Ilm Problem Solving

Background

I work for Dudley College, which is an education based organisation who employ approximately 850 staff; we are the second largest employer in Dudley borough.

The college is 148 years old and located within the Black Country

We predominantly work with students, who wish to further their education, but we also work with employers who wish to train or re train their staff, I mainly work with employers.

I have been with the college a little over 5 years; I currently have two roles within Dudley College.

My main title is Conference and Commercial Provision Administrator, which means that I look after the day to day running of the conference centre in which you can hold a meeting or an event.

The conference centre can hold up to 500 people at any particular time and I look after the organisation of this from the first point of contact to the delivery of the meeting/event.

My second role is to look after the booking of all full cost (commercial Provision) courses run throughout the college from first enquiry, the booking of tutors, checking that the course is viable to run, and confirmation of attendees on the course, invoicing and tailoring a variety of courses to suit a wide range of employers.

Description of the problem

There is an increasing demand for full cost courses across the college. However, we lack a robust system for taking bookings for short courses. I.E. one or two days.

The current process for this type of course is that:

* Centres identify the programme and usually input it on to the internet via the business planner. However, not all courses have imported on to the internet.

* Learners apply on line to attend the course.

* Application is forwarded to admissions.

* Admissions forward it to whoever is booking the course.

* Centre contacts the learner to confirm application and place on the course.

* No payment is taken beforehand; Payment is on the day or invoiced after the course.

The root of the problem...