Transforming Trinity

Feature

posted 5 Oct 2004 in Volume 1 Issue 4

After struggling with an ancient administration database that was buckling under the pressure of huge amounts of information, Trinity College London decided to implement a more sophisticated intranet system that would provide easier access to information. Vicky Annis, director of finance at the college, explains how Trinity Online has eased the burden for staff.

Trinity College London is an international examinations board in the performance arts, with a presence in more than 50 countries and serving 6,000 examination centres. Trinity Online, an intranet, assists and streamlines administration of examination sessions and maintains the records of more than one million students. As well as enabling enrolment of candidates for examinations, Trinity Online allows users to view, analyse and print out results for quality assurance and reporting purposes. Access is only granted to registered centres. The intranet is utilised for the entire exam process from application, candidate enrolment, invoicing, examination timetabling, supply-chain management, examiner payments and management, through to certificate production, which is also conducted online.

The need for change

Transforming the way its business operates was not the original driver to transfer Trinity’s administration system of a series of legacy databases and processes to a single, international online system. However, it is seen as a very welcome consequence that puts Trinity in a strong position for future market development and growth.

The original driver was simply to safeguard the integrity of the database. In 2001, we were unsure of how best to proceed. Trinity had been labouring with an ageing administration database and as more information was added to it the slower it became, which reduced productivity while posing a threat to the integrity of the information maintained on the database. We ran the system on an Access database, which allowed us to perform basic administration functions but didn’t have the more sophisticated features we were beginning to realise we would need in the future. The database was reaching capacity and had become difficult to maintain. Incorporating new functionality into it was becoming a problem. Furthermore, over a period of ten years, new products and processes had been bolted onto the system, causing it to slow down and preventing it from operating effectively. Reliability, data integrity, unavailability problems and crashes were also becoming major issues. After discussions with our IT partner, we agreed to develop a UNIX database and intranet that was based on a more robust and scaleable technology and that everybody associated with Trinity’s administration could use. It was important for us that data integrity should not be compromised in the old system or in the future with the new.

The fact that each of our overseas offices and examination centres operated using different versions of the database compounded the problems we had with the old system. Periodically, these offices extracted and sent data to be uploaded into a central database. Not having a single, centralised data source was a major weakness of the old system because the continual flow of updated information resulted in lost, inaccurate and duplicated data as the order of updates was confused. A considerable amount of time was spent reconciling the branch systems around the world with the central one. Additionally, the cost of creating and distributing data extracts on thousands of floppy disks each year was very expensive.

In 2001, we put in place a strategy with our IT partner that would standardise our procedures in the UK and globally by making the database truly central and accessible 24 hours a day, year round, to all users. It would have to address issues such as translation and content management, while delivering these to us at competitive cost. By November 2004, we will have concluded phase three of the project, which involves integrating other Trinity systems with Trinity Online.

Intranet approach

We agreed that the answer was to create a common, online database which would be accessible by all parties associated with Trinity’s administration, but especially administrators and examiners and teachers in the UK and overseas. This intranet-based approach would be the most efficient and easily standardised communications channel between our headquarters and all other parties.

The system has evolved into the key business application for Trinity. It provides candidate entry for examinations, process tracking, contact management, examiner logistics and financial reporting. Compatibility has been maintained with legacy systems to ensure efficient depreciation of the old databases. The intranet exports information to legacy Sun financial systems; our project partner generated a custom Sun format that is downloaded from Trinity via easy-to-use interfaces on the extranet site and then imported into the Sun system.

The system also generates a range of text and Excel files for export and integration with a diverse range of legacy systems. The files cover examiner availability calendars, marketing lists and statistical tools. The information held on

the system and transferred to legacy systems includes calculations of income and expenditure relating to examiners’ itineraries, which cross reference such diverse details as hotel prices, currency rates, travel expenses, examination fees and candidate numbers. It also embodies complex business logic relating to examiners’ remuneration rates.

It is simple enough for occasional users to navigate, yet sufficiently intricate to fulfil the needs of a widely distributed international network operating in a number of languages. We use several techniques, which I’ll describe later, to ensure that data integrity is maintained and that data entry is devolved to end users. Techniques include smart enrolment, with ‘sound-alikes’ using numerical phonetic recognition tools; when a new name is entered we compare its ‘soundex’ string with those for all other candidates names to avoid chances of duplication.

