Web Enabled Line Of Business system
The Open University is the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning with around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students.
Open University Validation Services [OUVS] offers a comprehensive institutional approval and programme validation service for providers of higher education worldwide who do not have their own degree awarding powers. OUVS asked Octavia to develop a web interface for their key "Valencia" software. Valencia is a line of business system for managing institutions, registrations, students and other entities related to the OUVS core activities. From a technology viewpoint, Valencia comprises of a MS SQL Server database, hosted in a managed data centre in Milton Keynes, with a Windows application deployed to user desktops in the main London office.
We performed a full requirements analysis and worked closely with OUVS staff to agree a user interface that would be as intuitive as possible, minimising the user training required. In addition to the user functionally required, a key requirement of OUVS was that their in-house software development team would be able to easily maintain the solution, post implementation.
The software was architected and written using Microsoft's ASP.NET, with C# being utilised as the primary programming language. Using Feature Driven Development (FDD), we were able to iterate the software development in conjunction with the OUVS software developers to allow them to gain an understanding of the application during development. We also undertook a short training programme for the OUVS development team, to allow them to fully support the application.
The project was an overwhelming success: delivery was on time and on budget and the application has been widely accepted by the users.
Sarah Morrell from OUVS commented:
"It was a pleasure working with Octavia: they are a first-class software development company. They worked with us work to design a cost-effective solution for our requirements and then implemented that solution to the highest standards."
