CISG / HESA / UCAS / SLC Seminar

Transcription

1 CISG / HESA / UCAS / SLC Seminar 15 th January 2015 Student Application Volumes 1,2 million student finance applications assessed 92% of AY14/15 anticipated application volume received 1

2 Update on AY 2014/15 Student Finance 1,6 billion paid on 1 st instalment of Tuition Fees 2 billion of maintenance payments to students Attendance Reporting Liability Period 1 AY No. Returns No. HEPs 13/14 772, /15 788,

3 Digital Delivery Digital by default by 2015 Martha Lane Fox, publishes Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution Not Evolution Shifting 30% of government service delivery contracts to digital channels has the potential to deliver gross annual savings of more than 1.3 billion, rising to 2.2 billion if 50% of contacts shifted to digital. In line with this move, there will be radical improvement to government internet services to provide higher quality and more convenient 24/7 services to users. Central government, wherever possible, must become a digital organisation. These days the best service organisations deliver online everything that can be delivered online. This cuts their costs dramatically and allows access to information and services at times and in ways convenient to the users rather than the providers. The SLC Digital Delivery team was established to transform the online customer experience align with the Digital by default government strategy 3

4 How: at the core of Digital Delivery... Customer led design From concept to delivery, working closely with partner usability company (Nomensa) Engage with customers to truly understand what they want Use customer feedback on core system to guide decisions as we build Test, feedback, change and retest to ensure what we are building meets customer needs Putting the customer first Team built to reflect this goal. Resources within the team include two full-time User Interface designers, a full-time Editor and a User Acceptance Tester Agile methodology Allows delivery of working functionality in small sprints high priority requirements first Analysis and requirements completed an as-needed basis more detail on what we re about to build, less for future builds Cross-functional team to reduce dependencies and increase empowerment to get it done Provides ability to accept feedback and change direction if required Agile is not one size fits all provides a toolbox of techniques which can be used to fit particular needs at different times. Stakeholder engagement Active stakeholder participation through Product Management Group, including representatives from SFE, Wales and NI. SLC, GDS, NASMA, HEIS, BIS all represented to make sure project is effectively addressing the concerns of their constituency Product Owner (a member of SLC senior management team) will take feedback from this group to influence the priorities for the project team, and ensure build is meeting stakeholder expectations Working as part of the Transformation Programme, in tandem with core systems replacement 2013/14 Online Application Process Long time to get through application Application not accessible No view of application status / progress Language overly complex I'm, like, really baffled. It makes me feel a bit stupid. I don't know, it's not worded very well. Form looked broken It was awful, none of the options work properly. I've had to submit it anyway because of the deadline tomorrow. Every option I have tried to do doesn't work properly. Because the button that allows me to change which course I wanted to apply to in some form of sick practical joke was grayed out. I couldn't make any changes. 4

5 2014/15 Application Process Improved navigation Only one question asked at a time Questions and answers stack Help is given at point of need Journey is tailored to each student This is a massive improvement from the 2013 application model, all FAQs are easily accessible during the application and the form is very easy to fill out. Good job. Good, I like the ability to go back and alter answers. Much less daunting than I thought it would be, even on a smart phone!... Continual Focus on Meeting Customer Needs Online analytics Feedback directly from customers Customer satisfaction surveys Feedback from HEPs Feedback from frontline staff User experience testing 5

6 Some of the ways that we use Google Analytics... The Student Loans Company How many people use the site in a given time period And at what time of day... The Student Loans Company 6

7 Real time stats How many users are using your site right now, and what page they are on The Student Loans Company Where your users are located The Student Loans Company 7

8 What browsers they use And what versions... The Student Loans Company How they use the site To see what pages are working well, and ones that are not... Only 51% of users were getting past this page The Student Loans Company 8

9 How successful your changes are We made a change to ask for postcode instead of address, and the conversion increased from 51% to 81% Now 81% of users are getting past this page The Student Loans Company Courses Management Service 9

10 Courses Management Service The Courses Management Service (CMS), is a directory of Higher Education Providers (HEP) and course information which will be used to enable accurate assessments of student finance applications. The Courses Management Service launched early November for 2015/16 Academic Year Full Time course collection. Visit the Courses Management Service page at Key Improvements A modern, simple interface Strong performance, security and stability Enhanced course information for more accurate student assessment Flexibility to respond to changes in policy Protection against fraud 10

11 Course Submission AY 2015/16 39,000 Full Time Courses submitted 50% of anticipated courses SFE Application Launch Jan

12 Courses Service: as-is Courses Service: to-be 12

13 Student Information Service Planned Enhancements Students who never Attended Requested Enhancement - Improve the recording and reporting within the Student Information Service for students who never attend Anticipated Key Outcomes - Create clarity around a student who is Withdrawn and those who have never attended Reduce administrative burden on HEP and SLC on creating and processing Withdrawal CoCs Ensure that funding is correctly descheduled so that SIS Financial reporting can be an accurate reflection of funds to be paid. Allow SLC to identify easily providers who are not undertaking timely Registration activity 13