Implementation

Phase one of Trinity Online, which involved the migration of grade examinations and all core systems, was launched in March 2002. Phase two came the following year and involved the addition of various new features for grade examinations, variable fee structures for allowing discounted admission schemes, extensions to support new kinds of examinations, such as the joint-assessment scheme and the integrated skill in English, as well as various other usability enhancements.

Phase three was launched in February 2004 and involved the migration of high-level diploma exams, which were not previously handled by our old system. It also involved more usability extensions to user management and the re-working of the printing engine to make it more efficient and remove some now unused legacy printing interfaces. Some of the major challenges we faced during the implementation included:

Securing employee, partner and customer support

An ongoing programme of prototype workshops, feedback sessions and training days gained employee and partner buy-in. We achieved customer buy-in via an attractive, simplified and faster administration processes; a system built through the eyes of the everyday users.

Integration with legacy systems

We required a system that could integrate a very large amount of information from legacy Access databases, work alongside our financial systems and import/export information to a wide variety of systems.

For example, Trinity Online imported 15 years of examination details and over 100,000 contacts from Access via comma separated value files. It also generated a variety of text and Excel files for export and integration with a diverse range of legacy systems, including Trinity Finance System examiner availability calendars, exam timetables, marketing lists and statistics tools.

Data integrity

As an examination board it was imperative that we maintained the integrity of our data. Working with our solution provider, we ensured the smooth transition of information from the old Access systems and used clever technology to ensure accurate online data input. This technology included smart numerical/ phonetic enrolment (which recognises candidates by the spelling and sound of their name), automatic contact cross referencing, password-permissions settings and automatic archiving and preview screens.

Given the potential pitfalls inherent in a project of this scope, implementation generally ran smoothly and gave us few problems. Good project-management skills, allied to technical excellence and the buy-in programme outlined above, helped with the transition phase and the success of the project.

Content management and translation

We had to get this issue right early on or our users would have reduced faith in the system and therefore might resist the buy-in programme.

Allowing Trinity to assume control of constantly changing content and content management was one of the bigger challenges of the project. We discussed the approach that would be most appropriate to our need and came up with a bespoke content-management solution instead of a packaged one. This solution would meet very specific global client needs, while allowing us to take control of content management at the earliest opportunity. Effectively, we would cut out the middleman, saving time and money.

The content-management solution incorporates a unique mix of programming to produce an automatic editing system that allows all content to be changed without any intervention from our solution provider. The system was developed using online publishing tools previously created for British Airways, Yorkshire Electricity and Imperial Tobacco.

The multilingual challenge

We presented our solution provider with another content-related issue of how best to communicate with users in different languages without recourse to expensive development or packages.

Working closely with us and within their content-management system, the solution provider devised a means of dynamic translation for the site. Their developers built an underlying conversion layer into the code, which allows any phrase or word tag in the mark-up to be interpreted by the server as a word or phrase that can be edited in English or translated into a foreign language. The developers also built a database of translations, which are updated using a simple web interface. The permissions system allows for management of the translation tables to be delegated to Trinity representatives in other countries, thus eliminating the need for translation agencies. The system also defaults to English if no translation is available, rather than failing to operate. This means translations can be added in chunks when the translators have time. The system highlights to the translators which words are currently missing translations.

Website buttons can be the bane of dynamic or multilingual sites because they appear in graphical, rather than text, format. This is because they would usually be handmade by web designers using graphics packages. To get multilingual buttons, you need all the translations in advance for all the buttons so that the designer can make them all at once. However, the developer’s use of dynamic graphic generation code, combined with the underlying conversion code to generate new buttons, has solved this problem. Graphics are created as neccessary on the server, using a portable network graphics format – an open-source graphics file format that isn’t affected by the copyright issues associated with gifs and jpegs. If a translation for a button is changed, the system notices the next time someone requests a page that includes the button and then generates a new version of it. The buttons are generated from blank-button canvases that can be graphically elaborated. The words are then superimposed on to the buttons so they can fit in with the look and feel of the site.

The graphics are cached by the server so that it only creates the button for the first user that needs it. Any subsequent request for that particular button in its colour is served from the cache, rather than re-created, making downloads much quicker. The system automatically crops the wording on buttons whose size is restricted or expands the buttons if the size is not controlled.

Unicode support that is built into the browser was utilised to allow the display of unusual accents, signs and characters. This was essential to allow the system to cope with the vast range of character sets encountered in the names of candidates from all over the world.

Business continuity

Centralising the database will help us to guarantee data integrity by reducing human error and eliminating other factors that could compromise data. Having several databases scattered around the globe increased the threat to data integrity and made any backup strategy something of a nightmare.

