Automation of processes in a High School

Context of the project 

The administrative organization within Belgian higher education has become more complex since the appearance of the Landscape Decree (Marcourt). To increase efficiency and improve the student experience, higher education establishments therefore have an interest in automating some of their key processes: student registration, access to courses, libraries and laboratories. It is in this context that we have already automated this type of process within the “Hautes Écoles” of the Brussels Region.

Challenges faced 

Several challenges faced our teams:

• The interconnexion of data bases
• The continuous compliance of the Hautes-Écoles with the legal provisions
• The high availability of access to computing resources for thousands of students and hundreds of teachers

To achieve this, our teams have written and programmed elaborate flows resulting in the automation of processes and transparent use for users.

Other aspects of the challenges faced :

• Multidisciplinary projects for which both mastery of infrastructure management and flow programming are required, particularly in a hybrid cloud environment, where security issues play a key role.

Our approach 

Our approach consists in using as a priority the existing management software (the most frequently used in schools) and then interconnecting them. Thanks to the creation of intermediate databases (tapon), we implement fully automated flows and processes. They can also be complemented by a user interface offering ergonomic and unified use.

Project impact 

We have given several Hautes Écoles the means to process student requests in a fully automated and safe manner during a critical period (administrative registration at the start of the new school year, registration for the various courses and examination sessions) thus reducing their travel and face-to-face administrative procedures. All other access to online resources (libraries, intranet, e-learning platforms) has also been completely digitized and automated. Finally, the Hautes Écoles can rely on our teams to adapt flows at any time according to legal requirements without having to completely reprogram their management software.