Now that you’ve got AVETMISS squared away where do you need to focus next? Chances are if you’re registered with ASQA you’ll be thinking about the National Skills Standards Council (NSSC) Quality Indicator reports. In particular you’ll be paying close attention to the looming 30th June 2013 deadline for submission. So as a BluegemEXPLORE SMS user what do these deadlines mean for you? More importantly how can you use your SMS to ensure that you meet the deadlines and be deemed 100% compliant with minimal effort and cost?
Bluegem is unashamedly leveraging the power of the AQTF Quality Indicator Surveys (AQIS). ACER, the providers of this service have both the experience as developers of the Survey Management, Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART) and a comprehensive solution for facilitating online and paper based data collection and reporting. The tool provides all the reports you’ll need as an RTO. You can also add your own management reporting requirements over and above those required for compliance. There is a cost for the AQIS Quality Indicator reporting services but it is minimal and will save you hours of time. So when faced with the question ‘Should we develop a survey system built into the SMS?’ the answer that rang loud and clear was another question “Why on earth would you want to reinvent the wheel?” If AQIS has provided this excellent tool, why don’t we just make it easy for you to choose your survey sample and access the full power of AQIS? And that’s exactly what we did. By the way these processes are clearly described in the user manual and demonstrated in the video library, but just for completeness I’ve summarised them here.
In BluegemEXPLORE 2012 and 2013 you first make sure the AQIS recommended email is configured and personalised with your RTO’s message. Then when you’re ready to run your online surveys you can access your Quality Indicator reporting under the BluegemEXPLORE Compliance tab. follow a few easy wizard steps to select your survey audience of learners and employers. Select the right Learner and Employer email template for each group and click the send button.
1. Each recipient will receive a clear set of email instructions with an AQIS link to the Online Survey(the survey link is provided by AQIS once you have signed up to their service)
2. The recipient will click the link to go to the appropriate online survey and complete it.
3. Now you as the RTO can use your login to collect any number of reports designed both for you and ASQA
4. As an AQIS client the reports are available to you to download and submit whenever you’re ready
5. Job done!
But what if Online Surveys are not right for you. For example you may have decided that the best time to get learner surveys done is when all the learners have just completed a course and before they leave the room. In that case the paper based forms are better for you. No problem, you can still download the formal Learner Questionnaire, add your own survey questions if necessary. Once learners have completed the surveys they can be scanned and uploaded to AQIS for processing. The rest is as described above.
If you’d like to learn more about the AQIS service – read this report. It covers the reports generated, the service access, costs and will hopefully answer any questions you have. AQIS Ref: http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/2011-2012_AQIS_Technical_Report.pdf
NOTE: Just in case you were wondering “Why can’t I continue to use my SMART software?” the answer is you can. However, be aware that ACER is no longer being funded to maintain and support SMART. So you run the risk of falling out of compliance if and when the rules change.
Complying with this QI couldn’t be simpler. Under the Compliance tab in BluegemEXPLORE 2012 and 2013 editions you’ll find a wizard to help you generate your Organisation, Qualifications and Units of Competency completion reports.
In addition to the Quality Indicators the Data Provision section makes reference to the other data to be collected:
BluegemEXPLORE TMS 2012 and 2013 editions both provide a Resource Library, or Document management system (DMS) that can be used to securely store and retrieve related documents and data.
As above. Use the Resource Library to store and retrieve such documents.
BluegemEXPLORE TMS 2012 and 2013 editions provide the Staff Qualifications Register. This tool is the ideal place to store and manage information about all staff members and is used to capture: capabilities (e.g. Course and Units that a Trainer / Assessor can deliver / assess), relevant experience, continuous professional development, performance reviews, and related documents that can be retained as evidence.
The Resource Library can be used as described earlier to capture and retrieve this information.
These can be stored against employee or contract staff in the resource library with details registered in the Staff Qualifications Register.
BluegemEXPLORE SMS 2012 and 2013 editions both offer a Resource Planner that enables RTOs to plan track and manage all resources and activities. Resources can include People, Venues, and Other; which can be sub categorised into: equipment, course ware, catering, accommodation, flights, transport, and contract services to name just a few. In conjunction with a fully wizardized calendar the management of these resources and delivery modes is quick, accurate and easy. There is even and Expense manager to accurately track the cost of resource usage. Various staff members have secure and reliable access to the information they need to see in the Resource Planner.
The BluegemEXPLORE SMS can easily demonstrate this requirement through reports, data exports and compliance records as well as on screen.
We don’t believe it is the role of a student management system (SMS) to attempt to manage insurance details, however evidence can again be retained in the Resource Library by way of scanned or electronic documents. You could also implement reviews and reminders as tasks in the Resource Planner. These tasks can be linked to email and SMS alerts via the Job Scheduler. That way you could trigger a review of Insurance renewal requirements.
BluegemEXPLORE SMS 2012 and 2013 editions make this possible through a comprehensive student records management system procedures. All students are stored in a database and linked to their respective records via database relationships. Not only that, but the compliance manager keeps track of all students who have / have not been surveyed. So at any time you could demonstrate to an auditor exactly which of your students have been invited to complete a survey in conjunction with the AQIS reports to determine which of them have actually completed surveys.
BluegemEXPLORE SMS makes light work of your Data Provision requirements and there is absolutely no need to lose any sleep over them. Rest assured that providing you have been entering the right data into the TMS and know how to use the Compliance wizards, you will be compliant for the 30 June 2013 deadline.