TechnologyOne wins $12m contract to overhaul TAFEWA student portal

TechnologyOne has won a $12 million contract with the WA government to develop a new student management portal for TAFEWA.

The three-year contract, with two two-year extension options, was awarded in late 2016 and will replace a government-developed system and be implemented in TAFE campuses across the entire state.

The student portal software will allow colleges to manage administrative tasks for students and allow students to access information including timetables and their course results.

TechnologyOne executive chairman Adrian Di Marco said the platform, called OneEducation, would roll out over the next 10 months.

“OneEducation will support all TAFEWA institutes and 134,381 students, taking the total number of students being supported by the solution in Australia to more than one million,” he said.“We will work closely with the TAFEWA team to ensure the solution is configured to meet their needs.

Di Marco said the OneEducation management portal had already proven successful in other Australian campuses.

“The solution is currently fully operational in eight Victorian TAFEs, two dual sector universities and is now being deployed to all TAFEs in the TAFE Queensland network,” he said

“OneEducation will enable TAFEWA to streamline business processes, reduce duplication of data and enhance strategic management.”

Dr Ruth Shean, WA Department of Training and Workforce Development director, told CRN that TAFE colleges were in need of a new system that could meet the needs of TAFE campuses for the next decade.

“The current suite of business systems was developed in-house by the Department over a period of 20 years,” she said.

“The current systems include components that are now obsolete and are unable to deliver the functionality required for, or support necessary business changes within the evolving TAFE sector.”

There are 30 TAFE campus locations across Western Australia, and 134,381 students enrolled in TAFE-based training in the state last year, according to the DTWD 2015/2016 annual report.

Shean said TechnologyOne’s proposal met sector-wide requirements when TAFEWA examined the need to upgrade its student portal. She said the product would enable TAFE to implement efficient processes to reduce the current administrative workload and improve student services.

TechnologyOne did not respond to questions prior to the time of publication. The Brisbane-based software developer is no stranger to big government contracts, last year winning a $10 million contract with the Department of Agriculture.

The company made $41.3 million last year, with revenues up 14 percent on the previous year to $249 million for the year ending 30 September 2016.