Delivering real improvement
Recent assignments
IT Services
Since August 2007, Andrew Kearns of Hartswood Management Ltd has been working with the management consultancy company Consult Avila Ltd, to provide IT services to a data research company.
Inventory Reduction with JustOne Consultancy
Hartswood Management has been working with JustOne Consultancy(http://www.justoneconsultancy.com/) to deliver a multi-site inventory reduction programme for a major aerospace manufacturing company. The JustOne client has a good track record of manufacturing improvement. However they identified JustOne as having an approach which would assist them to deliver a major programme of inventory reduction by building on their improvement experience. Hartswood Management worked with JustOne to develop an appropriate approach which would work in a wide variety of manufacturing sites. In particular Hartswood Management developed an Inventory Reduction Mini Guide which describes some vital approaches and techniques for delivering the necessary improvements.
NAA Business Requirements (November 2005 to July 2007)
Hartswood Management is providing project management support for the development of a solution specification for a system designed to administer the Diploma (a new qualification scheduled for first teach in September 2008).
NAA Modified Papers (May 2005 to January 2006)
Project Management expertise was provided to the National Assessment Agency (NAA) in the development of a major enhancement to the CDAA web-tool (see below). This tool allows schools and colleges to apply on-line for modified papers for visually-impaired and hearing-impaired students for general qualifications (GCSEs and GCEs). Exam centres are able to make one on-line application for all awarding bodies rather than using separate paper forms as at present. The tool also allows centres to select papers from the results of searches rather providing the details of the papers themselves which can result in errors. This project forms part of the NAA's modernisation agenda which is seeking to reduce the administrative burden associated with the exams system in schools and colleges. This web tool can only be accessed by authorised users though a training version can be seen using the following URL:
http://www.modernisationonline.co.uk/cdaa/sessiontimeout.aspx
NAA Centre Consultation (February to May 2005)
Hartswood Management provided project management and facilitation support to the National Assessment Agency (NAA) for running a programme of consultation with exam centres in England. The purpose of consultation was to obtain feedback on proposals for reducing the administrative burden associated with the exams system for general qualifications (GCSEs and GCEs). During this period over 200 exams officers from schools and colleges in England were consulted. The NAA team for the consultation consisted of facilitators, business analysts, information architects and process experts and was supported by staff from the 3 unitary awarding bodies in England. The consultation programme consisted of 3 phases - phase 1 was used to obtain feedback on proposals developed with the awarding bodies; phase 2 involved workshops to develop more detailed proposals involving the use of wire-framing; phase 3 involved a wider consultation on these detailed proposals. The output from the consultation programme was used to specify the business requirements for a system to modernise the administration of exams.
NAA Centre-delegated Access Arrangements web-tool (Oct 2004 to Mar 2005)
Hartswood Management provided project management support to the build and implementation of a web-tool which allows exam centres to register the access arrangements provided for candidates with particular needs, on-line. This web-tool was developed by a third party supplier to a specification developed with 4 awarding bodies. The implementation required actions associated with centre training, awarding body implementation as well as the hosting arrangements. This project forms part of the NAA's modernisation agenda which is seeking to reduce the administrative burden associated with the exams system in schools and colleges. This web tool can only be accessed by authorised users though a training version can be seen using the following URL -
http://www.modernisationonline.co.uk/cdaa/sessiontimeout.aspx
NAA Inter-board Searchable Timetable (Oct 2004 to Feb 2005)
Hartswood Management co-ordinated the NAA input into the development of a web application which provides exam centres with the ability to develop their exam timetables on line. This tool was developed in partnership between the NAA and the 5 awarding bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was necessary for the partnership to agree both the functional requirements and the data input. This project forms part of the NAA's modernisation agenda which is seeking to reduce the administrative burden associated with the exams system in schools and colleges. This site is available to the general public and can be accessed through the URL below -