Introduction  {GSYS2-5} / {RPMAIN}

The contents of this manual are:

The reader is referred to Section 1.2 for an overview of this system.

It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the general operation of the menus and the keyboard.  These matters are fully discussed in User Manual OPS, “Operational Aspects of ITS Systems”.

The reader is reminded that the copyright of the ITS systems and documentation remains with ITS, and that users thereof are contractually prohibited from providing information thereon to third parties, such as other educational institutions.

1.2.Overview Of The 3 Year Rolling Plan System

In 1998, the South African Department of Education started the process of designing a new way to fund tertiary education, the so-called Three Year Rolling Plan information.  As part of the design process, and possibly the basis of a new funding system which will replace the SAPSE system, institutions are required to submit plans and projections instead of historic data. The projections had to be done for the future three years, for example, in 1998 an institution had to submit projected figures for 1999, 2000 and 2001.  (The projections are then based on 1998 data, but projected to 1999, 2000 and 2001.)  The projections would then “roll over” to the next year, for example requiring the institutions to submit projections for 2000, 2001 and 2002 in 1999.  Although the format in which the projections have to be submitted has not been fixed as yet, we believe that it will be based on the projection of subject enrolments.  Since the reports and projections will in future be statutory requirements, we have so far designed this pilot version of a subsystem in which we can assist our clients in planning and reporting on their plans.

This new subsystem will, for the time being, focus mostly on facilitating the process of capturing the data and projecting student enrolment figures.  The two most important parts of this system are therefore, firstly, the method of storing all enrolment data, and, secondly, the ways in which the system assists the users in doing projections on the data.  The subsystem does not have a large number of reports as yet, since the exact specifications from the Department have not been finalised.  (By this we mean that the Department has specified that simplified versions of the SAPSE Tables 2.7, 2.9.1 and 2.12.1 must be handed in, but they have not specified which simplifications are allowable and which are not.)  The reports that are provided are mostly intended to assist the user in planning, as well as to provide information in a roughly format as required by the Department of Education.

This new Three Year Rolling Plan subsystem has been designed to enable the users to project simple subject enrolment figures and to set parameters for the projections.  The system will then automatically do the calculations needed for the projections and produce reports in the correct format.  The subsystem is separate from the student subsystem and from other reporting systems, since this will enable the institution to keep the projected figures “separate”, and not to contaminate the actual student figures with the projections.

This subsystem will now be discussed in more detail, by taking the menu options one by one.

A comprehensive system of access control applies to these modules (refer Section 5 of the General Support System User Manual (GSS) for further detail).

1.3.  Linking To Other ITS Systems

This subsystem is fully dependent on other ITS systems for its functioning, especially the ITS Student subsystem, and the completeness and accuracy of the data in these systems is therefore of prime importance.

2.1.  Overview Of General Method

The first thing to do when preparing for a new reporting period, is to update or insert the System Cycle on {RPMNT} to indicate the correct year and cycle.  More details about how to set this option are given in subsection 2.2, below.  Next, the user should ensure that all relevant student data items are as correct as possible.  There are various validations in the ITS Student subsystem which can be used to validate the correctness of data, especially in the Registration and Student Maintenance subsystems.

The user can then go on to populate the subject enrolment data and to set the parameters for the projection calculations.  This process is discussed in more detail below.  The calculations can then be done, printed and updated by hand where necessary.  Note that the system will generate reports in the format of simplified SAPSE tables 2.9.1, 2.12.1 and 2.7, as currently required.  Finally, there is also a report that will print the differences between projected and actual figures, to be used once the actual figures are recorded, namely one year after submission of the rolling plan information.

We will now look at the different available menu options in more detail.  The menu options are not necessarily discussed in the order in which they appear on the menu structures, but are rather discussed in a rough order of use.