The Client
Since 1974, Murdoch University has been a university of difference. It has always been associated with environment and conservation, and social justice and inclusion. With more than 25,000 students and 2,400 staff from 90 different countries, Murdoch University takes pride in the positive impact that its graduates, research and innovations have had in Western Australia and around the world.
With thanks to Arzan Patel, Senior Manager for Transformation, at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
The Challenge
“We were using many disparate workload models and systems including Word, Excel, and SharePoint, across multiple schools that also visualised and administered those systems differently. Only a few people were experts, and we wanted and needed more people to be part of that process.
We spent about three months on vendor scope. Our criteria were that it should be easy to use and that it should be rolled out to more than one allocator. We didn’t want anything on the premises that we would have to maintain ourselves and we leaned quite heavily into software that also offered a consultancy service. It needed to be easy to teach, maintain and manage, and to be flexible to add other workflow models we also wanted to use. The workload model needed to be localised to each school.
The workload model needed to be localised to each school. We didn’t want people who shouldn’t have access to those workload models having access to them. We couldn’t control access to the previous workload models when they were in Word or Excel spreadsheets for example.”
The Solution
We chose Simitive’s WAMS because it was the easiest system to use and started our WAMS role out in 2020. Simitive held our hands through the period of implementation of data and helped us develop the structure for our bespoke needs. It was quite easy to get it off the ground. Ultimately Simitive’s WAMS allows us to ensure transparent distribution of workload, and it is an integral part of our whole planning cycle. Now we can see the workload percentages of academics, such as the split between teaching and research supervision, and make necessary adjustments and look at trends.
The Outcome
We have 521,000 hours of work allocated across 17 schools and approximately 1,300 units have been allocated across all teaching periods. This means we have synthesised a lot of information into one coherent plan.
We now have six system administrators, and each college has its own dedicated support for the workload system. We don’t need to engage IT for this purpose. We have most academics allocated. The system helps from a risk standpoint, as we have very strict allocation rules here. This means we can identify academics who are over-allocated and help remedy that.
Another clear advantage is the way we have been able to integrate this system with other student management and curricular management systems. For example, if we add a new curriculum item it automatically syncs with the workload system, and we can easily allocate teaching activities.
Simitive takes a lot of the stress out of allocating workload. They provide fantastic support in a very timely way with very little downtime. They listen to feedback and our needs and take it on board, and we usually see our needs being met in the next free product upgrade. The consistent updates to the product show that Simitive is very responsive and helpful. Using WAMS and working with Simitive is easy.”