Awarding Body IT and IT Solutions
Portico Consulting has been working with awarding bodies since 2000 and
has developed and supported bespoke IT solutions for them since 2001.
We are committed to ongoing development of IT solutions and consultancy
services for awarding organisations - the Quartz system being our main
offering in this market.
Portico is an associate member of the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB)
and we are actively involved in contributing to national debates and
developments which affect information and business processes for awarding
organisations.
Development of the Quartz system
In
2000 Portico Consulting undertook a major review of the systems used by
a national network of 28 awarding bodies. Following this work, Portico
developed the “OPUS” system - a comprehensive system designed to support
operations of the 28 awarding bodies.
Portico implemented the OPUS system at each of the awarding
bodies. All implementations included both supporting the organisation’s
change management process, technical installation, and data migration from a
wide range of legacy systems. Portico subsequently provided support of the
system, including 1st line user support, bug-fixing, developments, all
day-to-day system and database maintenance.
Portico has continued to maintain a long-term interest in providing IT
solutions to awarding bodies. In 2006 we began work on Quartz: a
completely new system designed to meet the needs of awarding bodies given
the changing demands of the market and regulatory framework. Quartz went
live in October 2007 at Ascentis (a national awarding body formerly known as
Open College of the North West), and has since been deployed at a further
four awarding bodies with another planned to be live at the end of 2009.
Technical & consultancy services
In addition to the Quartz system, we offer a range of technical and
consultancy services for awarding organisations and their partners.
Technical work can be in conjunction with the Quartz system, for example
integration between Quartz and other local systems, or independently such as
new bespoke developments or advice on IT matters.
Please see 'Other Services' for
examples of the range of services that we provide.
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