Compliant
Response
M, E ,D
Ref General Requirement or non or I
compliant Lot 1 = Learning
platforms/VLE; LOT
For each item the tenderer should detail how they will meet or exceed the 2 = MIS
Level Weight
requirements management
information systems;
Implications
LOT 3 = Tools and
The Learning Platform/VLE solution must fully support: utilities
Better outcomes for all. The outcomes should include motivation, better grades,
UniServity whole-heartedly agrees with these sentiments, and throughout our responses we will show
higher attendance, more ownership of the process of learning, for all users, with
10 Compliant I All LOTs how our learning platform solution provides better outcomes for all including increased motivation,
personalised learning fully enabled. Equality of opportunity must be evident, to better grades, personalisation of learning and equality of opportunity.
include all aspects of accessibility.
„anytime – anywhere‟ education.
A user must have access, via the Internet at any time to the appropriate
20 components/functions anytime and irrespective of location or device. Please Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 and 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 20 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
describe the environment and how security/privacy is dealt with and how you
manage individual and group access and restrictions.
The Learning Platform/VLE must fully support:
The e-Strategy – Harnessing Technology: Transforming Learning and Children‟s
Services.
Every user should have access to a personal workspace capable of supporting an e-
30 portfolio and access to collaborative tools. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Every school should have integrated learning and management systems
(comprehensive suite of learning platform technologies). How is your company going
to respond to any new Government approach?
40 Becta‟s „4 layer architecture‟ for ICT in education (or equivalent) Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 40 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The implications for the solution provided by the successful vendor include:
a road map for future development with details of resource implications, both for staff
45 Compliant E 3 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 45 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
and funding.
the need to recognise and address the issues surrounding on-going development
and upgrade pathways for the delivery of the functionality of the various components
50 currently identified with the definition of an MLE/Learning Platform, MIS or added Compliant E 1 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 50 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
value functionality.
catering for the expansion of the VLE/Learning Platform definition as end-user
experience and the market place matures.
60 The current definition is not 'fixed in stone' and responds to current and developing Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 60 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
strategies – the successful vendor‟s solution must recognise this in terms of its
architecture, design and functionality.
providing mechanisms for managing issues and developing appropriate remedies -
70 Compliant E 3 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 70 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
and communicating these to relevant parties in a timely and efficient manner.
undertaking research and providing case studies of good practice without
80 Compliant D All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 80 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
commercial bias.
the need to recognise and address the issues surrounding the change management,
and its magnitude in implementing new ways of working as part of the introduction of
the Learning Platform/VLE, MIS or Resources into the school environment, and its
impact on the culture of learning.
90 Change management shall be pervasive throughout the vendor‟s proposal Compliant E 2 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 90 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
especially, but not exclusively, in components such as: Legacy systems, Installation
& configuration, Support & management, Continuing Professional Development,
Documentation, Quality Assurance, Interoperability and anywhere else as
appropriate.
E2BN is seeking a solution that gives:
a real commitment to maximising educational opportunity with a demonstrated track
100 Compliant E 2 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 100 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
record.
a collaborative relationship on all levels (between schools, between vendor and
110 Compliant E 2 All LOTs Please refer to our extended response to Question 110 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
schools, vendor and LA, vendor and E2BN, etc).
UniServity‟s includes software upgrades within the costs of the annual licence agreement. This
guarantees of future-proofing, so that the product will be integrated with new transparent approach ensures that the learning platform is integrated with new technologies, resources
and functionality as they emerge for no additional cost to the customer for the life of the contract. For an
120 technologies, resources and functionality as they emerge, at no additional cost to the Compliant E 3 All LOTs
overview of how UniServity‟s change management processes help to prioritise and focus product
customer, for the life of the contract. development please refer to our extended response to Question 90 in Appendix 1. Please also refer to our
extended response to Question 45 in Appendix 1 for an overview of UniServity's product roadmap.
UniServity recognises the economies of scale across the E2BN region. Given that there are more than
2,500 schools and more than 800,000 learners across the E2BN region, UniServity would propose:-
- A sliding scale of annual licence charges based on the scale of the take up.
130 recognition of the economies of scale, and details of how they will be implemented. Compliant E 3 All LOTs
- A range of trainingoptions for schools and Local Authorities to consider depending on the resources
available locally.
Please refer to our response to the learning platform shopping basket for full details.
UniServity has established partnerships with numerous „best of breed‟ partners that cover a range of
areas including:-
Content Partners – UniServity has established integration with a wide range of popular content within our
learning platform solution including Espresso, 2 Simple & Education City. For further details of
UniServity's content partnerships please refer to our extended response to Question 470 in Appendix 1.
Application Partners – UniServity has a track record of integration with popular MIS providers including
Capita, Serco & RM. For details of this please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix
1. In addition, UniServity and Microsoft work in close alliance to help bring leading edge Microsoft
management and integration of „best of breed‟ solutions from numerous other
140 Compliant E 2 All LOTs technology to further learning. We are working closely with Microsoft to align our future learning
vendors, and a willingness to work with other vendors with regard to this. platform technology with Microsoft's future learning technologies. This will mean „Life‟ will work as part
of Microsoft Sharepoint or Microsoft Uluru. We will also provide access to Microsoft‟s Live@EDU email
service as part of our „Life‟ product release in August 2011.
Managed Service Integrators – UniServity works in partnership with a range of managed service
integrators including Northgate, VT, Agilisys, Centerprise & European Electronique to provide managed
service offerings for schools.
UniServity is happy to commit to working with other partners as required by E2BN, the LA‟s and schools
in the region.
A solution that is learner-centric; please demonstrate your approach to this, with
150 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 150 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
examples of how it is being put into operation.
Business Benefit Potential From the Potential Supplier
We are an education company first and foremost, and our approach is underpinned by sound pedagogy,
driven by our passion to help improve teaching and learning outcomes for all learners.
As a Learning Platform specialist, UniServity‟s team is dedicated to the Learning Platform market. A large
proportion of the team are ex-teachers and school senior management with a real understanding of the
change management issues involved in successfully implementing and using a Learning Platform.
As a BECTA approved learning platform provider, UniServity‟s learning platform meets all of the
mandatory functionality required under the BECTA Learning Platform framework. However, for
UniServity, Learning Platforms are about teaching and learning, not technology. The success of this
project will be measured by its impact on teaching and learning outcomes, and for this to happen it is
The vendor shall give a commitment to, and suitable philosophy for, the education about changing the culture of the way teachers and learners work; a change management exercise not an
160 Compliant D All LOTS
market place. IT project.
We believe the challenge lies in personalising learning to ensure engagement, interaction and
participation. To achieve this, attractive, easy to use and familiar tools are essential, as is giving learners
and teachers access to a wide range of communities to facilitate authentic learning, real experiences,
community and parental involvement and collaborative opportunities across local, regional and
international boundaries. Opportunities for learners to collaborate need to be the same whether the
learner is always based in the same school, or regularly moving between different schools in the area.
This philosophy underpins the design of the UniServity Learning Platform, and we believe represents an
excellent fit to the strategic vision outlined by E2BN.
UniServity‟s sales team will work in partnership with schools, LAs and E2BN to provide a flexible sales
approach. UniServity anticipates working in partnership with E2BN and its LAs to proactively market the
learning platform solution to E2BN schools, stressing the educational and collaborative benefits offered
by our learning platform solution and the partnership working with E2BN and its LAs. We have provided
170 Flexible approach to saleability. Compliant D All LOTS sliding economies of scale for our annual licence costs and a range of training options to reflect the
needs and resources available within the school & LA. Please refer to our response to the learning
platform shopping basket for details. We would also be happy to discuss a range of payment terms with
schools and Local Authorities including deferred or split payments to fit in with budget cycles as
required.
UniServity places huge importance on working flexibly in partnership with educational stakeholders and
learning institutions in developing and enhancing added value learning platform components.
The vendor shall give details about its commitment to working flexibly with
180 educational stakeholders, and individual learning institutions in developing further Compliant D LOT 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended responses to Questions 50 & 110 in Appendix 1 for full details, along with
Learning Platform/VLE components and functionality which offer added value. our extended response to Question 90 which outlines details of the change management processes we
use when working with schools and Local Authorities to develop our learning platform solution.
UniServity recognises that within the UK Education Market place, budget cycles do not always fit in a
timely fashion with the need for a swift and effective implementation. On this basis, we have worked with
a number of our Local Authority and school partners to split and/or defer payments to ensure that our
learning platform solution can be implemented in a timely fashion and not delayed due to the budget
The vendor shall give examples of an understanding of the business processes of cycle.
190 Compliant D All LOTS We also recognise the need for demonstrating 'best value for money' particularly in the current economic
the UK education market place.
climate. Best value for money does of course not necessarily mean the cheapest solution, but we have
undertaken a variety of research demonstrating both the cost savings that can be made by using learning
platforms (e.g. compared to paper costs for circulating governor agendas, parental communication etc)
and the learning outcomes made. We would be more than happy to share this research with E2BN as
required.
We believe there are a number of demonstrable benefits that schools and Local Authorities receive from
being supported in this way:-
- Economies of scale providing best value for money - schools will benefit from considerably reduced
pricing compared to list price costs for annual licence costs as outlined in our response to the learning
platform shopping basket.
- Schools and Local Authorities will benefit from sharing training and support approaches, saving
The vendor shall give details where there is demonstrable benefit for the schools money, time and providing a local knowledge base ensuring the sustainability of the project. As part of
200 Compliant D All LOTS
this approach UniServity will provide E2BN and each participating LA their own learning platform hub for
and places of learning already being supported in a similar fashion.
no additional charge which can be used to share information with the public, unite schools, disseminate
and communicate information to all schools from a central location and encourage collaboration between
all schools involved in the project.
- A common learning platform solution will enable collaboration between schools and learners involved
in the project wherever they are in the E2BN region widening learning opportunities for learners and
building communities of connected learners across the region.
The vendor should provide innovative as well as tried and tested proposals for
210 Compliant D All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 210 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
income generation.
Performance and Benchmark Parameters
The fully hosted web-based nature of the UniServity learning platform means that there is no limitation to
the number of learners per institution within the learning platform. UniServity has got schools of all
Please describe what limitations there are in respect of number of learners per
220 Compliant E 3 All LOTS sizes, from rural schools of 30 learners to Secondary schools with more than 2,000 learners successfully
institution. using our solution. We have more than 1.5 million users across 2,500 schools actively using our learning
platform solution.
The UniServity learning platform is currently used by more than 1.5 million active users, and the
technology used is more than sufficiently capable to deal with the needs of E2BN Schools. As outlined in
our response to Question 220, we support a wide range of educational establishments of all sizes.
230 The vendor‟s solution shall be scalable to support ranges of discrete institutions. Compliant E 2 All LOTS The technical architecture of the learning platform has been designed to scale globally. All component
parts are configured to readily integrate new hardware in order to provide easily scalable technology.
UniServity use a range of monitoring and capacity-planning tools to ensure the management and timely
upgrade of any additional capacity.
UniServity agrees a detailed Service Level Agreement (SLA) with each Local Authority and school partner
that we work with which will include agreed availability targets. Please refer to our extended response to
Question 3490 in Appendix 1 for our draft SLA. We are happy to work with E2BN on a range of options
including the possibility of reward payments for availability targets being met. Alternatively, if Local
The vendor‟s solution shall meet or exceed an availability target as agreed by any Authorities wish to use the approach of 'service credits' as outlined in the current Becta Learning
customer under the framework. E2BN would expect a high availability but with Platform Framework we are happy to adopt this approach as well.
240 Compliant E 1 All LOTS
Our standard availability would be based on access to the Product at a level of 99.5% between the hours
options for clients. E2BN are keen to reward and would like to explore this approach
of 8am and 8pm (Monday to Sunday) and 97% at all other times. For the purpose of this warranty,
rather than a 'service credit' approach in the event of any failure by the vendor.
technical breaks in service not exceeding three minutes shall not be deemed to amount to non-access,
provided no more than two breaks occur within one hour. However, we would anticipate discussing the
individual Service Level Agreement requirements and rewards/penalties with E2BN and the Local
Authorities.
There are no limits on the amount of storage that each user can have. UniServity's hosted solution
already deals with the storage space requirements of more than 1.5million active users, and is fully
scalable as required.
