executed by students. The working duration for students previewing assistantship positions & rates is 8 minutes.
We recruited five graduate students majoring in educational technology to use the THEOL to apply for graduate financial aid. They wrote down the time during which one of the activities in the process was done, and the interval time between two executed activities. And then we calculated the average time spent by five students who finished one activity and the average interval time between two activities run by these students. We called the average time as the working duration for the activity, and the average interval time of two executed activities as the waiting duration for the second activity.
There are the diamond-shaped boxes representing branch points from which two different activities may be next actions depending on the condition is true or false. The percentage above or under the branch lines represents the possibility of the next activity happening. For example, the first diamond-shaped box in the flowchart represents the branch point if the assistantship position is available at the right time when students are previewing it. If no, the process ends,otherwise it goes to the next activity, filling out the application form.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Operation framework of educational process management In the light of the definition of BPM [6], the educational process management (EPM) could be defined as an approach to the systematic management, measurement and improvement of all educational processes through cross-functional teamwork and staff empowerment. It could make the contemporary universities to adapt effectively to an environment with increasing educational needs and expectations with fast-evolving technologies.
The item, resource, role, cost, and time are the basic elements of process analysis. The educational process modeling should cover of all of them. In this case, items include assistantship rates and application form. Personal computers are the main resource used in the process. The user roles involve graduate school administrator, department administrator, tutor (advisor) and graduate student.
The main stages of the operation framework of EPM could be described as identification & extraction, modeling, simulation & analysis, and execution & monitoring.
In this study, we mainly considered the working duration and waiting duration.
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Figgure 1. Modelin ng of the proceess of applying for assistantsh hip positions
44.1.3 Proceess Simulationn & Analysiss
T Table 1. Durattionof applyinggassistantship p positionprocesss Casee1 Case2 Case3 Item All cases
IIn the stage off process simullation & analyssis, we calculatte the eefficiency of educational prrocess accordinng to the woorking dduration and waaiting duration.
Poossibility W Working Duration D
T The IBM Webssphere Businesss Modeler 7.0 provides p two typpes of aanalysis: one iss static analysiss which could sshow all the poossible ccases, while tthe other is ddynamic analyssis focusing onn the ssimulated case. The results froom static analysiis of the applyinng for aassistantship poosition processaare shown in Taable1. There aree three ccases that reprresent three poossible paths in i the process. The pprobability valuue for each pathh (case) is show wn in the secondd row. C Case 3 is show wn in Figure 1 inn which the woorking duration of all aactivities is 22 m minutes.
W Waiting D Duration Total
1000.00%
50.000%
25.00% %
25.00%
16 M Minutes
11 M Minutes 20 Minnutes 22 Minutees
10 M Minutes
20 M Minutes 0 Seconds 0 Secondss
26 M Minutes
31 M Minutes 20 Minnutes 22 Minutees
Thhe average workking duration off three cases is 16 minutes, whhile thee average waitinng duration is 10 minutes. Thenn the total averaage tim me is 26 minutess.
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Fiigure 2. Modeliing of the optim mized process of o applying forr assistantship positions
44.1.4 Proceess Executionn &Monitorinng IIn this stage wee diagnose the pproblems in thee educational prrocess aand optimize management m proocess. Based oon the static annalysis rresults of the appplying for assistantship positioon process, we could ffind that much time was spentt on the activities of ‘fill, checck and m modify the forrm’. The positiions were actuaally allocated to t the sstudents by tuutors or adminnistrators withoout consideringg the aapplication forrms filled by students becauuse of very liimited aassistantships inn the universityy. But due to tthe fact that stuudents ddidn’t fill theeir applicationn form immeediately when they ppreviewed the assistantship positions, thee waiting timee (10 m minutes shown in Table 1) thenn existed.
Taable Ittem
2.
D Durationofoptim mized Alll cases
Case2 C Case3 Case4
Posssibility
100.000%
50.000% 30.00% 100.00% 10.00%
Woorking Durration
13 Min.54s M
11 Min. M 18 Min. 144 Min. 16 Min.
Waaiting
0 Sec.
Durration Total
T To solve this problem, after ddiscussion with the administrattors in tthe university, we proposed an a optimized process p in whicch the aactivities of fillling, checking aand modifying application a form m was rreplaced directlly by the activitties ‘position alllocation’ operatted by ttutors (advisorss), department administrators and graduate sschool aadministrators ((shown in Figuure 2). In this w way, the waitingg time ddid not existed.
