Edition 1 2021

Delay to launch date

The SMS Project Steering Committee met on Thursday 11 February 2021 and accepted the recommendation to delay the implementation of the May 2021 SMS Go Live, with a new target date of 4 October 2021.

Currently, Western is also preparing to go live with a new federal government reporting system called TCSI (the Transformation of the Collection of Student Information).  All higher education institutions are required to start reporting through the new TCSI system on 31 March 2021.  There were some significant risks to the go-live of the SMS at the same time as TCSI reporting is starting and this decision to delay the SMS reduces that risk to our successful transition.

The proposed 4th October target date has been discussed with key operational areas and has been deemed the most suitable.  It falls after the census date but before exams for the Spring 2021 session, and before the main UAC rounds for students commencing in Autumn 2022.  The final confirmation of this date and risk mitigation strategies related to it will be discussed and agreed at the upcoming March meeting of the SMS Steering Committee.

Preparing the launch pad

There is plenty we can all be doing between now and October to prepare for the new SMS.

Go live 5

Boosting our SMS knowledge

Since October 2020, over 130 staff from around Western have been doing testing with us to confirm that the new SMS works as it has been configured.  The testing scenarios have covered activities across the student lifecycle, from admission and enrolment through to graduation.

For many, this has been the first time they have had the opportunity to use the system independently and see how it will work.  We are excited to be opening up the new system for people to experience for themselves and we have received some great feedback so far.

We have also been parachuting into School Forums and other meetings around Western to talk to teams about the SMS and show them some of what the new system looks like.  There is so much we are excited to share and we look forward to doing much more of this!

With more time until go-live, there are more opportunities to get into the system, test scenarios and experiment in our Training environment – a dedicated SMS environment just for you.  Nothing you can do in the system will break it, so boldly go and get in touch with us about how you can start getting into the new SMS.

What do you want to explore next?  

Let us know if there’s an SMS topic or feature you’d like to hear more about and we will include it in the next edition of the newsletter.