14 Implicit Confirmation & Clawback Requested Enhancement - To reduce the volume of duplicate attendance confirmations requested from HEPs as the result of a CoC Anticipated Key Outcomes - Create clarity around the A coding, to bring further in line with original description as a positive in attendance code Reduce administrative burden on HEP to reconfirm a reassessment requested within a CoCs Ensure that there is no delay in the clawback of funding, so that negative balance positions are avoided for HEPs, where possible, with timely offsetting activity. Improve system performance by reducing traffic through import files. Implicit Confirmation Prevent un-necessary re-confirmation of attendance and duplication of effort to confirm positively periods already confirmed. Current Process Student entitlement confirmed for Liability 1 First 25% of Tuition Fee paid to HEP Change to students circumstances Students support is reassessed HEP submit a withdrawal CoC before confirming Liability 2 Withdrawal stipulates 25% of the original fee New assessment, including fee amount is passed into SIS HEP asked to reconfirm new fee amount No further action as fee is correct as per payment 14

15 Implicit Confirmation Prevent un-necessary re-confirmation of attendance and duplication of effort to confirm positively periods already confirmed. Proposed Process Student entitlement confirmed for Liability 1 First 25% of Tuition Fee paid to HEP Change to students circumstances Students support is reassessed HEP submit a withdrawal CoC before confirming Liability 2 Withdrawal stipulates 25% of the original fee New assessment, including fee amount is passed into SIS As fee matches the liability confirmed HEP is not asked to reconfirm new fee amount No further action as fee is correct as per payment Implicit Clawback The principle behind Clawback confirmation is to prevent delays between when a CoC is processed that removes liability and re-confirmation of attendance to trigger any Clawback recovery payment. Current Process Student entitlement confirmed for Liability 1 First 25% of Tuition Fee paid to HEP Change to students circumstances Students support is reassessed HEP submit a Transfer CoC before confirming Liability 2 Transfer stipulates all of the original fee should go to new course New assessment, including fee amount is passed into SIS HEP asked to reconfirm new fee amount against new course and zeroed fee against the old course record. No further action as fee is correct as per payment 15

16 Implicit Clawback The principle behind Clawback confirmation is to prevent delays between when a CoC is processed that removes liability and re-confirmation of attendance to trigger any Clawback recovery payment. Proposed Process Student entitlement confirmed for Liability 1 First 25% of Tuition Fee paid to HEP Change to students circumstances Students support is reassessed HEP submit a Transfer CoC before confirming Liability 2 Transfer stipulates all of the original fee should go to new course New assessment, including fee amount is passed into SIS HEP asked to reconfirm new fee amount against new course Automated clawback of fee against the old course record initiated. No further action as fee is correct as per payment Students who can not be Uniquely Identified Requested Enhancement - Replace the UCAS code with SIS Import/Export files with the SLC course code. Anticipated Key Outcomes - Reduction in volume of failed records within Attendance reporting due to no unique identifier between the Course name, location and UCAS code. Reduce administrative burden on HEP on manipulating SIS files. Ensure that Attendance confirmations are received in a timely manner to ensure funding is correctly scheduled. 16

17 Counter Fraud Counter Fraud Measures 1,713 student finance applications investigated 7,7 million of student payments stopped 23 back for every pound invested in fraud prevention 17

18 Fraud Prevention Phishing What HEPs need to do... Report immediately to Where possible submit the original communication so that we can identify the source code Send a list of affected students to cfs@slc.co.uk or telephone Advise student to retain any evidence of phishing scam. Ensure that student addresses are kept securely within their own systems and not available publicly Fraud Prevention Phishing What students need to do... Around 5 days prior to the payment date check and ensure SFE account contact details AND their bank account details are correct If SLC do receive notification of change of bank details we will send a text alert to notify them so if this is wrong they should contact SFE immediately. If they do receive a phishing Report immediately to cfs@slc.co.uk, or telephone Retain all evidence. 18

19 Fraud Prevention CIFAS The UK s Fraud Prevention Service Cifas is the UK's Fraud Prevention Service providing the UK's most comprehensive databases of confirmed fraud data, as well as an extensive range of fraud prevention services, to over 300 organisations from the public and private sectors. Press Release - Beware what you share New publication, designed to highlight the often unexpected dangers of posting too much information online through social networking sites, publication targeted at young people. Sent to Universities and Colleges Downloadable from: Note: You can contact us at any time with any fraud concerns/issues at sanctions@slc.co.uk Further Information 19

20 HEP Services Engagement... 6 Relationship Managers Service Review Forums Student Support Seminar Wokefield 25 th, 26 th 27 th March 2015 Service User Groups HEBSS Steering Group SIS User Group Courses Service User Group IT Software Suppliers Group Further Information... heiinfo.slc.co.uk 20

21 Questions? Kirstin Jackson HEP Services Development Manager Graeme Lindsay Product Consultant, HEP Services 21