For anyone who may need a refresher… Program Beacon – a key project that sits within the Student Success Strategic Framework – brings together a number of student-centred projects to support and enable the delivery of our new 2020 courses and curriculum.

It’s certainly been a busy year so far, and as we look ahead to the second half of 2019, things don’t appear to be slowing down.

In fact, with the recent release of our Curriculum Management System (MQCMS) – and two more releases to follow – and student migration now well and truly in sight, the momentum is set to continue. Let’s take a look at the various streams of work under the Program Beacon umbrella to find out what’s been happening and what’s up next.

Curriculum Management System ­– MQCMS

Who hasn’t heard that our new Curriculum Management System MQCMS went live on 17 July? For those who have, the project team is happy to report that it’s being adopted well by Faculties, with over 230 proposals (course and unit) entered into the workflow of the new system. Two more MQCMS releases are planned for between now and April 2020, which will deliver a Handbook and Double Degree Advisor,  as well as a new CourseFinder for students.

The MQCMS replaces Web Forms, Handbook Admin, Web Handbook and our current CourseFinder, and was designed to support ongoing curriculum management. It will deliver greater consistency in the way we manage our curriculum and course information, drive improved efficiencies for staff, provide a single source of truth, and greater transparency, for anyone using the system.

Student Curriculum Implementation Project (SCIP)

SCIP has two streams of activities: firstly, there’s a technical component to configure AMIS with the new curriculum structures as well as an impact assessment of other student systems; and Student Migration.

The first half of 2019 was spent planning and preparing for the migration of approximately 47,000 current students across to our new curriculum in 2020. Now with the migration only a matter of weeks away, the preparation is paying off with Faculties having submitted most of their student transition plans and preparing their Faculty Student Centres for any enquires or support students might require through migration. As the final few student transitions plans are submitted, the project team continue to work closely with Faculties around student cohort planning and navigating the complexities associated with the various student scenarios that they will be managing.

With 1 October earmarked for the official commencement of student migration, it’s certainly time to start talking to students about what they can expect. With this in mind, a comprehensive student communications plan has been developed, with the clear aim of ensuring students understand the changes associated with the new curriculum – pre, during and post-migration, during migration and post-migration – and what they need to do.

Student Migration Communications

Part of the SCIP project, the student communications activity has a dedicated focus and plan to ensure students receive simple, clear communication about their new 2020 study plans, and feel supported and informed about any changes to their course. The planned communications are a mix of general awareness messages, direct messages to all students as well as specifically tailored messages to student cohorts. The comprehensive plan also focusses on providing ‘on the ground’ support and advice, and prepares student facing teams (in and out of faculties) to support students through this transition.

We are now in phase two of the communication and engagement plan which introduces general details about some of the changes and drives large-scale awareness with students about the migration in October. Phase three communications, commencing in October, will centre around the roll out of 2020 study plans and will ensure students have all support and information they need to enrol for 2020. Communications have also re-iterated Macquarie’s focus on investing in our students’ success. Student communications and information for staff can be found on the Program Beacon Hub wiki page.

Student Management System (SMS) Cloud Upgrade

In short, this project aims to significantly improve the way our students interact with us (via our systems) and the way we interact with them. It encompasses the modernisation and standardisation of AMIS functionality as well as the upgrade to a cloud-hosted version of the system and will actively support student migration in October. The SMS project will also deliver a OneID sign-on for staff. Watch this space for progress updates coming soon.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

This project is about to really ramp up. The CRM project under Beacon will enable staff to provide a more personalised and informed service for our students. It will also deliver improved workflow efficiencies and reporting capabilities for staff through effective integration of systems. The body of work around CRM commences next month (September 2019) so keep your eye out for more information in the coming months.

E-student Login Portal

The ‘E-student Login Portal’ project will deliver a single sign-on and more streamlined enrolment process for students. If you think about how many times you’ve wished for single sign-ons – at work or elsewhere – it goes without saying that the overall experience for students who interact with us via our systems will greatly improve as a result of this work. Work on our  ‘E-student Login Portal’ will commence in September 2019.

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Program Beacon is making good progress and hitting all of its major milestones, but as you can see there’s still plenty more to do. The project team is committed to keeping the University community updated along the journey so will post updates via This Week. If staff have any questions or would like to subscribe to Beacon Bytes – the Program Beacon newsletter – they can email beacon@mq.edu.au or visit the Program Beacon wiki page for more detailed information.