We would be more than happy to provide the capacity of 100GB of storage space per user from day one if
required and if budgets permit. However, in our experience learners will require significantly less space
in the early stages of deployment. Therefore to minimise the costs and investment made by E2BN in
unused storage space, we have provided an entry level price in the learning platform shopping basket
based on an average of 100Mb per user.
Storage space can be aggregated across schools in a group purchase. This means that, if required,
250 Each user shall have at least 100gb of personal learning space. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
different schools can be provided with different amounts of storage space and within schools users can
also be allocated different amounts of storage space depending on individual requirements.
As memory prices continue to fall it is normally more cost effective for schools & Local Authorities to
purchase additional space when needed rather than in advance. However, if schools or LAs wants to
increase or reduce the initial amount of user space provided we would be more than happy to amend our
pricing as appropriate based around the charges shown in our response to Question 260 below.
UniServity's can offer E2BN schools additional storage space at a cost of just £5.00 per 100Gb per
annum, enabling additional space to be added by schools at a minimal cost. As outlined in our response
to Question 250, as storage space continues to fall in price it is normally more cost-effective for schools
260 The cost of additional learning space per user shall be minimal, with flexibility. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 and LAs to buy additional storage space when it is required rather than in advance. As part of the
partnership we would want to create with E2BN, we will commit to price additional storage requirements
on a transparent cost-plus basis so that E2BN, the LAs and schools can benefit from any future
reductions in £cost/Gb storage prices.
The vendor‟s solution shall support the option for presentation/interface to be tailored
280 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 280 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
by the end-user and to the end user‟s capability.
Framework Arrangements
The successful vendor shall be able to offer a bespoke pricing package to individual UniServity is offering flexible bespoke pricing based on a sliding scale of of user licence charges and
290 educational stakeholders such as collaborative partnerships, consortia, or individual Compliant E 3 All LOTS based on the individual needs of the LA and/or school. Please refer to our response to the learning
learning institutions, of all phases related to the contractual pricing within this tender. platform shopping basket for full details.
UniServity can confirm that it will not exceed prices quoted in the learning platform shopping basket
Prices quoted in the pricing matrix may not be exceeded to individual users but which includes a sliding scale of user licence charges based on the size of the project. Additional
300 Compliant E 3 All LOTS
discounts are offered on a sliding scale of user licence charges and we would be happy to discuss
additional discounts should be offered for larger or innovative orders.
alternative flexible pricing solutions based around the particular solution required by the school or LA.
UniServity can confirm that it will review the learning platform components already in place when
The successful vendor should factor other learning platform components already determining the appropriate solution for schools or LAs. The modular approach offered by 'Life' the next
310 Compliant D All LOTS
generation UniServity learning platform will fit well with this approach. Please refer to our extended
used by schools into their solution.
response to Question 60 for details.
UniServity wholly agrees with the need for school choice. In our extended response to Question 60 in
The vendor should note that the insistence on implementing equivalent learning Appendix 1, we outline how our solution is developing in response to growing maturity within the
320 platform components to those already in use in a school, without a reduced price, Compliant E 3 LOT 1 learning platform market and how the different modules within 'Life' will enable school choice
will be a major barrier to successful implementation. accordingly. As outlined in our response to Question 300 we will base the solution and pricing according
to the particular requirements and needs of each school & LA.
For users who wish to retain digital assets that have been created or stored within
the learning platforms or other systems already used by schools, the successful
330 solution shall provide a simple, effective and appropriate means to import these into Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 330 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
their own area within the new solution. A solution which permits this to be achieved
on a bulk or cohort basis would be particularly favoured in this regard.
The vendor shall detail how and who is responsible for setting up new accounts and
defining profiles for users and the subsequent management of accounts. The ease
340 of achieving this and levels of training required will be factors in determining the Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 340 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
usability for administrators (where a Shibboleth-enabled Identity Provider will be
available at Local Authority or RBC level recognition would be expected)
The vendor should provide technical details and where possible show past
UniServity has significant experience of migrating digital assets from existing learning platforms to the
experience of how digital assets stored in any of the existing learning platforms can
350 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 & 3 UniServity learning platform. Please refer to our extended response to Question 330 in Appendix 1 for full
be migrated to a new Service. Details should include time, resources required and details including examples, resources and time required.
from where, and a breakdown of any costs.
Learning Platform/VLE Component
The vendor shall describe how its solution is not just a reactive data-repository
360 linking disparate systems, but instead provides coherent, pro-active management of Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 360 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
a user's/individual‟s personalised learning plan and space, including assessment.
In our experience, the learner's web 2.0, media rich e-portfolio, including a range of collaborative tools is
The vendor shall explain what makes the Learning Platform/VLE learner-centred, what makes it learner centric. The key is changing learning platform use from purely being a content
delivery system to one where students are involved in collaborative opportunities and the co-
370 describing what features and facilities are available to learners to engage and excite Compliant E 2 LOT 1
construction of the knowledge using their e-portfolios and tools such as wikis and blogs. Please refer to
them, enabling better outcomes for the individual. our extended response to Questions 150, 360 & 1990 in Appendix 1 for full details and examples of how
learners are successfully using the learning platform in this way.
The UniServity learning platform provides support to minimise the impact on teachers and other
stakeholders, reducing workload in a number of ways:-
- opportunities for collaborating with teachers and learners from other learning establishments, reducing
The vendor shall explain how the Service supports teachers and other stakeholders, the workload for teachers by spreading the workload and encouraging student involvement in co-
380 Compliant D LOT 1
providing the potential for a reduction in workload. construction of the learning. Please refer to our extended response to Question 1990 for examples of this
taking place.
- UniServity provides a range of additional supporting resources that are designed to reduce teacher
workload including monthly best practice newsletters that share good practice, regular user groups, an
Our open architecture enables us to continually provide new functionality for our customers to choose
The vendor shall explain how the Learning Platform/VLE enables a flexibility in from. The approach is driven by pedagogical requirements and by the demands of our user base. It is
architecture which allows full response to the continually emerging pedagogical and managed and contributed by UniServity, its customers and partners. Such examples will include
modules to integrate with examination boards, integration with email and calendaring systems using
information-rich opportunities from new learning technologies; e.g.
390 Compliant E 1 LOT 1 open standards.
interfacing with examination boards and the emergence of onscreen/online testing As UniServity embraces the fundamentals of cloud computing we are able to constantly keep our
and examinations. The vendor shall explain how interfacing with existing e-mail and product, functionality and interface updated with the latest thinking and trends. If you have existing
calendar systems is enabled. systems such as calendaring and e-mail, you can use one of our existing open modules to integrate that
functionality into the VLE environment.
The vendor shall give details about the Service‟s current capabilities as a basis for
400 Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 400 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
the published development path.
The vendor shall give details about the anticipated upgrade path for the Service, Please refer to our extended response to Question 45 in Appendix 1 for an overview of UniServity's
410 along with the programme of planned upgrades/enhancements together with Compliant E 3 LOT 1 anticipated upgrade path and our planned upgrades and enhancements roadmp. As a fully hosted
warranties. managed service no hardware warranties would be required by schools/LAs.
As a fully hosted solution, the UniServity learning platform is accessible from any standards compliant
internet-enabled devices supporting HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.0., such as PCs, MACs and hand-held mobile
devices.
The learning platform requires no special software on the user‟s PC. The only hardware needed by a user
or administrator is an Internet ready PC or other device (e.g. PDA, mobile phone) with a standards based
internet browser installed. The UniServity Learning Platform can either be hosted in the UniServity
managed data centre or alternatively hosted locally within a LA or 3rd party data centre as required.
The vendor shall give details about the overall capacity of the Service including With regards to scalability the UniServity learning platform is currently used by more than 1.5 million
420 Compliant E 2 LOT 1
active users, and the technology used is more than sufficiently capable to deal with the needs of LAs and
sizing requirements/pre-requisites as well as options.
schools in the E2BN region.
The technical architecture of the learning platform has been designed to scale globally. All component
parts are configured to readily integrate new hardware in order to provide easily scalable technology.
UniServity use a range of monitoring and capacity-planning tools to ensure the management and timely
upgrade of any additional capacity.
The vendor shall describe the Service‟s ability to produce detailed management
430 reports, both ad-hoc and standardised; e.g. detailed reports drilling down to which Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
students have accessed which pages in the last week.
The vendor shall explain the Service‟s flexibility in outputting information. This would
include its printing and exporting functionality. Please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for an overview of standard,
Printing management options; bespoke and user generated reports generated within the UniServity learning platform and how reports
can be exported and printed.
Export options and formats;
We would be more than happy to work with E2BN and the Local Authorities and schools to build
440 Pre-defined reports; Compliant E 2 LOT 1
additional bespoke reports if required.
Describe the standard reports supplied with the Learning Platform/VLE; Bespoke
reports - describe the process of requesting bespoke reports; End-user
generated reports = describe the process for end-users being able to generate their
own reports.
The vendor shall describe generic support for links to other VLEs which are
450 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 450 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
institution-centred.
Please refer to our extended response to Questions 450 & 330 in Appendix 1 for an overview of
The vendor shall describe generic support for links to other VLEs which are learner-
460 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 UniServity's approach to integrating with and migrating data from existing VLEs which are both
centred. institution and learner centred.
The vendor shall give details about generic support for linking to learning resources E+D38
470 Compliant 9
3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 470 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
published by other vendors.
The UniServity learning platform supports all common file format types except for .EXE, .BAT, COM,
.JAR, .ASP. This is a security measure to prevent potentially harmful viruses entering the system.
The vendor shall give details about the content material types whose integration are
480 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
If schools have a file type not yet supported by the UniServity learning platform, we will be happy to
not supported.
investigate creating an extension for it.
The vendor shall give details about the range of learning resources included within
490 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 490 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
the Learning Platform/VLE.
UniServity has extensive experience of integrating 3rd party materials from a range of commercial
suppliers.
The UniServity Learning Platform supports all IMS QTI 1.2 (Questions and Tests Interoperability) content
The vender shall ensure that E2BN and NEN resources are available; please as individual assessment items, or banks of assessment items and is also fully SCORM 1.2 and 2004
500 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
compliant beyond the mandatory requirements of the Becta Learning Platform framework, supporting any
describe how this will be achieved.
SCORM object from other providers. Please refer to our extended response to Question 470 for further
details and how we would look to work in partnership with E2BN for integrating specific NEN & E2BN
materials as required.
The vendor shall give details about the process for inclusion of new resources and
510 indicative number of new resources which individual institutions or the LAs can add Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 510 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to the system each year as part of the core service.
The vendor shall give details about interoperability with other networked systems UniServity's optional Parental Engagement solution provides users with a view of registration and
attendance data taken in the MIS. Parents will view this data (along with other data such as timetable,
such as: - E-registration (incorporation of E-registration systems and devices within
520 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 assessment, behaviour & SEN) in a dedicated Parent portal, while students, teachers and school
the Learning Platform/VLE, and generation of attendance data for teachers, students management staff will be able to view appropriate registration and attendance data via their learning
and statutory returns). platform login. Please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1 for full details.
The vendor shall give details about interoperability with other networked systems
such as:
- CCTV systems (allowing remote real-time view of images from cameras by
UniServity is currently involved in a number of BSF projects (including Blackburn-with-Darwen, Bolton &
authorised users), St Helens) where integration of the UniServity learning platform with other networked systems such as
- Cashless systems (incorporation of cashless tills systems, where these are used by CCTV, cashless catering & environmental systems will form a key part of the solution.
530 schools, integration with MIS data of Free School Meals (FSM) and provision of Compliant D LOT 1 With these projects, it has become apparent that interoperability requirements are often product specific.
reports on cafeteria consumption for students, parents and schools as part of the On this basis, we would be happy to commit to reviewing specific interoperability requirements of
networked systesm with E2BN, the Local Authorities and schools to help define particular solution
Healthy School initiative), requirements.
- Any additional networked services currently used by schools and which integration
with Learning Platform/VLE would provide considerable educational and workforce
reform benefits to the schools.
The Vendor's Solutions shall provide a suitable user experience which enables the learner:
540 to extend learning beyond the classroom and traditional timetables. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 540 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
550 to submit and track electronic activities and artefacts for assessment. Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 550 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to manage their personalised learning using tools such as tasks, diaries, reminders
560 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
and files often through personalised home pages.
to be able to add additional functionality, such as peer review comments, ratings and
570 other forms of interaction to the work produced as part of their personalised home Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 570 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
pages.
