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MIS (Management Information Systems)

MIS provide important tools supporting delivery and adding credibility to your organisation. The information is needed to support student tracking, from making enquires, to enrolling in provision, doing assessments to moving on to other opportunities. It lets you get through the inspection and other quality related procedures, track your finances and be audited and, all in all, live in the dynamic environment that we all now work with. In brief, gathering and using information is central to managing the processes of recruitment, teaching and learning, assessment, funding and quality management. To do this, effective, flexible and responsive Management Information Systems are needed.

MIS systems let you:

• Capture information and store it.

• Access stored information easily and manipulate it for your needs, your clients’ needs and your funders’ needs.

• Control flow of information into, around and out of your systems.

•  Work within legislation such as the Data protection Act.

• Manage resources.

• Produce reports for yourselves and outside organisations, such as funders.

• Maintain records needed for quality control.

• Respond confidently to the demands of the Common Inspection Framework.

• Manage and track student records of work, achievement and progression.

• Manage returns to funders and accreditation bodies.

• Record and track outcomes.

• Manage marketing information.

• And a host of other information related functions.

If Management Information Systems are flexible, and relate to the needs of your organisation, your clients and the curriculum that you are delivering, then they work well and effectively. You have to be sure that, whatever systems you use, they suit your purposes and can be customised to do so, are easy to use and allow rapid data entry with rapid and flexible access for reporting purposes.

There are a number of “off the shelf” systems sold by software and other companies, or you can design your own. A simple search using Google or similar will offer a range of suppliers. To see examples of systems used by Exeter CVS, click here