* Centralized Method of Accessing Information
* Automated Journalistic Competitions Process
* Automated Survey Program
* Advanced Distributive Learning Technology

Academic Records Management System

Task Objective:
Since the consolidation of the three “information schools”, the Defense Information School (DINFOS) had maintained individual student records using a paper file infrastructure. The primary failure of this methodology is multi-faceted. Specifically, there was the inability for immediate retrieval of student information, including grades. Investigating this concern revealed a vast and complicated matter that made apparent the lack of cooperation between the various teaching directorates and the academic records office. After the discovery process was complete, it became clear that any centralized student information system must also include a central repository for student grades. Additionally, DINFOS was not able to explore the possibility of expanding into learning technologies that involved communicating with students outside the building because essentially there lacked any electronic reference point for each pupil. A variety of issues were identified during the information gathering process:

• How can the customer achieve real-time access to archived student records? (i.e., lookup a student by last name and immediately see what course that person has completed.)

• How can the customer create a centralized system for the maintenance of grades across all course lines, while at the same time maintaining a grading structure for each course that is compliant to the accrediting standards of ATRRS?

• How can the customer prepare itself for advanced teaching technologies, which would enable instructors and students to communicate outside the traditional classroom environment?

• How can the customer properly secure such a system so that only people who need to access certain information may do so? (i.e., protect private information in a secure manner)

Solution:
SEI entered into a comprehensive investigation that involved virtually every employee related to the academic records process. Primarily, the investigation focused on the process related to the flow of students throughout their time at DINFOS. This revealed facts that were, in some cases, directly contradicting the standards by which DINFOS was measured. In many cases, student academic records were not maintained according to required audit levels, nor were grade records maintained to the task level, which is a requirement for the ACE certification.

Similar to the ARMS system development, an administrative module was designed and built for use solely by the DINFOS manpower division. After sufficient time had passed to eliminate various bugs and to add additionally functionality, the second phase of the system began development. This would involve the creation of a web-based portal that would enable multi-point access to the system from anywhere in the building. No additional software is installed on client computers, which is conducive to a cost-saving program of life-cycle reduction.

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