Learners can easily view their progress in relation to their peers in their school or beyond in a number of
ways in the learning platform:-
- With any piece of work set within the learning platform by a teacher, they can choose to let learners
view and comment on each other‟s work as appropriate. This can be cross-establishment if the learner is
to view their progress relative to their current peers i.e. those who are working involved in 14-19 studies for example.
580 towards the same recognised qualification or assessment in their school and beyond Compliant D LOT 1
- Personal spaces can be used by learners to track their own learning progress. Schools can choose to
in the Local Authority. let learner‟s view and comment on each other‟s personal spaces enabling a collaborative approach to
learning and helping learners to track their own progress in relation to their peers.
- Electronic mark sheets that track student progress, can be shared as appropriate by teachers enabling
learners to view peers‟ results in comparison to their own.
For further details please refer to our extended response to Question 640 in Appendix 1.
to set and evaluate their personal targets and reports in consultation with their
590 Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 590 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
teachers, mentors and carers.
All files that are uploaded to the UniServity learning platform will remain on it until an authorised user
chooses to remove it. All files are then backed up and restored within the software. This is managed
through a recycle bin.
When users delete files they get put into a recycle bin from which users and administrators can restore
to request delivery of a file that was previously known to exist within the platform so them. In the same way that the Windows recycle bin works, if users empty the recycle bin the file is
600 Compliant D LOT 1
permanently lost.
that it is returned automatically.
Learners can therefore either retrieve files they have removed, or if the file is an area controlled by a
teacher or other authorised user, request delivery of it using one of the many communication tools in the
learning platform (such as messaging, email etc).
UniServity keeps a full back up of all data for disaster receovery purposes, enabling a full system restore
in the event of any catastrophic failure. A “Recycle Bin” facility is built into the learning platform as
to retrieve files from the backup system - to include files created up to two years
610 Compliant E 2 Lot 1&3 outlined in our response to Question 600. This will keep all deleted files available for an unlimited period
previously. of time until the recycle bin is emptied.
Enables the teacher:
As a fully hosted solution, all communication, learner management, curriculum planning activities and
tools within the learning platform can be accessed via any standards based internet browser anytime,
to access communication, learner management and planning tools in and outside anywhere. For an overview of the communication tools provided within the UniServity learning platform
620 Compliant E 2 LOT 1
please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1. For an overview of the learner
school.
management and planning tools provided within the learning platform please refer to our extended
responses to Questions 640, 1070 & 2390 in Appendix 1.
630 to structure, set and collect learner work with simple drag and drop functionality. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 630 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to view and track student progress relative to their own, their peers' and previous
640 Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 640 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
peers' levels.
650 to select whether to allow pupils to access their peers‟ performance and targets. Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 650 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
UniServity's optional Parental Engagement solution gives teachers the ability to view and track key
to view and track student information from the MIS, to include attendance, school
660 Compliant E 1 LOT 1 information taken from the MIS including Attendance, Behaviour & Assessment. For an overview please
behaviour, etc. refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
670 to construct and set learner intervention reminders. Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 670 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to share resources and planning with colleagues, and to create and share plans for
680 Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 680 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
individual learners or groups.
All materials that have been created locally can be uploaded into the UniServity learning platform and
shared amongst different groups/classes.
The learning platform supports all IMS QTI 1.2 (Questions and Tests Interoperability) content as
individual assessment items, or banks of assessment items. The learning platform also supports
to import material (bought in or locally developed) designed for individual learners or Shibboleth, enabling integration with other Shibboleth compliant content.
690 Compliant E 1 LOT 1
groups.
The learning platform is also fully SCORM 1.2 and 2004 compliant beyond the mandatory requirements of
the BECTA Framework, supporting any SCORM object from other providers.
UniServity also works with a wide range of 3rd party and other Web 2.0 content providers to provide
authenticated access to their content through the UniServity Learning Platform. For a full overview and
examples of this please refer to our extended responses to Question 470 & 980 in Appendix 1.
to construct, import and set assessments that can be auto-marked according to rules
700 Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 700 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
laid in electronic terms.
to search, view and request learning materials from other schools locally or
710 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 710 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
elsewhere.
Schools can easily request a partnership with other local schools which will enable them to search, view
to search, view and request video-based lesson observation materials from other
720 Compliant E 1 LOT 1 and request learning materials from other schools including video-based lesson observations. Please
schools locally or elsewhere. refer to our extended responses to Questions 710 & 680 in Appendix 1 for details.
Almost all file types can easily be added to the UniServity learning platform. The most commonly used
file types that can be added to the learning platform are:-
Flash – .SWF, .FLA, .FLV
Video – .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, .MP4, .MPG, .MPEG4, .QT, .M4v
Text – .DOC, .DOCM, .DOCX, .DOT, .LOG, .PAGES, .PDF, .PPS. .PPT, .PPTX, .RTF, .TXT, .WPS
Picture - .JPEG, .GIF, .BMP . PNG, .TIF
to construct and use all formats of media file type embedded with the platform; Database – .ACCDB, .ACCDE, .ACCDR, .ACCDT, .DB, .MDB
730 Compliant E 2 LOT 1
Spreadsheet – .XLS, .XLSB, .XLSM, .XLSX, .XLT, .XLTM, .XLTX
please identify any restrictions.
Sound – .MP3, .WAV, .WMA, .FLAC, .AAC, .MID, .RA, .M4a
The UniServity learning platform supports all common file format types except for .EXE, .BAT, COM,
.JAR, .ASP. This is a security measure to prevent potentially harmful viruses entering the system. If
schools have a file type not yet supported by the UniServity learning platform, we will be happy to
investigate creating an extension for it.
All files that are uploaded to the learning platform will remain on it until an authorised user chooses to
remove it. All files are then backed up and restored within the software. This is managed through a
recycle bin.
When users delete files they get put into a recycle bin from which users and administrators can restore
to request delivery of a file and learning delivery structure that was previously known them. In the same way that the Windows recycle bin works, if users empty the recycle bin the file is
740 Compliant E 2 LOT 1
permanently lost.
to exist within the platform.
Teachers can therefore either retrieve files they have removed, or if the file is an area controlled by
another authorised user, request delivery of it using one of the many communication tools in the learning
platform (such as messaging, email etc).
Enables those with support and administrative roles:
to provide direct support to learners and to communicate with other users on a one-
750 Compliant E 1 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 750 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to one or one-to-many basis.
Within the UniServity learning platform, a limitless number of groups can be created that support both
curriculum and non-curriculum areas. Within these groups all of the tools outlined throughout this
760 to contribute to adapting and developing learning resources. Compliant D LOT 1 proposal can be used and resources and information added for members assigned to the group.
Administrators and other support staff can easily be assigned rights within these groups for adapting
and developing learning resources. Please refer to our extended response to Question 770 for details.
to lead elements of delivery as per a teacher user by simple, non-technical allocation
770 Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 770 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
of rights.
Users can very easily give support staff and administrators the rights to be able to contribute to adapting
780 to have co-creator rights with teachers over learning objects and their structures. Compliant D LOT 1 and developing learning resources. This will give the administrator co-creator rights with the relevant
teacher. Please refer to our extended response to Question 770 in Appendix 1 for further details.
Enables those with leadership responsibilities:
The UniServity learning platform operates on a hierarchical structure. This means that users with
leadership responsibilities can easily be given the appropriate permissions to manage access rights to
790 to manage access rights to others‟ folders and files. Compliant E 2 All LOTS
others' folders and files. Please refer to our extended response to Question 770 in Appendix 1 for full
details.
800 to reduce administration and ease organisation. Compliant E 1 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 800 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
810 to communicate with parents quickly and efficiently. Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 810 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity learning platform enables school leaders and other authorised users to generate a wide
to view which teachers and learners are accessing, sharing and communicating via range of reports including which teachers, learners and other users are accessing, sharing and
820 Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
communicating via the learning platform. Please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in
the platform.
Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to structure learning resources to suit the particular requirements of each faculty,
830 Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 830 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
department or learning group, visually and textually.
840 to access on-line mentors to support more complex multi-user analysis. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 840 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity learning platform enables school leaders and other authorised users to generate a wide
to easily allow for „click and present‟ summary information of whole environment
850 Compliant E 1 All LOTS range of reports including summary information of trends for user groups or stages. Please refer to our
trends per major user group / stage. Check if needed elsewhere extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Enables those with education policy leadership responsibilities outside of the individual school:
860 to reduce administration and ease organisation of communication. Compliant E 2 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 860 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
As outlined in our extended response to Question 860 in Appendix 1, Local Authority & E2BN staff will
each be given access to a central Learning Platform hub as part of our solution. This will give authorised
to view, collate, analyse and present learner data across whole multiple
870 Compliant E 1 All LOTS staff the ability to view, collate and analyse data from multiple schools within their remit. In addition,
establishments to inform capacity and other estate-wide policy areas (in confidence). UniServity will provide Local Authorities with regular reports detailing a variety of usage trends. Please
refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Enables parents:
The fully hosted nature of the UniServity learning platform facilitates parental support of learners via
880 to support learners when learning takes place via home access. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 home access. Please refer to our extended response to Question 540 in Appendix 1 for full details and
examples of parental support for learners.
Many schools using the UniServity learning platform see the benefits of giving parents access to their
child's learning and assessment progress. Many schools achieve parental engagement by allowing
parents to login to the learning platform using their's child's login. This enables the parent to see their
child's learning and progress and to get actively involved in their child's learning. For an overview please
to view, with linked objectives, appropriately qualified learning objects with or without
890 Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 refer to our extended responses to Questions 150 & 540 in Appendix 1.
assessment criteria attached. Alternatively, school's can use the optional Parental Engagement solution to provide parents with their
own dedicated login showing information about their child's learning (such as work set and their e-
portfolio home page) and related information taken from the MIS such as their assessment progress. For
an overview please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
to receive SMS or equivalent appropriate update reminders of new learning The UniServity learning platform includes a range of communication tools such as SMS, instant
messaging, news alerts and email that enable parents to receive update reminders of activities, targets
900 activities, targets, assessments or relevant information meeting criteria selected by Compliant E 1 All LOTS
and other relevant information. For an overview please refer to our extended response to Question 810 in
the parent, school or learner. Appendix 1.
The Uniservity learning platform offers a powerful, easy to manage environment for creating and
supporting all aspects of a school including community groups, after school clubs, CPD, parent portals,
support groups, societies, PTA and Governors. In fact, from the outset, the learning platform was
910 to engage with wider school activities through online communication tools. Compliant E 2 All LOTS
designed and developed to support all stakeholders and initiatives within the school community. For an
overview please refer to our extended responses to Questions 810 & 1040 in Appendix 1.
Many schools give parents access to their child's login, enabling parents to view and comment on their
assessment and attainment progress within the learning platform. For a full overview please refer to our
extended responses to Questions 150 & 540 in Appendix 1.
920 to view and comment on a learner's yearly or module-based attainment. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
In addition, the optional UniServity Parental Engagement solution provides parents with their own
dedicated login, providing access to assessment data taken from the MIS and attainment made within the
learning platform. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
The optional UniServity Parental Engagement solution will provide parents with a view of a wide range of
to link seamlessly to view any relevant data within the MIS system as defined
930 Compliant E 3 All LOTS data taken from the MIS system including assessment, attendance, behaviour, timetable, SEN and GAT.
appropriate to their need. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
Enables the individual, in generic terms:
Every user in the UniServity learning platform has a personal 'My Overview' which contains personal and
relevant information pushed to the learner such as tasks set, calendar events and news items. This can
940 to receive „pushed‟ relevant and prioritised information. Compliant E 1 All LOTS be set as the user's homepage on logging in to the learning platform, removing the need to go and look
for the information. For an overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in
Appendix 1.
As a fully web based solution, the UniServity Learning Platform is accessible anytime, anywhere from any
950 to have 24 x 7 x 365 access. Compliant E 2 All LOTS standards compliant internet-enabled devices such as PCs, MACs and a wide variety of hand-held mobile
devices, enabling genuine 24*7*365 access.
The UniServity learning platform can easily be customised to automatically provide a GUI relevant to the
to have an automatic GUI relevant to the user, bringing all relevant data and
960 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 user. For an overview of how the GUI can be customised to meet the needs of individual users and bring
functionality to the user. all relevant data to the user please refer to our extended response to Question 280 in Appendix 1.
