Latest Technology Meets Tradition at Loughborough College

When it came to replacing their 10-year old payroll and personnel system Loughborough College of Further Education didnít let tradition stand in their way.

Loughborough College has operated at the heart of its Leicestershire community since 1909. With its main campus in Loughborough itself and a number of satellite centres within the local community the college has grown to meet the challenges of each new generation. But this history of success didnít come from being backward in the use of technology as Tim Worthington, the collegeís Personnel Manager, explains:

ìOur existing personnel system and accompanying payroll bureau service were considered ëleading edgeí when they were installed in the middle of the 1990s. But the college has moved on and the requirements for using personnel information as an essential aid to strategic management and decision making meant it was time to look at a new solutionî.

Loughborough College enrols around 11000 students a year for an increasing number of courses including full time learning at further and higher education levels and part-time learning, distance learning, on-line learning and in-company learning opportunities. With a commitment to lifelong learning and supporting the community the diverse range of courses, interests, disciplines and vocational areas being provided requires around 900 members of staff.

ìWhen World Service from Software for People made it to the short-list we were impressed by its flexibilityî continues Tim Worthington. ìThe ease with which different contracts and pay rates for lecturers could be set-up was very impressive. We have a relatively small team of professionals in the payroll and HR department but World Service makes it easy for them to process the day to day operations and meet all the deadlinesî.

The college has joined the growing number of institutions in Further and Higher Education to standardise on the World Service HR and Payroll solution from Software for People. Loughborough College has elected to use the Payroll Bureau Service option as this suits their current requirements. The system is based on the industry-standard Microsoft SQL Server database technology and is deployed across the collegeís local area network (LAN).

ìWorld Service is up to date technology that also has the potential to grow with the college. At the moment we are not implementing Employee Self-Service or Online Timesheets but it was an important part of the selection process that the chosen solution could provide these and other advanced facilities when we require them. Future-proofing was one of our key selection criteriaî, added Tim.

The implementation of World Service at Loughborough College was achieved smoothly, the system going live in just over a month from initial installation.

ìThe selection process for the new system involved the whole team in drawing up a clear set of requirements and objectivesî, explains Peter Samways, Director at Software for People. ìThe same focused approach helped us to achieve a very efficient implementation at the collegeî.