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Martin Hamilton is based at Loughborough University and is working on the PIPaL (Process Improvement Pilot at Loughborough) project….

What is PIPaL?

We are looking at how university manages its external relationships.  This includes fundraising, links with business and processes such as transition of prospective students into undergraduates and postgraduates.  We are working closely with members of the university’s executive management group and will be producing a case study for dissemination to the community as our major output.What problems/issues is PIPaL tackling?This is an area known as customer relationship management.  At present there are many computer and paper-based systems in use at most institutions and it is atypical for there to be any overarching IT system supporting this activity.  JISC is funding 20 projects working in this area to further develop a best practice model produced by an earlier project at Nottingham University.What developer communities have you been involved in and if none, why not?Its not developer communities in this case, its stakeholders – particularly the senior university managers in external facing departments, such as the Director of Marketing and the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Enterprise.  As there are a large number of projects working in this area, we are keeping in touch with each other via blogs and Twitter (#rminhe)What is the coolest or most exciting thing in educational software development?Right now, I think e-portfolios are very exciting, offering the potential for life-long learners to build up a showcase of the work that they are most proud of and take it with them from institution to institution.  At Loughborough we are partnering with Google for student email and collaborative working, and it is clear that there is potential for taking this concept forward with partners such as this. ]]> http://devcsi.ukoln.ac.uk/2009/09/04/interview-martin-hamilton-pipal-project/feed/ 0