Every user within the UniServity learning platform is provided with a personal „home space‟ within their e-
portfolio where they can tell their personal digital story. This is defined by the content, themes, resources
and the images, sounds and videos they choose to share. This Facebook style space is the key to social
learning and central to the learner‟s online identity.
970 to have space that can be personalised. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Learners can personalise their „home space‟ by changing screen colours, fonts and font sizes using an
easy to use WYSIWYG editor. They can also use the embedded sound recorder; include music, video and
incorporate other collaborative tools such as Blogs, Wikis, Forums, Surveys and Quizzes. For an
overview of how learners can personalise their space to meet their requirements please refer to our
extended response to Questions 150 & 360 in Appendix 1.
980 to have access to relevant and varied Web and content technologies. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 980 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
As a fully web based solution, the UniServity Learning Platform is accessible anytime, anywhere from any
990 to have „anytime, anywhere‟ availability. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 standards compliant internet-enabled devices such as PCs, MACs and hand-held mobile devices,
enabling genuine anytime anywhere access.
The UniServity learning platform enables a comprehensive tracking of learner's progress. For a full
1000 to have appropriate access to learner tracking. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1, 2 & 3
overview please refer to our extended responses to Questions 360 & 640 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform contains a 'task' tool that enables teachers to easily and quickly set
assignments for learners. For an overview of this process please refer to our extended response to
1010 to have appropriate access to assignments. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Question 1450 in Appendix 1. Once assignments have been set, learners can access them via their
personal 'my tasks' menu which can form part of their homepage when logging in to the learning
platform. For an overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question 550 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform contains a comprehensive assessment toolset, which enables teachers
to assess progress and for students to evaluate their own progress. For an overview of this please refer
to our extended response to Question 700 in Appendix 1. In addition, the optional Parental Engagement
1020 to have appropriate access to assessment data. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1, 2 & 3
solution provides parents with their own dedicated login showing them assessment and attainment
progress taken from the MIS and learning platform. For an overview of this please refer to our extended
response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
1030 to have appropriate access to courses. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1030 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1040 to have support for the inclusion of outside interests. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1040 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1050 to have support for future education/career options. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1050 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1060 to have access to appropriate technical help. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1060 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1070 to follow individual pathways. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1070 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity Learning Platform allows customisation of banners and this area can be used for sharing
messages and informing users of CPD events. News items can be added to the front page of the learning
platform and messages can be sent that have to be read before they can be deleted.
UniServity holds regular regional user groups with all our customers. We focus on training and CPD at
access to CPD – links to opportunities – pop-ups or banners to inform user of
1080 Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 these user groups, and also hold workshops where we welcome feedback and receive recommendations
relevant CPD events – including free online ICT skills training. on modifications and upgrades which will be useful to our customers. These events also represent an
excellent opportunity for sharing of good practice from local users.
Many schools use the learning platform itself as a way of sharing CPD with teaching staff. For an
overview and examples of this please refer to our extended response to Question 680 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform enables users to create their own digital content using tools provided
within the learning platform, provides authenticated access to a wide range of popular 3rd party digital
content and seamlessly integrates a wide range of external web 2.0 content.
For an overview of the tools provided within the learning platform that enable users to create their own
1090 access to relevant digital content. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 digital content please refer to our extended response to Questions 400 & 2000 in Appendix 1.
For an overview of authenticated 3rd party content that the UniServity learning platform integrates with
please refer to our extended response to Question 470 in Appendix 1. For an overview of a range of
external web 2.0 digital content that the UniServity learning platform integrates with please refer to our
extended response to Question 980 in Appendix 1.
Users have access to a range of communication channels within the UniServity learning platform
solution. For an overview of the communication tools provided within the learning platform please refer
to our extended response to Question 810 in Appendix 1. For users requiring technical support there are
a range of communication channels that can be used. Please refer to our extended response to Question
1100 access to relevant communications channels by user. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3
1060 in Appendix 1 for an overview of these. There are also a range of supporting mechanisms that
UniServity provides to share best practice examples and provide proactive communication with our
customer base including regional user events and monthly best practice newsletters. For an overview of
these please refer to our extended response to Question 110 in Appendix 1.
1110 to access incentive schemes to motivate learners. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1110 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
There are no limits on the amount of storage that each user & school can have. Please refer to our
1120 to have sufficient on-line storage. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 responses to Questions 250 & 260 for details of the proposed storage space provided and costs of
additional storage space.
The UniServity learning platform contains a set of tools that are designed to ease work management
processes by reducing administration and simplifying the experience for users to find and use resources
relavent to them. To facilitate this, each user has a 'My Overview' within their personal my panel which
pulls into one place key activities (such as tasks set, calendar events, messages received etc) relevant to
the user at that time. For a full overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in
1130 to access appropriate work-management tools. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Appendix 1.
Importantly the UniServity Learning Platform is dynamically linked to all major MIS systems used within
the E2BN region. From a work management perspective this means that the creation of users and
management of groups can be handled via the MIS system, requiring far less administrative work within
the school. For an overview of how the MIS integration works and other central user provisioning
options can ease administration please refer to our extended response to Question 340 in Appendix 1.
1140 to access appropriate knowledge-management tools. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1140 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Within lesson plans and tasks created in the UniServity Learning Platform, teachers can easily link to
external research enabling students to be supported whilst independent research takes place. Many
schools also use the Wiki tool in the learning platform as a way of supporting student research, enabling
1150 to access research. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
the knowledge co-construction to take place collaboratively over a period of time. For examples of how
Wikis are being used within the learning platform please refer to our extended response to Question 2000
in Appendix 1.
Within the UniServity Learning Platform a limitless number of shared workspaces can be created. Every
user can be given linked access to one or many shared spaces which can include shared resources,
discussions tools, galleries of images, shared calendars and shared tasks, tests and quizzes. Every
shared space will have one (or several) owners and editors who have the ability to allocate resources,
determine who has access to the group and manage group resources and space allocations. For an
1160 to have links to shared workspaces. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
overview and examples of how workspace owners can customise shared workspaces please refer to our
extended response to Question 830 in Appendix 1.
In addition, each user will have links to shared workspaces that they are members of within their personal
'My Panel' with membership normally taken from the dynamic MIS link. Please refer to our extended
response to Question 560 in Appendix 1 for details.
Every group created within the UniServity Learning Platform has a document library area where
authorised users can publish resources. These documents can then be collaborated on (if the author
decides to let other group members edit their work) with the contributions made by different authors
acknowledged in the documentation.
to have access to document libraries through collaboration facilities and moderated
1170 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
publishing. The Wiki tool can also be an excellent way of encouraging documents to be developed collaboratively
with full version control. Please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1 for further
details.
1180 to have links to materials published on the Learning Platform and external sites. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1180 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to be able to access and ergonomically use contact details for members of shared
1190 Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1190 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
workspace.
Partially
1200 to have access to „presence‟ information (who is online in a shared workspace). E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1200 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Compliant
1210 to be able to participate in threaded and live discussions. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1210 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1220 to have access to shared calendars and synchronise. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1220 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Each individual has their own task list that shows them all the different tasks that they are required to
work on. Heads of Year and Heads of Subjects can have their own area that shows all the tasks that have
1230 to have access to shared task lists. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3
been sent out to the relevant students. For an overview please refer to our extended responses to
Questions 550, 630 & 640 in Appendix 1.
to have the ability to adapt personal spaces by integrating related data e.g. time- Every user within the UniServity has a personal 'My Overview' as part of their e-portfolio which pulls into
1240 related data (various calendars, tasks) appear on one interface. Please highlight any Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 one place resources relevant to the user at that particular time (e.g. tasks set, calendar events for that day
restrictions. etc). For an overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in Appendix 1.
to be able to share personal profile information with selected users according to
1250 agreed templates (e.g. pupils can share avatar, name and hobbies with others in the Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1250 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
same community).
As part of our support processes every user has access to a variety of online help facilities that provides
to have access to an online help facility, covering all areas relevant to that
1260 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 contextualised support for the individual task that the user is performing. For an overview of this please
individual.. refer to our extended response to Question 1060 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform contains a comprehensive and simple to use search facility that enables
to have access to a search facility, covering all aspects of the Learning Platform/VLE users to search for relevant resources by key stage, year group, subjects, key words and National
1270 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
Curriculum objectives. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 710 in
relevant to that individual.
Appendix 1.
Functionality Component
The Vendor's Solution shall provide the following functionality: Student Tracking
The UniServity learning platform facilitates and enables each step of a learner's personal development to
take place through the use of personal spaces within e-portfolios. A student is able to build and develop
an e-portfolio for learning, personal development, assessments for courses, collaboration, peer
Records each step of a learner‟s personal development including initial assessments
1280 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 assessment, working with teaching staff on Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and many other educational
for courses. and personal initiatives. For an overview and examples of how e-portfolios are being used to record
learner's personal development including assessments for courses please refer to our extended
responses to Questions 360 & 590 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity Learning Platform dynamically integrates with the most popular MIS systems providing
1290 Relevant data provided from the relevant MIS. Compliant E 3 All LOTS access to a wide range of relevant data. For a full overview of this please refer to our extended response
to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity Learning Platform enables teachers to track and record learning outcomes. For an
overview, please refer to our extended response to Question 640 in Appendix 1. Please also refer to our
1300 Records learning outcomes. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
extended response to Question 700 in Appendix 1 for an overview of how this fits in with the wider for
Assessment for Learning opportunities available within the UniServity Learning Platform.
Teachers and other authorised users can generate a range of usage reports to help determine the
individual learning preferences of users. For an overview of these please refer to our extended response
to Question 430 in Appendix 1.
Using this information, teachers can create individual learning pathways and targets for users that meet
these different learning preferences. For an overview of how teachers can set personalised resources
1310 Detailed learning preferences for the learner. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
please refer to our extended response to Question 1070 in Appendix 1.
From the learner's perspective, individual tasks set for them and other key information is pulled together
in a personal 'My overview'. Within permissions set by the school, learners can choose which
information they see, how the information is presented and other key learning preferences. For an
overview please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in Appendix 1.
Individualised learning plan – developed for each learner based on standard
1320 Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1320 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
qualifications plus custom-built courses for specific candidates.
The learner's personal e-portfolio area provides an excellent way for teachers to set ad-hoc goals and
1330 Entry of ad-hoc short term goals. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 then track their performance through two-way dialogue with the student. For a full overview please refer
to our extended responses to Questions 150, 360 & 590 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform has a number of ways of providing automated progress tracking and
reporting including auto-marked quizzes and mark sheets. For a full overview and details of how this fits
1340 Automated progress tracking and recording. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3
within the Assessment for Learning opportunities provided within the learning platform please refer to
our extended responses to Questions 640 & 700 in Appendix 1.
Whenever a task or other learning activity is set within the UniServity learning platform the teacher will
choose a deadline for the piece of work that will automatically appear within the student's 'my task' area.
1350 Automated warning system for learners not meeting pre-defined deadlines. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Automated reminders and warning messages can be sent to learners if deadlines are in danger of being
missed, while teachers will be alerted to work that is outstanding or deadlines that have been missed.
Please refer to our extended response to Question 670 in Appendix 1 for further details.
Each user within the UniServity learning platform has their own personal calendar, which they can enter
Manages and records learner/tutor appointments (individual and grouped). It should events into. In addition, every group within the learning platform has its own group calendar which
1360 be possible to merge calendar information into a single view as appropriate e.g. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 authorised users can add events to. These are then automatically pushed to the personal calendar of
timetable and personal appointments or school events. group members. For further details please refer to our extended response to Question 1220 in Appendix
1.
The optional UniServity Parental Engagement solution provides parents with records and reports of key
attendance data taken from the MIS registration system. Please refer to our extended response to
Records and reports on attendance including automated alert for parents/guardians
1370 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Question 30 in Appendix 1 for details. Most schools we work with use automated alerting systems for
for absence and integrates with the existing registration system. parents within the MIS itself, however the learning platform can easily generate SMS messages to alert
parents of any unauthorised absence from school.
Work placement and work experience management including relevant data
1380 Compliant E 2 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 1380 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
regarding Health and Safety, Insurance, Record of Visits by tutors.
On-line assessments and assignments
As a fully hosted web based solution, the UniServity Learning Platform is available on any standards-
based internet browser on an anytime, anywhere basis. If internet access is not always available,
1390 Detail your facilities for on and off-line learning. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
students can download assessments and assignments, work off-line and then upload resources back
into the learning platform when they are next on-line.
