Miscellaneous software package and computer systems

Tender description

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is seeking to procure a Student Attendance Monitoring solution which incorporates attendance data capture, early warning/alerts and student tracking and workflow management. The solution will integrate with its existing Timetabling, Student Record, Student Portal and Data Warehouse systems to enhance student engagement monitoring and support. This sets out requirements for the above solution, provided under a single contract which could have elements sub-contracted. MMU has over 34 000 students with several hundred indoor spaces and various outdoor spaces in which it would like to collect data about student attendance. The requirement is to capture the student's location in one of the following spaces at a specified time. Indoor spaces vary in size from small seminar rooms seating 10 students through large lecture theatres seating 250 students to a multi-function Hall with a capacity of 350; there are also shared spaces such as workshops and circulation spaces used for break-out sessions and informal learning. Outdoor spaces include sports pitches and field trip locations. A breakdown of approximate room sizes and numbers of rooms is provided in Appendix A. For each type of space (indoor and outdoor) and each sub-type (seminar room/classroom, lecture theatre, laboratory, foyer/atrium, sports pitch, field trip, etc.), a proposal is sought on the most appropriate forms of data collection technologies and details of how operational monitoring of these devices/systems is performed. In order to evaluate the extent to which a student is engaged with their timetabled activities, the Attendance Data Capture solution must compare actual with expected attendance and factor in any notified absences. The Attendance Data Capture solution must therefore interface with MMU's timetabling system (Scientia Syllabus+) containing personalized timetables and provide a data entry mechanism for notified absences. Students and MMU administrators must be able to view student's attendance history and there is a requirement for some reporting functionality from the system to supplement those provided in the Engagement Dashboard (fed from the Data Warehouse). The intention is that the solution should be integrated with the Student Portal, however a short term interim solution will be considered due to time constraints. In order to provide follow up actions MMU require a student tracking system where communications and engagements with students are recorded and managed. The solution should be externally hosted. An option to host internally in the future would be of interest.