We recognised that threats to our data were being multiplied several times over by the old approach. We agreed that in order to optimise data integrity – while ensuring business continuity in the event of a system crash – we should put in place data security that would support the new centralised database.

Data quality has been improved by extending ownership of data to members of Trinity’s global network. Administrators in the field have responsibility for data input. They can see exactly what data the system holds at any time and correct it immediately, if necessary. This, together with the ‘sound-alike’ features discussed above, makes it much easier to avoid duplicates, as they are highlighted immediately on entry. In the future, it will also be possible for Trinity to centrally modify requirements, such as making birth dates or address details mandatory. Meanwhile, data integrity is safeguarded by using password protection and encryption technologies to prevent unauthorised access and information disclosure. Intranets could, in theory, be hacked into and information illegally accessed. We take precautions that greatly minimise such risk. Finely-tuned permission structures and auditing ensure data access is limited to what is strictly necessary. We also ensure that data integrity is complemented by a backup system, which guarantees survival of data in the event of system damage, deliberate damage to the database files or accidental erasure.

Off-site tape backups provide a basic level of data security, while on-site backups allow rapid recovery in case of disaster. The on-site backups are made every two hours during the working day, minimising the cost of lost work if a rollback is required. Further redundancy is achieved by making backups to our solution provider’s own geographically remote server-backup facility on a weekly basis. Keeping backups at a remote location improves data security.

Our data-backup approach is simple, cost effective and suited to our requirements. We don’t need real-time backups because all our important data, such as examination details, is also held on paper and doesn’t change quickly. This means that in the unlikely event of a loss of the database we will lose just two hours of data, which would cause minimal inconvenience. If the backups also suffered a disaster we could rely on database and website copies kept on our solution provider’s server.

Benefits

The state of our database today is a quantum leap forward from what we used to have in place. Trinity now has an intranet system that is robust and uses a common system at one source. Besides the staff’s improved confidence in using it, several other benefits have accrued from its deployment.

The project has seen Trinity change its working practices and set new service standards for the examination board. Business practices that have been standardised include database building, database maintenance and how we communicate. We once faced inevitable delays through phone, fax, airmail and post. Now, the majority of communication is conducted by e-mail and electronic-document transfer.

Trinity Online has improved internal and external communications enormously, especially via an automatic e-mailing system that sends messages on completion of processes or tasks. These e-mails inform the client and the next person involved in the process. Trinity’s clients have never been so well informed about the status of the examination services. In a way, Trinity Online has become a marketing tool.

The overarching benefit of the intranet is that it’s like having everybody in one networked building being instantly aware of the action his or her colleagues have taken. The ability to have different co-ordinators around the globe discussing the same items on their screens without having to invest in an expensive virtual private network is a revolution for us. The same sort of technology allows low-cost integration with legacy systems.

An alternative approach would have been to use the next generation of web services, a technology whose price-performance benefits are as yet unproven, according to some reports. The HTML approach is not only cheap, but has been proven worldwide while allowing for easy integration.

Although the Trinity Online project has been a complex one, we have had a smooth transition to going online and linking to legacy systems. A project of this size could have led to considerable disruption but there has been very little upheaval, something which would not have been guaranteed going down the relatively new web services route.

The efficiency and lower cost of communication has also delivered something that was not a driver of the project, but is, nevertheless, welcome – a cost saving. We expected to see some savings, some of which are appearing, but the main driver of the project was the need to upgrade the database and improve data integrity. Every year, May and June are particularly busy times for Trinity and we needed to guarantee we could get through these months without a dip in performance. We now have a system that we feel we can rely on, is more robust and that will take extra workloads without slowing down.

The main financial gain comes from having a smoother administration process, which saves us time. We are spending less on technology and communications support while cutting totally the cost of supporting the overseas databases that have now been eliminated.

Snapshot of key benefits:

Database integrity is more assured;
Multilingual website can be accessed by users around the world;
Administration of our multinational organisation primarily through Trinity Online, making us much more efficient;
Improved business processes and best practice;
Better communication;
Reduced costs;
Improved customer-relationship management: users enjoy working with Trinity Online and we believe that will lead to more business.

Having an online system that can quickly translate material at low cost is a great boon for us. It is one more way that we can show our overseas staff and associates that we are committed to providing the best service for them and their clients, while at the same time improving business standards. As a result, Trinity Online has evolved into far more than an administration tool – it is a world-class intranet solution.