The UniServity learning platform comprehensively addresses diagnostic, formative and summative
1400 Detail how you address diagnostic, formative and summative assessments. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
assessment. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 700 in Appendix 1.
Within the UniServity learning platform the concept of adapting assessments to a learner's ability based
on previous responses is a key part of the personalisation provided. Resources, tasks and other
assessments can be sequenced together following either linear or conditional sequencing. Linear
sequencing can be time based or subject to completion of earlier tasks. Conditional sequencing allows
for paths to be created and followed according to how a user completes preceding assignments/tasks.
(i.e. two students could follow two different paths depending on how they fared at various stages of the
1410 Adaptive assessment. Compliant D LOT 1
sequence).
This process enables appropriate extension and reinforcement materials to be automatically released to
learners as their personal attainment or progress to individual learning targets requires it. For a full
overview please refer to our extended reponse to Question 1030 in Appendix 1.
1420 Instant feedback where appropriate to learners, teachers, parents and tutors. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1420 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
There are a variety of ways in which detailed learner information can be tracked within the learning
platform. Auto-marked quizzes and mark sheets provide automated progress tracking and reporting. For
a full overview and details of how this fits within the Assessment for Learning opportunities provided
1430 Detailed tracking of data accessed by learner. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
within the learning platform please refer to our extended responses to Questions 640 & 700 in Appendix
1. In addition, please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for an overview of
reports available within the learning platform on usage made.
1440 Text entry (not solely multiple choice – e.g.. assessable by keywords and context). Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1440 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1450 Teachers can set assignments. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1450 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
As a fully hosted solution, the UniServity learning platform is accessible from any internet-enabled
devices such as PCs, MACs and hand-held devices.
Consequently, learners can access and complete assignments online from any internet-ready PC, Mac or
1460 Learners can complete assignments on and off-line. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
hand-held device in the world, without the need to be attached to a school network. If internet access is
not always available, students can download assessments and assignments, work off-line and then
upload resources back into the learning platform when they are next on-line.
Learners can easily submit assignments using the bulk upload and drag and drop facilities available in
1470 Learners can submit assignments. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 the learning platform. Please refer to our extended response to Question 550 in Appendix 1 for a full
overview.
The UniServity learning platform provides a comprehensive mark sheet functionality, which enables
1480 Teachers can mark assignments and feedback to learners. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 assignments to be marked and feedback given to learners. For a full overview please refer to our
extended responses to Question 640 & 1420 in Appendix 1.
Assignment manager
1490 Teachers/learners/parents can view assignments and assessments (formative and Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1490 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
summative), view outstanding assignments, view upcoming assignments and work.
The task module provided within the UniServity learning platform provides an in-built template facility for
teachers and students to engage in a two way dialogue, enabling students to request help and teachers
1500 Templates for use by teachers for feedback. Compliant D LOT 1
to provide both formal and informal feedback. For a full overview and examples please refer to our
extended response to Question 1420 in Appendix 1.
Assessment data taken from the MIS is presented within our optional Parental Engagement solution for
parents, teachers, learners and other stakeholders. In addition, part of our current and planned MIS
1510 Appropriate links into assessment modules. Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Integration, will include the export of assessment data taken from the learning platform‟s electronic mark
book) to SIMS Assessment Manager in Q3 2011. For a full overview please refer to our extended response
to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
Within every course created in the UniServity learning platform, the workflow can be customised to meet
the particular requirements. For example:
- Access to all resources within the course is carefully controlled to ensure that only members of a
particular group see the allocated resources for a specified period of time.
- The learning platform allows a teacher or administrator to set time limits on the availability of all
resources within the course such as discussion forums, project tasks, assessment tests, surveys, news,
Podcasts, RSS feeds etc.
1520 Facility to customise assessment workflow for specific courses. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
- „Time stamping‟ resources reduces the amount of time a teacher has to spend administering the course.
The teacher can also sequence resources that will only appear on the site once a proceeding task has
been completed allowing the student to work through their project chronologically.
- Creating a task, forum, survey or uploading a resource can be „time-bombed‟ to appear and be archived
from the creation point. Alongside sequencing resources, this can also cut down the amount of
administration for the teacher on the course.
The task module provided within the UniServity learning platform enables learners and teachers to
engage in a two way dialogue, enabling students and teachers to provide comments and request help
and feedback as required. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1420 in
Appendix 1.
1530 Comments facility. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
In addition, assignments and assessments can be set up to enable students to view each other‟s work
and comment on each other‟s work to provide peer assessment. This facility can be turned on or off by
teachers to suit their particular requirements. For a full overview of students reviewing and commenting
on each other's work please refer to our extended response to Question 570 in Appendix 1.
Within the UniServity learning platform, assignments and other tasks can be sequenced together to
provide students and teachers with an overview of where the particular assignment they are working on
fits within the overall course.
1540 Overview of where assignments fit within courses. Compliant D LOT 1
Please refer to our extended response to Question 1030 in Appendix 1 for a full overview of how
assignments can be sequenced as part of an overall course delivery.
There are a number of tools in the UniServity learning platform, which enable teachers and other users to
make announcements to individuals, groups of students and the whole school. These include
messaging, newsfeeds and Podcasts.
For example, within the learning platform there is an internal messaging facility that enables people to
1550 Announcement facility. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
send instant messages: this facility enables teachers to message colleagues, either individually or in
groups, and to know that their messages have been received. For a full overview of how announcements
can be used in the learning platform please refer to our extended responses to Question 670 & 810 in
Appendix 1.
Every assignment set within the UniServity learning platform, will appear as part of the learner's 'my tasks
menu' within their personal e-portfolio. This will show them the deadline for all assignments that they
1560 Schedule – links to course schedule planner/assignment schedule planner. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
currently have to complete. Similarly, teachers will have a view of all assignments that they are managing.
For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1490 in Appendix 1.
Links to relevant course materials, other resources (e.g. video lessons), work
1570 samples (e.g. sample assignments), relevant library information (e.g. books suitable Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1570 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
to course), to include plagiarism checker.
E-learning
Every course set within the UniServity learning platform, will appear as part of the learner's 'my tasks
menu' within their personal e-portfolio. This will show them the deadline for all courses that they
1580 Course schedule planner. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
currently have to complete. Similarly, teachers will have a view of all courses that they are managing. For
a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1490 in Appendix 1.
Every assignment set within the UniServity learning platform, will appear as part of the learner's 'my tasks
menu' within their personal e-portfolio. This will show them the deadline for all assignments that they
1590 Assignment schedule planner. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
currently have to complete. Similarly, teachers will have a view of all assignments that they are managing.
For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1490 in Appendix 1.
Are there links to the school Library database, highlighting resources that are of
1600 Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1600 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
particular use to a course, or other online libraries?
Many UniServity learning platform users set up virtual mentors and assistants within their learning
1610 Virtual assistants/mentors (customisable). Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
platform. For a full overview, please refer to our extended response to Question 840 in Appendix 1.
A wide range of interactive, intelligent and external content can be included within the UniServity
Learning Platform. Interactive tools and intelligent tools provided within the learning platform itself
include forums, auto-marked quizzes, blogs & wikis. For an overview of these please refer to our
Is there interactive and intelligent content included, or can external content be
1620 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1. A wide variety of interactive and engaging
embedded? commercial and 3rd party multimedia Web 2.0 tools can also be easily included within the learning
platform. For an overview and examples of these please refer to our extended response to Questions 470
& 980 in Appendix 1.
Forums are one of the most popular tools used within the UniServity Learning Platform. For a full
1630 Forums. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1210 in Appendix 1.
Online discussions and chat rooms are one of the most popular tools used within the UniServity
1640 Discussions (e.g.. chat room). Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Learning Platform. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Questions 1210 & 2000 in
Appendix 1.
Administrators and other authorised users can see in detail right down to the specific minute where the
user has been & what activities that user has been engaged in, effectively showing them who is online in
Online communication to other learners – ability to see who is online from „friends‟ Partially
1650 E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 a shared space at a particular time. Part of our development roadmap includes the ability for users to see
list or „course delegates‟ list. Compliant who is online from a friends or course delegate list. This is due for release in August 2011. Please refer to
our extended response to Question 1200 for further details.
The UniServity Learning Platform contains a comprehensive blogging tool enabling users to create their
1660 Blogging available. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 own and shared blogs. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in
Appendix 1.
The UniServity Learning Platform contains a comprehensive blogging tool enabling users to create
Blogging features supported - mobile blogs, audio blogs, video blogs (podcasts and
1670 Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 mobile blogs, audio blogs, video blogs, podcasts and vodcasts. For a full overview please refer to our
vodcasts). Please give details. extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity Learning Platform easily enables users to create lessons, assignments and courses. For
an overview and examples of assignments being set please refer to our extended response to Question
1680 Course, lesson and task authoring. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
1450 in Appendix 1. For an overview and examples of assignments being set as part of a course please
refer to our extended response to Question 1030 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity Learning Platform facilitates content management through a simple group structure and
easy to use content tagging and searching system. Every group that is created within the UniServity
learning platform has its own resources area where relevant content created within the learning platform
or loaded into the learning platform can be stored.
Within these group areas, content can be easily tagged using the tagging tools provided within the
learning platform or via externally tagged resources. This enables users to create repositories of
1690 Content management system. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 resources that can be easily accessed by other users. For an overview of metadata standards and tagging
supported within the UniServity learning platform, please refer to our extended response to Question
2130 in Appendix 1.
The key to successfully tagging resources is how easily they can be searched for, and the UniServity
learning platform provides a simple and comprehensive search facility for all users to access. For an
overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question 710 in Appendix 1.
A key aspect of UniServity‟s development roadmap is the introduction of automated tagging and a
Questions that have been created or imported into the quiz, survey and testing tools in the learning
1700 Question editor. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 platform can easily be edited by users using the simple and familiar WYSIWYG editor. For a full overview
please refer to our extended response to Question 1440 in Appendix 1.
The auto-marked quiz tool in the UniServity learning platform enables users to create a wide variety of
tests including random generated ones. For an overview of creating tests and quizzes and the auto-
marking facility please refer to our extended response to Questions 1440 in Appendix 1.
1710 Random test generator (external assessment). Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3
The UniServity Learning Platform also supports all IMS QTI 1.2 (Questions and Tests Interoperability)
content as individual assessment items, or banks of assessment items. UniServity works with numerous
content providers that develop SCORM and QTI resources for the learning platform.
A wide range of media rich content can be created within the UniServity Learning Platform including
forums, auto-marked quizzes, blogs & wikis. For an overview of these please refer to our extended
1720 Rich media capability. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1. A wide variety of media rich commercial and 3rd party
multimedia Web 2.0 tools can also be easily included within the learning platform. For an overview and
examples of these please refer to our extended response to Questions 470 & 980 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform enables authorised users to produce a wide range of reports including
the number of related occurences for related entities. Please refer to our extended response to Question
1730 Cardinality (number of related occurrences for each of two entities). Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 430 in Appendix 1 for details. In addition, the easy to use search tool provided within the learning
platform enables users to search for related occurences. For an overview please refer to our extended
response to Question 710 in Appendix 1.
1740 Sound recorder. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1740 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1750 Video recorder with the ability to stream effectively. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1750 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1760 Text, images, audio, video. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1760 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Links to teacher driven interactive resources can easily be added to the UniServity learning platform. For
1770 Links to interactive resources (teacher-driven) as appropriate. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1180 in Appendix 1.
1780 Forms – order forms, registration, reservation etc. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1780 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The learning platform includes a variety of tools that can be used to design forms including surveys and
custom pages. Custom pages are the equivalent of an inbuilt word processor and enable authorised
1790 Form designer. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
users to edit documents directly in the learning platform without needing to download, edit and re-
upload. For examples please refer to our extended response to Question 1780 in Appendix 1.
1800 Surveys and polls. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1800 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1810 Graphics and animations (generator and imported). Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1810 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Every group in the learning platform has its own resources area, which can include a gallery of images
and sound effects relevant to that particular group. The level of access to the resource can be controlled
to the group level, school level, or down to the individual user level.
1820 Image gallery/sound effect archive. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 For examples of image galleries please refer to our extended response to Question 1810 in Appendix 1.
For examples of how the embedded sound recorder and the use of Podcasts can be used to create sound
effect archives please refer to our extended response to Question 980 in Appendix 1.