Casse1
appllyingassistantsh hip
13 Min.54s M
0 Seec.
0 Sec. 0 Sec. 0 Sec.
11 M Min 18 Min. 144 Min. 16 Min.
positionprocess Thhere are four cases c in the ooptimized applyying assistantsship possition process.T The average woorking durationn of these casess is 13 minutes 54 seeconds, while thhe average waiiting duration iis 0 me is 13 minutees 54 seconds. seccond. Then the ttotal average tim
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analysis, the efficiency of the process is calculated according to the working and waiting times. In the stage of process execution & monitoringthe problems are diagnosedand the educational process isoptimized.
4.2 Evaluation on the operation framework The comparison of the static analysis results between former and optimized applying assistantship position process is shown in Table 3.
Durations
Former process
Optimized process
A case of the graduate financial aid management process in a Chinese university was used to demonstrate how the framework works to improve education process.
Working Duration
16 Minutes
13 Minutes 54seconds
The results of applying the framework in the case show that it can be used to optimize the management process in universities.
Waiting Duration
10 Minutes
0 Seconds
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Total
26 Minutes
13 Minutes 54seconds
Table 3. Comparison between former and optimized process
This study was funded by the project of the Plan of the Beijing Education Science, Web-based System for Quality Monitoring and Control of Educational Management in Universities numbered with CJA10243.
Comparing to the process before optimization, this new one saved more than 12 minutes, it could bring efficient management. The results show that the operating framework is reliable and feasible in the practices of EPM.
7. REFERENCES [1] Zairi, M. 1997. Business process management: a boundaryless approach to modern competitiveness. Journal of BPM, 3(1), 64-80.
As shown in the above discussion, it is easier for us to clarify the inefficient activities in the educational process through using the operation framework with four stages than using traditional analysis methods. The framework is much valuable in the situation where very complicated educational processes supported by the MIS exist.
[2] Brocke, J.and Rosemann, M. 2010. Handbook on Business Process Management 1. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg,15-347. [3] Brocke, J.and Rosemann, M. 2010. Handbook on Business Process Management 2: Strategic Alignment. Springer: http://www.doc88.com/p-998392679097.html.
The description of the optimized process for the applying assistantship position was also used by the software designer to improve the THEOL system in the university.
[4] Bruin, T. and Doebeli, G. 2010. An Organizational Approach to BPM: The Experience of an Australian Transport Provider. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2: Strategic Alignment, Governance, People and Culture. Springer, 2010, 559-576.
Furthermore, the analysis of the educational process is the prerequisite for the inter-college processes composition which will lead to minimize the gaps of management efficiency among different universities.
[5] Kezar,A. 2005. Redesigning for Collaboration within Higher Education Institutions: An Exploration into the Developmental Process. Research in Higher Education. 7(46), 831-860.
This study has its limitations owing to the simulation test with a few participants who used the system for a short time. And other elements of educational process such as the occupancy of resources (like computers), expended costs (like the personnel wages), etc., should be considered to analyze the quality and efficiency of EPM.
[6] Lee, R.and Dale,B. 1998. Business Process Management: a Review and Evaluation, Business Process Management Journal. 4 (3), 214 – 225. [7] Hu, F. 2009.Process Analyses and System Design Based on Business Process Management for Graduate Student Status Management. Postgraduate dissertation (in Chinese).
5. CONCLUSIONS In this study we propose an operation framework of educational process management (EPM). The four stages of the framework include identification & extraction, modeling, simulation & analysis, and execution & monitoring. In the stage of identification & extraction, educational process is identified as specific phases with activities. In the stage of modeling, the model for education process was created through the way of using technology tools. The IBM Websphere Business Modeler 7.0 was used in our case where a flowchart illustrated the sequence of all activities in the process. In the stage of process simulation &
[8] Ewy, W. R. and Gmitro, A. H. 2009. Process Management in Education: How to Design, Measure, Deploy and Improve Organizational Processes. Quality Press. [9] Cai, L., Song, H.,andPeng, Y. 2011.The Application of BPM in Educational Management of New Colleges. Higher Educational Research and Evaluation (in Chinese). 10, 5152.
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