News

March 2010
Inaugural CELCAT User Group in Scotland

On Friday 12th February CELCAT Timetabler users in Scotland and The Borders enjoyed the first CELCAT Scotland User Group meeting held at Glasgow Caledonian University in the CPD suite. 24 users from 17 different institutions attended from as far north as Elgin in Moray, right down to Carlisle.

Ian Grimes CELCAT Account Manager for Scotland opened the day by welcoming all and thanking them for making the effort to attend. Special thanks were offered to June Barton and Shazia Rafiq from GCU for organising the event.

A delegate from each institution then provided a short resume of how their organisation uses CELCAT Timetabler and which additional modules they use such as CELCAT Attendance, or whether Timetabler is linked to their Student Records System etc.

A member discussion followed allowing users to question and discuss with each other about the different ways that CELCAT Timetabler is used and what methods of timetabling they find works well for them so that good practice can be propagated throughout the various organisations.

There was also considerable discussion with CELCAT Attendance Users from institutions interested in using this module for their attendance recording and reporting in the future.

Tim Dix CELCAT Account Manager for South East England encouraged users to sign up for the CELCAT Portal and outlined some of the benefits that can be gained such as access to documentation and additional bespoke software for the CELCAT user community. He outlined too that users can submit articles of interest to the portal to share with others and that users can follow CELCATNorth on Twitter with occasional tweets about new users, upcoming releases, tips and tricks etc.

After lunch the delegates were given a tour of the striking Saltire Centre the focus of learning and student services at Glasgow Caledonian University.
This was followed by Ian Grimes once more taking the rostrum to outline the new developments CELCAT has in store for 2010, including Timetabler Automation, CELCAT PayClaim, Offline Attendance Recording, Generic Plugin, CELCAT Live, Data Warehouse and Web Diary Service. An exciting year ahead!

The day was rounded off by users expressing that the inaugural Scottish User Group Meeting had been a great success and everyone looked forward to meeting again at Moray College in June.

February 2010
Stevenson College Join CELCAT Community

We are pleased to welcome Stevenson College Edinburgh to the approximately 250 colleges using CELCAT Timetabler in the United Kingdom.

Stevenson College Edinburgh (SCE) was founded in 1970 and is one of the largest colleges in Scotland. SCE enrols around 18,000 students a year, over 3,000 of which are full-time and welcomes in excess of 1,000 overseas students from more than 60 countries including Nigeria, Spain, China, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Based in the vibrant city of Edinburgh the college offers a wide range of programmes from Introductory courses and NQ’s (National Qualifications), through to HND’s (Higher National Diplomas), BTEC’s and Degree Foundation, via a multitude of study modes such as full-time, part-time, day release, evening, e-learning and open learning courses.

The College felt the need for a greater insight into how its resources were being utilised in order to continue to offer the best service to students. A comprehensive flexible tool was required to help plan the use of those resources more effectively across a number of subject areas all having their own particularity. A number of timetabling systems were investigated with the project team deciding that CELCAT most closely provided:

• the necessary flexibility in timetable management across a number of faculties
• users additional functionality with the potential to configure to individual departmental needs
• an ideal opportunity to manage room utilisation and facilities infrastructure more efficiently
• better utilisation of college personnel
• a systems architecture that allowed many users but with college wide integration
• an ideal opportunity for future development (e.g. future implementation of CELCAT Attendance Management module)
• straightforward interfacing with existing and future systems

Over the next few weeks CELCAT will be training around 59 college staff in using and managing the system. Data will be synchronised with the college’s MIS and timetables will be produced and distributed ready for the start of the 2010/11 academic year.

October 2009
Conference Series – an exciting year in prospect!

The 2009 CELCAT Conference Series entitled ‘Innovation in Education Management’ concluded in Birmingham, UK on Friday 23rd October.

In all, over 200 delegates from FE and HE institutions in England, Scotland and Wales attended the 6 venues. The sessions covered a range of thought provoking topics and gave early indication of the new developments in the Timetabler suite of products, which are due to be released in 2010.

The morning session was introduced by Ian Grimes, Account Manager for Scotland and concentrated initially on the new Timetabler Automation application. Adrian Gough, Account Manager South West, brought the audience up to date on progress at Imperial College with their RSM Timetabling project, which requires automation for its success. Later, delegates had the opportunity to view the latest CELCAT product to be released, Pay Claim Management (PCM). Graham Spavins, guest speaker from Leicester College, gave a first hand account of implementing and using PCM.

The afternoon session covered another major area of development work, CELCAT Live, the new web interface for Timetabler. Other topics included the Generic Plugin, part of the CELCAT Integration Framework, and off-line attendance recording in light of the latest government requirements for tracking overseas students.

Each conference concluded with a lively question and answer session. The next 12 months promise to be a lively period as the new applications come on stream.

For more information contact your account manager, or email info@celcat.com.