1830 E-book tools. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1830 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity learning platform fully supports free downloadable „pdf‟ tools such as Adobe Reader,
1840 „pdf creation‟ tools. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
Foxit reader and PDF escape.
1850 Presentation (inc streaming) tool. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1850 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Simulation engines and demonstrations can be loaded into the learning platform and, providing they are
in a supported format, can be run or downloaded from the platform. The learning platform support site
1860 Simulation and demonstration tools. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
also contains a series of interactive demonstration videos showing how to make the most effective use of
the system. Please refer to our extended response to Question 1060 for details.
1870 Web page authoring. Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1870 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1880 Meeting/conference/virtual classroom tools. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1880 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1890 Email. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1890 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity learning platform provides an easy to use set of instant messaging tools. For a full
overview please refer to our extended response to Question 670 in Appendix 1. The use of online
1900 Instant messenger/chat tools. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
discussions and chat is one of the most popular tools within the UniServity learning platform. Please
refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1 for details.
At the heart of the UniServity Learning Platform, to support 21st century learning, is the individual‟s e-
portfolio. This contains a range of familiar Web 2.0 tools, including blogs, podcasts, communications
tools, a sound recorder, wikis, forums and quizzes and can be completely customised by the individual.
1910 E-portfolio for all users. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Learners can build and develop an e-portfolio for learning, personal development, collaboration, peer
assessment, working with teaching staff on Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and many other educational
and personal initiatives. For a full overview of how e-portfolios are being used within the UniServity
learning platform please refer to our extended responses to Questions 150 & 360 in Appendix 1.
User defined and teacher/course leader defined links can easily be added to the UniServity learning
1920 Links – user defined and teacher/course leader defined. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3
platform. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1180 in Appendix 1.
Within the UniServity learning platform every user has a personal 'My overview' which presents in one
place key information relevant to the user that day such as assignments set, calendar events and news
items. For a full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 560 in Appendix 1.
1930 Dashboards/today page – access to key performance indicators. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
The learning platform also enables authorised users to access a wide range of key performance
indicators relating to all aspects of the usage made by learners throughout the learning platform. For a
full overview please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1.
A range of tools within the learning platform can provide alerts set by users and teachers/course leaders.
These include instant messaging, 'to do's' and news alerts that can be set as part of a user's 'my
1940 Alerts – user-set and teacher/course leader-set Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 3
overview'. For an overview of how these tools can be used by learners and teachers/course leaders
please refer to our extended response to Question 670 in Appendix 1.
The Vendor's Solution shall provide the following digital functionality: Support for teachers' electronic
toolkits (whiteboards)
1950 Archive and cache of interactive whiteboard files and associated products. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1950 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The learning platform has a wide variety of easy-to-use tools that enable users to create a variety of
interactive content types including wikis, surveys, quizzes, forums, blogs, podcasts and interactive web
1960 Tools embedded to enable creation of interactive resources. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
pages. For a full overview of these tools please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in
Appendix 1.
The learning platform contains a comprehensive vote/polling tool. For an overview of this please refer to
our extended response to Question 1800 in Appendix 1.
1970 Voting functionality and student response systems. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
Part of our development roadmap for Life includes integration of Interactive Whiteboard voting systems
from Promethean & Smart within the UniServity learning platform. This is due for release in August 2011.
The Vendor's Solution shall provide the following functionality: Facilitate coupled learning communities
1980 Multiple language opportunities. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1980 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
1990 Allow creation of online communities across local, regional and national boundaries. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 1990 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
An effective range of tools should be available to communities, to include, for
example:
Forums
Discussions
Communication tools including SMS to participants when updated
Blogs (audio, video and mobile)
Podcasts and Vodcasts & Video Conferencing
Presentation tools
Templates
2000 Wizards Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Meeting / conference / virtual classroom tools
Email (including mailing lists)
Calendars (including multiple calendar sources)
File storage (personal / shared / e-Portfolio)
Wikis
News and notifications
Instant messaging / chat tools (audio/video/text, presence)
Intelligent Search facility
Help generator
The Vendor's solution shall provide an intelligent interface to match preferred learning styles to suitable
content
The interface for the learning platform can be customised to suit the age group at both school and
individual user level.
At site level, the learning platform can be completely customised to provide site-level personalisation for
each school appropriate to the age of its users. Schools can easily change colour schemes, banners,
logos and fonts using the easy to use WYSIWYG editor to personalise the learning platform for their own
2100 Suitable for age group. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 stylistic requirements and to suit pupils of different ages and abilities, giving a differentiated experience
for users within the same learning platform. For examples of site level customisation please refer to our
extended response to Question 1870 in Appendix 1.
From the perspective of individual users, the learning platform also provides a wide range of interfaces to
meet the needs of different age groups. For an overview please refer to our extended response to
Question 280 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform provides a wide range of intelligent interfaces that will meet the needs of
2110 Suitable for learning capability. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 different learning capabilities. For a full overview and examples please refer to our extended responses to
questions 280 & 2120 in Appendix 1.
Suitable for individuals' accessibility requirements to include symbols, audio,
2120 language translation, pictorial log-in, alternative methods for younger users/special Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2120 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
needs.
Full metatagging of data
Automated system based on keywords, working on resources developed within the
2130 Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2130 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Learning Platform/VLE and+A231 those imported.
The tagging system used within the UniServity learning platform includes a simple template that can be
2140 Template system. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 used for tagging resources. Please refer to our extended response to Question 2130 in Appendix 1 for
details.
The tagging system used within the UniServity learning platform includes a simple wizard that can be
2150 Wizard system. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 3 used for tagging resources. Please refer to our extended response to Question 2130 in Appendix 1 for
details.
Resource creation tools
We would anticipate that most schools would already have access to standard office tools, usually
through their Microsoft Agreement. However, should this not be the case, or should any institution wish
to extend the use of office applications, we would recommend the use of OpenOffice.
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible
with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. The uniServity
2160 Standard office productivity resources. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
learning platform is fully compatible with this product set.
In addition, within the learning platform itself, many schools use custom pages as a way of producing
word style documents, journals and e-books without the need to use any external programmes. For an
overview of how custom pages are used in this way, please refer to our extended response to Question
1830 in Appendix 1.
The learning platform has a wide variety of easy-to-use tools that enable users to create a variety of
interactive content types including wikis, surveys, quizzes, forums, blogs, podcasts and interactive web
pages. For a full overview of these tools please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in
Appendix 1.
2170 Interactive resources (e.g.. Interactive White Board). Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3 With regards to interactive whiteboards, the UniServity learning platform integrates with a range of
interactive whiteboard from major manufacturers such as Promethean and Smart. Please refer to our
extended response to Question 1950 in Appendix 1 for details.
The learning platform also easily integrates with a wide range of other 3rd party interactive resources.
Please refer to our extended responses to Questions 470 & 980 in Appendix 1 for details.
The UniServity learning platform links to a wide range of bespoke education specific applications,
including the most widely used MIS systems, a range of popular 3rd party content solutions and library
2180 Links to bespoke education specific applications. Compliant E 1 LOTs 1 & 3
systems. Please refer to our extended responses to Questions 30, 470 & 1600 in Appendix 1 for full
details.
2190 Easy to use teacher tools for resource creation and resource repurposing. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 3 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2190 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Drop-in learning resources
Pre-designed courses like QCA schemes of work can easily be inserted into the UniServity learning
platform course management system. For an overview of how courses can be created and added to
2200 Pre-designed courses for learning skills. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
within the UniServity learning platform please refer to our extended response to Question 1030 in
Appendix 1.
Any course created and held within the UniServity learning platform course management system can
have any type of learning resource referenced or attached to the learning activities within that course. For
2210 Relevant to all current courses available. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
an overview of how courses can be created and added to within the UniServity learning platform please
refer to our extended response to Question 1030 in Appendix 1.
Evaluation of learning activities
The UniServity learning platform provides a range of tools that can be used by management to review
learning activities. Dashboards provide platform-wide statistics allowing leaders and teachers to see
which classes and resources are being utilised the most. They are also able to see how resources and
tools are being used by teachers and students. Usage of learning resources is tracked and this can be
reported to the user or to the teacher or faculty head/Senior Management Team (SLT).
Additionally, teachers can monitor the progress of students in relation to specific set tasks or
assignments. Another useful management report exists within the discussion forum tool (which has
been recently been further developed specifically for teaching and learning purposes) has a report built
into it, which enables a teacher to see quickly who has and who has not taken part in a discussion and
Management tool to review, evaluate and improve all learning activities within
2220 Compliant E 1 LOT 1 the volume of contributions by each student.
Learning Platform/VLE.
For a detailed overview of the tracking facilities within the UniServity learning platform please refer to our
extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1.
In addition to the tools within the Learning Platform, UniServity has developed a proven successful
approach for working with school management and teachers. This approach called the “Roadmap to
Success” contains a “Learning Matrix” which maps pedagogical approaches, activities and outcomes to
activities that can be carried out using the tools in the Learning Platform. For a full overview of this
approach and how it can help to support school managers please refer to our extended response to
Question 3430 in Appendix 1.
Many UniServity users are recording lessons by video as a way of providing CPD for other teachers of
exemplar teaching practice. For an overview of this please refer to our extended response to Question
2230 Record lesson and resource observation. Compliant D LOT 1 1750 in Appendix 1. Please also refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1 for an
overview on reports that can be generated by authorised users to evaluate the usage made of learning
activities.
UniServity has developed a proven successful approach for working with school management and
teachers. This approach called the “Roadmap to Success” contains a “Learning Matrix” which maps
pedagogical approaches, activities and outcomes to activities that can be carried out using the tools in
the Learning Platform. For a full overview of this approach and how it can help to support school
2240 Management tool for support. Compliant D LOT 1
managers please refer to our extended response to Question 3430 in Appendix 1.
In addition, the reporting tools within the learning platform provide management with help to support
and develop the use of the learning platform. For an overview of these please refer to our extended
response to Question 430 in Appendix 1.
The range of tools included within the learning platform can be utilised to coordinate many areas of
school activity, including recording and managing school visits. This can be particularly important when
2250 Record and manage school visit. Compliant D LOT 1
managing 14-19 studies when learners may frequently be based at other learning institutions. For an
overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1380 in Appendix 1.
The Vendor's Solution shall provide other functionality: Learning resources
The UniServity learning platform integrates with a wide range of 3rd party video conferencing solutions
Video conferencing (Regional Broadband Consortium (E2BN) and National and we would be happy to discuss specific integration requirements with E2BN and NEN video
2260 Compliant E 2 LOT 1
conferencing solutions. For an overview please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in
Education Network (NEN)).
Appendix 1.
2270 Live audio (radio). Compliant E 1 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2270 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
It is possible to create links to live lessons from within the UniServity learning platform using live
2280 Links to live lessons Compliant E 1 LOT 1 collaboration, video conferencing or web cams. For an overview please refer to our extended responses
to Questions 1850 & 2000 in Appendix 1.
Lessons can be very easily archived in the UniServity learning platform. Whenever a resource is created
in the learning platform the teacher or administrator can easily set time limits on the availability of all
resources, discussion forums, project tasks, assessment tests, surveys, news, Podcasts, RSS feeds etc.
2290 Lesson archive. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
Once resources have reached their „end date‟ they will automatically disappear from view for users,
effectively becoming archived until they are needed to be used again. For further details please refer to
our extended response to Question 2400 in Appendix 1.
2300 Web queries (live data collection from remote sites). Compliant E 2 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2300 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The UniServity learning platform provides an excellent framework for partnering with learner peers be
they in they same school or at a partner school that the learner is working with. For a range of examples
2310 Partnering with learner peers. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
of how the UniServity learning platform facilitates this please refer to our extended response to Question
1990 in Appendix 1.
The ability for users to create web logs and learning journals (blogs) is a key part of an individual‟s
personal e-portfolio. Blogs are created using the same WYSIWYG tools used throughout the learning
2320 E-journals. Compliant D LOT 1 platform enabling users to embed video or audio directly into their Blogs where appropriate. This can be
used for a personal Podcast or audio diary. For further details please refer to our extended responses to
Questions 1830 and to the 'blogs' response in Question 2000.
The learning platform includes a wide variety of e-learning applications and tools including wikis,
surveys, quizzes, forums, blogs, podcasts and interactive web pages. For a full overview of these tools
2330 E-learning applications. Compliant D LOT 1 please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in Appendix 1.
The learning platform also integrates with a wide range of 3rd party e-learning applications. Please refer
to our extended responses to Questions 470 & 980 in Appendix 1 for details.
E-workbooks can easily be created within the UniServity learning platform. For examples and a full
2340 E-workbooks. Compliant D LOT 1
overview please refer to our extended response to Question 1830 in Appendix 1.
Within the current version of the learning platform many schools embed searchable links to sites such
as Wikipedia, dictionary.com and thesaurus.com within the Learning Platform. Wikis are used within the
learning platform to allow users to share the editing of content and provides full version control. This is
Partially particularly useful in building an online glossary for example, where users can collaborate on the project
2350 E-encyclopaedia, e-dictionary, e-thesaurus. D LOT 1
and the progress made can easily be tracked through a review of previous versions. Part of the
Compliant
development roadmap for 'Life', the next generation of the UniServity learning is the inclusion of
dictionary and thesaurus tools, and we would be happy to discuss specific developments in this area
with E2BN and its Local Authorities as part of our partnership.
The UniServity learning platform roadmap for August 2011, includes an e-language translator within the
2360 E-language translator. Compliant E 1 LOT 1
WYSIWYG editor. Please refer to our extended response to Question 1980 in Appendix 1 for full details.
2370 Subject-specific databases (primary and secondary/all phases/users). Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2370 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Directories, e.g.:
Newspapers
Magazines
Photographs
2380 Literature Compliant D LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2380 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Biographies
Law
Folk law
Music
Workflow and knowledge management for teachers
2390 Ability to manage the organisation of curriculum materials. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2390 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
2400 Ability to manage workflow for either whole class, groups or individuals. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2400 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
To ease workflow & knowledge management of digital content, UniServity provides authenticated and
integrated access to a wide range of popular 3rd party content, removing the need to login separately or
access the content through a variety of passwords. For an overview and examples of this please refer to
2410 Digital content. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 our extended response to Question 470. Digital content added to or created within the learning platform
can be easily tagged and searched for within the learning platform, enabling users to create repositories
of resources that can be easily accessed by other users. For a full overview please refer to our extended
response to Question 2130 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform supports access to a wide range of multi-media materials as outlined in
our extended response to Question 980 in Appendix 1. All multi-media materials created or added to the
2420 Multi-media materials. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 learning platform can be managed using the targeted group structures and knowledge management
processes available throughout the learning platform. For an overview please refer to our extended
responses to Questions 1140 & 2400 in Appendix 1.
Online mentors can easily be set up for users within the learning platform. For a full overview please refer
2430 Online mentors (for pupils, teachers, senior leaders, governors). Compliant E 2 LOT 1
to our extended response to Question 840 in Appendix 1.
Resources can be very easily archived in the UniServity learning platform. Whenever a resource is created
in the learning platform the teacher or administrator can easily set time limits on the availability of all
resources, discussion forums, project tasks, assessment tests, surveys, news, Podcasts, RSS feeds etc.
2440 Archived resources. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
Once resources have reached their „end date‟ they will automatically disappear from view for users,
effectively becoming archived until they are needed to be used again. For further details please refer to
our extended response to Question 2400 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform supports a wide range of video formats. Please refer to our extended
response to Question 1750 in Appendix 1 for details. All videos created or added to the learning platform
2450 Video. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 can be managed using the targeted group structures and knowledge management processes available
throughout the learning platform. For an overview please refer to our extended responses to Questions
1140 & 2400 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform supports a wide range of audio including an embedded sound recorder
which can be used for narrations and podcasts, and the ability to add a wide range of 3rd party sound
files. Please refer to our extended responses to Questions 1740 & 980 for details. All audio files created or
2460 Audio including narration. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
added to the learning platform can be managed using the targeted group structures and knowledge
management processes available throughout the learning platform. For an overview please refer to our
extended responses to Questions 1140 & 2400 in Appendix 1.
As outlined in our response to Question 1860 the UniServity learning platform can support a wide range
of 3rd party simulation engines. All simulations created or added to the learning platform can be
2470 Simulations. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 managed using the targeted group structures and knowledge management processes available
throughout the learning platform. For an overview please refer to our extended responses to Questions
1140 & 2400 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform provides a number of mechanisms which enables users to control and
monitor usage of the learning platform. For an overview of reports and monitoring that can take place
2480 Control and monitoring. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1. In addition, please refer to our
extended response to Question 2890 in Appendix 1 for an overview of how e-safety mechanisms provided
within the learning platform can provide additional controls for schools using the learning platform.
Users can easily create and add animations to the UniServity learning platform. Please refer to our
extended response to Question 1810 in Appendix 1 for details. All animations created or added to the
2490 Animations. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 learning platform can be managed using the targeted group structures and knowledge management
processes available throughout the learning platform. For an overview please refer to our extended
responses to Questions 1140 & 2400 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform enables users to create interactive sequencing of events based on linear
2500 Interactive sequences. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 and conditional sequencing. For a full overview of sequencing and how it fits within workflow
management please refer to our extended response to Question 2400 in Appendix 1.
Resources can be assigned on a group or individual basis to learners by teachers and course designers.
2510 Resources assigned to learners by teachers or course designer. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 The dynamic integration between MIS systems and the learning platform minimises workload for
teachers. Please refer to our extended response to Question 2400 in Appendix 1 for details.
The Vendor's Solution shall provide the following functionality: Profiling
The UniServity learning platform provides each user with their own personal profile and interface based
User profiling automated so that the Learning Platform/VLE adapts to the user‟s
2520 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 on their individual needs. For an overview on how this is achieved within the learning platform please
needs. refer to our extended responses to Questions 280 & 2120 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform provides individual GUIs based around the needs of different age
The GUI should develop as the user progresses through education (i.e.. different
2530 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 groups and needs of users. For an overview and examples of how this is achieved within the learning
GUI for Nursery than for Year 11 or teacher) platform please refer to our extended responses to Questions 280, 1870 & 2120 in Appendix 1.
E-learning Techniques across the Learning Platform/VLE
The UniServity learning platform provides an easy use set of WYSIWYG editors, templates and wizards
2540 Content-authoring tools. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 enabling all users to create their own content within the wide range of tools available in the learning
platform. For an overview of these please refer to our extended response to Question 2190 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform fully supports audio and video broadcasting. For a full overview please
2550 Broadcasting. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
refer to our extended responses to Questions 1850 & 2270 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform contains a number of tools that can be used for knowledge transfer
2560 Knowledge transfer. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 including forums & wikis. For an overview and examples of these being used please refer to our extended
responses to Questions 1210 & 2000 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform enables users to create a wide range of resources within the learning
2570 Resource creation. Compliant E 3 LOT 1 platform using a simple set of WYSIWYG editors, templates and wizards. For an overview of these please
refer to our extended response to Question 2190 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform provides an excellent framework for collaborative learning be they
learners in they same school or at a partner school that the learner is working with. For a range of
2580 Collaborative learning. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
examples of how the UniServity learning platform facilitates this please refer to our extended response to
Question 1990 in Appendix 1.
Many of the tools within the UniServity learning platform enable electronic notes and comments to be
made including forums and blogs. For an example and overview of electronic comments being made
2590 Electronic note-taking. Compliant E 2 LOT 1
please refer to our extended response to 'Blogs' in Question 2000 in Appendix 1. Electronic 'sticky' notes
form part of the 'Life' product release for August 2011.
A user's personal e-portfolio is at the heart of the UniServity learning platform and provides the
opportunity for them to narrate their own learning journey through personal spaces and the use of tools
2600 Learner narration. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 such as personal blogs and the use of the embedded sound recorder. For an overview of how e-
portfolios and the Blog tool are being used in this way please refer to our extended responses to
Questions 150 & 2000 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform supports a wide range of video conferencing solutions that can be used
2610 Learner video-conferencing. Compliant E 2 LOT 1 by learners as required. For an overview please refer to our extended response to Question 2000 in
Appendix 1.
Support for Legacy VLEs Component
UniServity recognises the increasing importance of school choice and that schools may well have
Integration between the proposed functionality within the solution‟s Learning existing learning platform functionality that they wish to keep along with a new learning platform
2620 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
solution. For an overview of how UniServity will work alongside solutions such as Moodle & Sharepoint
Platform/VLE and those of legacy Learning Platform/VLEs.
please refer to our extended response to Question 450 in Appendix 1.
UniServity has significant experience of migrating materials from existing Learning platforms to the
Migration paths from existing Learning Platform/VLEs to the vendor‟s proposed
2630 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 UniServity learning platform. For a full overview of our approach to migrating data from other learning
solution. platforms please refer to our extended response to Question 330 in Appendix 1.
Standards Component
Shareable Content Object Reference Model - SCORM
The UniServity Learning Platform is fully SCORM 1.2 and 2004 (latest edition) compliant beyond the
2640 The proposed solution shall be fully compliant with the current SCORM version. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
mandatory requirements of the BECTA Framework, supporting any SCORM object from other providers.
Our SCORM compliance is provided by Rustici software and the evidence of our compliance tests is
2650 The vendor shall produce evidence of compliance tests. Compliant D LOT 1
given on the ADLNet.gov website.
UniServity commits to remaining compliant with future versions of the SCORM standard. UniServity is
The vendor shall also commit to remaining compliant with future versions of the
2660 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 also fully behind the development of the IMS Common Cartridge standard and believes this may
SCORM standard, or its successor. represent the long term replacement for the SCORM standard.
There are no file size limitations within the UniServity learning platform. We recommend that schools do
not upload excessively large SCORM packages due to potential performance issues for users on
The vendor shall, in detail, explain any file size or other limitations and whether they downloading large SCORM files via a dial up or slow broadband connection.
2670 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
have extended SCORM parameters.
We confirm that we have not extended any SCORM parameters.
Schools Interoperability Framework - SIF
UniServity has a deep understanding of and are fully committed to the implementation of SIF should that
become established as the future, inexpensive method for allowing data to be linked between school
systems and the way of enabling data to be exchanged between schools, and between schools and the
LA.
The vendor shall commit to working in ensuring compliance with the emerging
2680 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
schools interoperability framework (SIF). We have been heavily involved in discussions with BECTA to understand how SIF is likely to be
implemented as an established solution, and are committed to developing our SIF Agent as part of the
SWGfL Merlin project.
We are members of SIFA UK and are currently developing our SIF Agent which will connect to the ZIS
Service in SWGfL Merlin Project. We expect to begin testing our SIF Agent aiming to go live in 2011.
2690 The vendor shall describe their existing plan for compliance to this standard. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
We expect SIF to be more widely adopted over the next 5 years.
Partially As outlined in our response to Question 2690, UniServity anticipates going live with our SIF agent in
2700 Is the Vendor‟s solution SIF-compliant? E 3 LOT 1
2011.
Compliant
E2BN is a member of Sofa and the successful vendors are expected to become a
2710 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 UniServity is already a member of SIFA UK.
member of UK Sofa if they are not already.
e-GIF and e-GMS and other standards
The UniServity learning platform is fully compatible with the e-Government Interoperability Framework
The proposed solution shall be fully compliant with e-GIF 6.1 and e-GMS 3.01 or 6.1, fully supports the e-Government Metadata Standard 3.01 and fully supports W3C standards. For a full
overview and examples of how the UniServity learning platform meets accessibility requirements please
2720 equivalent government standards guidance. Compliant E 3 LOT 1
refer to our extended response to Question 2120 in Appendix 1.
The UniServity learning platform is accessible to WCAG1.0 level AA throughout, thereby complying with
the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. For a full overview and examples of how the
The proposed solution shall meet disability discrimination act guidelines. UniServity learning platform meets accessibility requirements please refer to our extended response to
2730 Compliant E 3 LOT 1
Question 2120 in Appendix 1.
WAI AA compliant as a minimum.
In order to comply with the BECTA Learning Platform Framework evaluation, thorough tests were
2740 The vendor shall produce evidence of compliance tests. Compliant D LOTs 1 & 2
conducted by an external company. The pass level was set at 100% and UniServity was duly approved.
The vendor shall also commit to remaining compliant with future versions of the e-
2750 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 UniServity is committed to remaining compliant with future versions of the e-GIF and e-GMS standards.
GIF and e-GMS standards.
DFE Information Management Systems
The proposed solution shall be fully compliant and remain compliant with the DFE The UniServity Learning Platform is fully compliant with all DFE information systems and data storage
2760 information systems specifications, including the most recent data storage and data Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 and exchange requirements, and we update our software accordingly as new standards e.g. assessment
transfer specifications. components details 2008, are produced.