October 2009
Australian User Group Meeting

This year's Australian user group met in the sunshine state of Queensland. The event took place on 8th and 9th October 2009 in Cairns. It was hosted by Tropical North Queensland TAFE and was chaired by Mr Clive O'Sullivan from CDS.

Among this year's attendees was Mr Vernon Chapman representing CELCAT. In addition to contributions from several institutions and lively discussions among delegates, all in attendance were treated to a glimpse of some of the up and coming software developments. Finally, the two-day session concluded with a family photograph.

Mr Chapman described the event as being immensely enjoyable and informative. It was made especially so, as a result of the warm Australian hospitality, which was only matched by the warmth of the tropical climate. It was agreed that next year's event would be held in the Gold Coast in August, with a unanimous vote to invite Vernon back.

September 2009
AoC Annual Conference

CELCAT is delighted to announce its plans to exhibit at the forthcoming Association of Colleges’ Annual Conference and Exhibition at The ICC, Birmingham, on 17 -19 November 2009.

AoCs Annual Conference, the flagship sector event, will tackle the big issues currently facing the sector. It is the biggest and most significant gathering of sector intelligence and offers a great opportunity to share views about the recession, recovery strategies and to consider how education, skills and training can help the nation through to recovery.

AoC Annual Conference 2008 has just been awarded the CBI Trade Association Conference of the Year and this year’s event is already shaping up to match last year’s success, with high quality speakers from the sector and beyond ranging from a workshop on leadership by Dame Kelly Holmes to an opening address from the Rt. Hon Lord Mandelson.

If you’re attending this prestigious event, we encourage you to visit our stand located in the main exhibition area, Hall 3, Stand 67. CELCAT Account Managers are on hand to show you the exciting new additions to the Timetabler suite of applications.

September 2009
South West User Group

The first meeting of the newly formed CELCAT Timetabler user group for the south west region took place on Tuesday 25th August 2009. It was hosted by Plymouth College of Art (formerly PCAD) and chaired by Elaine Garcia.

Attendees from each institution introduced themselves and gave a brief resumé of how CELCAT software is used in their institution. Adrian Gough - CELCAT account manager for the south west region - then brought the attendees up to speed with exciting new developments in CELCAT Timetabler. Features highlighted included new automation interfaces, new CELCAT Live web developments and the new CELCAT Pay Claim Management (PCM) application. After lunch discussions centered on the issues and challenges faced by modern timetablers with emphasis laid on how they can be resolved. Elaine Garcia then conducted a presentation illustrating how CELCAT Timetabler is at the core of the college's management systems. Finally, the day concluded with a tour of the redeveloped facilities at PCA.

The day proved enjoyable and informative. Agreement was made that Cornwall College will host the next meeting in February 2010. If you are a CELCAT user in the south west of the UK why not contact Elaine about coming along to the next meeting! We look forward to seeing you there!

August 2009
Conference Series, Autumn 2009

Attendees to the 2009 CELCAT conference on ‘Innovation in Education Management’ will learn about exciting new developments in the Timetabler software. You will see the introduction of ‘Automation’ into the software as well as the new web interface for CELCAT Timetabler Administrator. Of particular note will be the presentation on CELCAT Pay Claim Management, a new software application linked to CELCAT Timetabler for the generation of staff contracts and pay claims. At this year's conference we are delighted to have a guest presentation from Mosaic Space dealing with reporting on CELCAT Timetabler data. We look forward to seeing you there!

Book online here.

July 2009
Attendance Meeting

All users of CELCAT Attendance software (aka Timetabler SAT) are invited to attend a user meeting at Leicester College, UK. The theme is "CELCAT Attendance - Driving the eRegister Revolution". Book online here.

June 2009
Shooters Hill 16 Campus

Shooters Hill Post 16 Campus, Greenwich, is almost uniquely constituted as a post 16 community school. Their curriculum offer and student support services aim to combine the best practice found within traditional school sixth forms and those in Colleges of Further Education.

Shooters Hill Post 16 Campus could no longer manage their existing timetabling processes and urgently needed a solution in place before the start of the next academic year. CELCAT was identified as market leader within the sector and CELCAT Timetabler 6 as a system that could be implemented within the challenging timescales.

Tim Dix, Account Manager for the South-East, conducted an in-depth demonstration of Timetabler 6 to key personnel within the school and the benefits were immediately identified.

Alex Rolfe, Head of Student Services, is making excellent progress in creating next year's timetable and is looking forward to distributing this information electronically through the various methods CELCAT Timetabler 6 facilitates.

June 2009
TAFE Queensland

TAFE Queensland has corporatized CELCAT Timetabler and Attendance across the whole of Australia's 'Sunshine State'.

The decision allows the adoption of Timetabler software in all of the TAFE institutes. Mr Clive O’Sullivan for CDS, CELCAT partner in Australia, said ‘Queensland is a flagship State for CELCAT in Australia. The ability to drive student registers from the timetable, and record attendance has been key to the software’s adoption at state level. We hope that other states observing Queensland’s success will move quickly to adopt the CELCAT system’.

Australia is an increasingly important market to CELCAT and we are actively working to develop more of the features demanded by our Australian user base in the light of this success.

June 2009
CELCAT Timetabler Release

Timetabler 6.4.77.8 is now available for download from the customer portal. This release includes all of the patches from the previous release along with enhancements in a number of areas, notably performance of the web server. Note that this version does not include the UK-specific EMA module because the company responsible for EMA system is still trialling the electronic data exchange interface.

June 2009
CELCAT Wins Edge Hill University Tender

Following a rigorous tender process, Edge Hill University have chosen the CELCAT Timetabler suite of products to provide their scheduling and resource management system.

Head of Timetabling, David Lumb, commented: 

"We found CELCAT 6.4 to be an extremely cost effective solution for our timetabling challenges and were highly impressed with the smooth integration and rapid implementation procedures offered.

Specifically, we were very impressed with CELCAT Room Booker, which is ideally suited to a university operating in a centralised manner like Edge Hill"

CELCAT are providing a complete package of software, training and consultancy and look forward to working closely with the university to ensure a successful implementation.

June 2009
AUA Exeter

CELCAT was delighted to exhibit at this year's Association of University Administrators (AUA) Conference 2009 from the 6th to 7th April.  The Great Hall at the University of Exeter was the perfect venue to meet and network with conference delegates and to discuss current issues in the HE sector.  Congratulations to Prize Draw winner, Fiona Menzies (pictured with CELCAT representatives, Tim Dix and Ian Grimes) of St. George's, University of London, who gladly visited our stand to claim a 12 bottle case of fine wines.

June 2009
CELCAT Wins Gulf Order

CELCAT are pleased to welcome the Polytechnic of Bahrain as its newest customer. We are delighted to have the Polytechnic on board and look forward to expanding the number of users in the area. The business was awarded to CELCAT despite strong competition from an established UK-based supplier.

CELCAT trainer, Irshad Khan, is looking forward to a week in Bahrain!

May 2009
Filton College Returns to the Fold!

Filton College, UK has chosen CELCAT Timetabler and Attendance software products. Filton College has returned to the fold after using a competitor product for the last 3 years and join a growing CELCAT user community in the UK's South West region.

Two factors weighed heavily in the College's decision - the ability to use the timetable to drive register creation, and the elegant graphical interfaces - always popular with users - that allow staff to get the work done with minimum of fuss and effort.

CELCAT are providing a complete package of software, training and support and look forward to working with Filton College.

April 2009
AACRAO 2009 Annual Meeting - Charting the Path to Institutional and Student Success

Mr Vernon Chapman from CELCAT attended the Annual Meeting of AACRAO at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois USA. This was the 95th annual meeting of AACRAO and featured workshops and sessions detailing a variety of subjects of current interest to university and college administrators. After last year’s successful conference in Orlando we took the decision to exhibit at AACRAO again this year.

The decision to attend AACRAO this year, despite the difficult economic climate, demonstrates our commitment to the post secondary market in the United States and Canada. The financial pressures being faced in tertiary education are not limited to any one country. Research demonstrates that effective management of the teaching schedule affords considerable benefits in terms of teaching quality and cost savings.

CELCAT’s holistic approach to course scheduling provides the right tools for universities and colleges in the 21st Century.

For more information, email us on info@celcat.com and discover how you can make best use of this popular scheduling software.

April 2009
GETEX - Dubai

Adrian Gough, CELCAT Account Manager recently attended the 21st edition of the GETEX (Gulf Education and Training) exhibition and conference in Dubai.

Held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research CELCAT were pleased to attend such a prestigious event.

GETEX is reportedly the largest education fair in the Middle East & Asia and was held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, UAE on April 15-18 2009.

The exhibition had four key streams, Student Recruitment, HRD & Training, Education Equipment and technology.

In the UAE education has been given top priority. The federal government has recently approved a DHS 42.2 Billion budget for 2009. This is 23% of the annual spending being devoted to the development of the education sector.

March 2009
CELCAT Win Imperial Tender

Imperial College has recently appointed CELCAT to provide an Automated Timetabling system for departments within the Faculty of Engineering. Although Imperial is an existing user of the market leading CELCAT Timetabler software the contract was awarded in the face of strong competition.

Imperial College is an academic powerhouse that rivals Oxford and Cambridge, and has a global reputation as a leading research university and member of the Russell Group. It was recently ranked 6th in the world according to the QS rankings.

The initial project involves three departments; however there is scope for this to grow. Following successful implementation of the software it may be rolled out to another five departments across the Faculty of Engineering and the Business School and from there, potentially to other faculties and departments within the Institution.

CELCAT are providing a complete solution including software, consultancy and training in conjunction with its partner EventMAP.