The UniServity learning platform is able to interlink with all the described components and functionality
The proposed solution shall demonstrate its interlinking with all the described
2770 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 issued by DFE. For an overivew of UniServity's approach please refer to our extended response to
components and functionality. Question 30 in Appendix 1.
To ensure integrated learning and management systems, the UniServity learning platform is „dynamically‟
The proposed solution shall be capable of interoperating with other MIS and linked to the most common MIS systems including Capita SIMS, RM Integris/G2, & Serco Facility CMIS.
2780 assessment systems – MIS systems to include, but not limited to, Pearson-Phoenix Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 We would be happy to look at integration requirements for Pearson e1 and other MIS systems if required.
e1, Serco CMIS, G2 and Capita SIMS. For a full overview of UniServity's current and planned MIS integration please refer to our extended
response to Question 30 in Appendix 1 for details.
IMS Global Learning Platform Consortium
The proposed solution shall be fully compliant with the IMS Content Packaging data The UniServity learning platform fully supports the IMS Content Packaging data mode, binding
2790 Compliant E 1 LOT 1
specifications V 1.2 and the ADL extensions V1.1 through its SCORM capabilities.
mode and binding specifications 1.2 and the ADL Extensions v1.1.
Internet2 Shibboleth-compliant
UniServity is a member of the UK Access Management Federation. The UniServity learning platform is a
fully supported Shibboleth Service Provider. It will therefore auto authenticate against a Shibboleth
The vendor shall commit to developing their proposed solution so as to be compliant Identity Provider service. We have already deployed a number of Shibboleth solutions in Local
2800 with the requirements of the UK Access Management Federation which is, in turn, Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Authorities such as Worcestershire. Worcestershire operates a central identity management system
based on Internet2 standards. across their network. A Shibboleth Identity Provider is added to this service which interfaces with our
Shibboleth Service provider agent, allowing any Worcestershire network authenticated users to single
sign onto our platform.
As outlined in our previous response to Question 2800, UniServity has already worked with
E2BN will be managing a central Identity Provider (IDP) which will be Shibboleth-
2810 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Worcestershire County Council on a similar project, and we would be happy to work on a similar basis
enabled and the vendor‟s solution shall use this as its primary IDP for schools. with E2BN and its Local Authorities.
The UniServity learning platform is built on Microsoft classic ASP, with new developments in the learning
platform being made in Microsoft .Net Framework 4.
To ensure the highest quality product, fastest possible bug fixing turn around and ensure the shortest
time to develop product, UniServity employ AGILE development methodologies (using Scrum) in a
The vendor shall provide E2BN with an understanding of the solution‟s standards in
2820 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 continuous integration staging environment.
respect of architecture, development environments and proprietary licensing.
The learning platform runs on a secure SQL server environment with comprehensive password policies
and firewall provision. For further details on the architecture used within the solution please refer to our
extended response to Question 3030 in Appendix 1.
Interoperability Component
We are committed to interoperability on many levels and have taken ownership for a wide range of
interoperability issues with other Local Authority partners. We would welcome discussions with E2BN &
its Local Authorities over your specific interoperability requirements and would be happy to work with
your other suppliers on interoperability requirements.
We are continuously increasing the number of internationally recognised standards, frameworks and
Ownership, by the vendor, of interoperability issues.
2830 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 reference models used within our Learning Platform and are currently compliant with e-GMS, e-GIF, COL
Metadata 1.1, SCORM 1.2 & 2004, Shibboleth, HTML4.0 and CSS2.0. For further details please refer to our
above responses to questions 2640 - 2820. UniServity is fully behind increasing interoperability and
choice for learners and fully agrees with the open source principles behind the GNU General Public
Licence. We would be happy to discuss GPL v3 requirements with E2BN and its other suppliers to ensure
interoperability is maximised.
The UniServity Learning Platform seamlessly enables establishments in the same education sector and
those in different phasese using the same VLE to work together, encouraging communication and
collaboration between learners and teachers in the E2BN region, England and across the whole world.
Part of our solution offers E2BN and each participating Local Authority a central LA Learning Platform
hub, which can be used to unite schools, disseminate information to all schools from a central location
Seamless interoperability with establishments in the same education sector and and encourage collaboration between all schools involved in the project.
2840 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
different phases using the same Learning Platform/VLE system or MIS.
Content can be shared between a cluster of schools, across the whole LA and on a much broader basis
as required.
Please refer to our response to Question 1990 for a number of examples of how seamless interoperability
will be achieved across establishments.
Data can be exported from the UniServity learning platform in a number of different common formats
enabling key learner information to be transferred to a FE/HE learning platform system. As part of our
Capability to transfer information to the HE/FE sector‟s Learning Platform/VLE partnership with Microsoft, we will be providing users with access to space on the Microsoft 'sky drive'
2850 Compliant D LOTs 1 & 2
enabling learners to export e-portfolios and other key data to the 'sky drive' when they leave school and
systems including the JISC E- Framework.
then seamlessly access it from College or UniServity, genuinely facilitating e-portfolios as a life-long
learning asset.
Seamless interoperability with different organisational approaches to address
government agenda in relation to services for children (currently Every Child
Matters).
2860 Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2860 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Different parts of E2BN have organised various services to learners through
libraries, Youth Centres, Health and Social Services leading to interoperability
requirements with other sectors‟ systems.
UniServity has an established API model which is used for interacting with external 3rd party data and
A commitment to publish an interim API to allow real-time synchronisation between content suppliers from within the UniServity Learning Platform. This includes taking data from MIS and
the learner record system, the school business system and other elements of the other systems as outlined in our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1. This is based on a
Partially synchronised link rather than real-time synchronisation however.
2870 Learning Platform/VLE. E 1 LOTs 1 & 2
Part of the release of 'Life' the next generation of the UniServity learning platform due for release in
Compliant
The minimum requirement for this API will be those standards listed in the August 2011 will provide an open API allowing any partner or customer to develop components or
Standards Component of this document. content for the learning platform. Please refer to our extended response to Question 60 in Appendix 1 for
further details.
Details on any, and all, proposals to charge, or otherwise restrict, other suppliers‟ UniServity will be happy to provide other key stakeholders involved in the project with access to product
release dates, functionality developments and relevant data structures as required. We would not plan to
2880 access to product release dates, functionality developments, data structures or data Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
charge for this or restrict access in any way, subject to appropriate confidentiality agreements being in
interchange between products. place.
Security Component
Full understanding of the e-safety issues and comprehensive proposals. Please
2890 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2890 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
detail.
UniServity has full ISO 27001 certification. UniServity's certification number is SP240353. Certification
2900 Compliance with ISO 17799/ISO 27001 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 was provided to E2BN as part of the PQQ evaluation, but additional copies can be provided as proof if
required.
General recognition of the vulnerability of Learning Platform/VLEs to abuse and the
2910 Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2910 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
steps taken to protect external access to the data.
To date, we have deployed our learning platform solution to over 2,500 schools in 21 countries around
the world. As yet, we have not encountered any issues with firewalls as all of our software is web based,
using standard ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS/SSL). For a full overview of the ports that may be used
within the UniServity learning protocol please refer to our extended response to Question 3050 in
Appendix 1.
Describe the potential interaction issues with the various firewalls of E2BN LAs and
We do have optional advanced authoring tools that require some configuration to proxy/caching servers.
2920 schools, and other suppliers, and the specific settings required for the proposed Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
The minimum requirements are a standards compliant browser with JavaScript and cookies enabled. The
solution to function. browser also needs to be set to check for newer versions of web pages to prevent caching of the dynamic
content.
We will happily commit to co-operate with E2BN, its Local Authorities and and other suppliers where
potential interaction issues with firewalls or other hardware may occur.
Schools have a full capability to upload their own data and applications as required using the easy to use
bulk upload and drag and drop tools described in our extended response to Question 630 in Appendix 1.
Proposals for management of schools' individual needs for uploading data and
2930 Compliant E 2 LOTs 1 & 2 If schools require UniServity to upload data and new applications this will be done on a case-by-case
applications to the Learning Platform/VLE within short timescales. basis following our ITIL Incident/Service request and change mnanagement procedures. For an overview
of these please refer to our extended response to Question 90 in Appendix 1.
Our software fully supports SSL and we typically implement 1024bit SSL encryption. For a full overview
of UniServity's approach to data protection please refer to our extended response to Question 2910 in
The use of SSL, or equivalent, to protect traffic over the Internet and local area Appendix 1.
networks.
2940 The strength of the encryption grade should be stated. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 We currently use thawte.com certificates, however we can support other approved certificates if required.
The names of supported Certificate Authorities should be stated.
If you require UniServity to support other approved certificates we would charge for this on a “cost-plus”
Whether the cost of the Certificate(s) are included in the Pricing Schedule. basis.
The storage devices we use are SAN systems which are housed in secured racks in secured areas of a
data centre floor which has very strong physical security 24/7/365. The servers sit behind firewalls with
The use of encrypted storage to prevent unauthorised access to data in the case of MS SQL Server best practice guidelines followed to mitigate risk of electronic attacks.
2950 theft. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
The data sits behind 1024 bit encrypted network /active directory permissions. We have successfully
The strength of encryption will be stated. achieved ISO 27001 certification of our systems. For a full overview of UniServity's approach to data
protection please refer to our extended response to Question 2910 in Appendix 1.
Prevention of unauthorised access to data whilst off-site.
2960 Physical protection of off-site media. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2960 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
The use of encrypted backup with the strength of encryption being stated.
Authentication, Authorisation & Accounting Component
The proposed solution is fully ID- and password-protected.
Each end-user has a unique account which is linked to their personalised learning
space – which may well be spread across different domains and physical locations.
2970 The strength of password should be stated. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2970 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Any further authentication protection e.g.. memorable information, PIN, etc should be
described.
The user ID shall not disclose location or gender.
The proposed solution is role-based. Typical roles will include:
Learner
With different categories to allow for appropriate content exposure
Teacher
2980 Parent Compliant E 3 LOT 1 Please refer to our extended response to Question 2980 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Governor
Guest
Administrator
Solution Provider
A user can belong to any number of groups and therefore have multiple roles: this means that (for
example) it is possible for a user to be a teacher at one school, a parent of a child at another school and a
governor of two other schools.
The proposed solution enables an individual user to have multiple roles e.g. user
We usually advise schools on a suitable initial group set, based on the number of users within the
2990 18573 may be a “learner” and “teacher” and “parent” and “administrator” and these Compliant E 3 LOT 1
school, the required level of integration with the MIS and the school‟s organisational structure.
should also allow for customisable roles.
If schools choose to collaborate together, it is very easy to create a group of users that are members of a
number of different learning establishments.
UniServity is a member of the UK Access Management Federation. The UniServity learning platform is a
fully supported Shibboleth Service Provider. It will therefore auto authenticate against a Shibboleth
Identity Provider service. We have already deployed a number of Shibboleth solutions in Local
The proposed solution is UK Access Management Federation Shibboleth (service
3000 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Authorities such as Worcestershire. Worcestershire operates a central identity management system
provider) compliant. across their network. A Shibboleth Identity Provider is added to this service which interfaces with our
Shibboleth Service provider agent, allowing any Worcestershire network authenticated users to single
sign onto our platform.
The UniServity learning platform provides comprehensive tracking of all transactions that take place
Transaction auditing. The proposed solution should include transaction tracking for
3010 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 within the learning platform for auidt reports. For an overview of the reports and monitoring that takes
audit purposes. Details should be given of tracking mechanisms and reports. place please refer to our extended response to Question 430 in Appendix 1.
Infrastructure / Platform Requirements Component
Quality of Service - QoS
3020 An understanding of the relationship between high demand and acceptable QoS. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 3020 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Proposals for strategic, tactical and operational solutions in maintaining QoS.
Server requirements; please give details for all available scenarios:
Hosted instance provided by the vendor – and standards
Hosted instance provided by an existing supplier – if an option, and standards
3030 Operating systems Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 3030 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
RAM, disk space, minimum processor
Back-up devices
Application architecture with particular reference to scalability and availability.
Client requirements:
For a client PC, this will almost certainly describe the browser types and supported
functionality. Compliance with regard to standards such as W3C shall be stated.
Dependencies upon proprietary plug-ins shall be stated. The vendor shall state the
approach to DDA compliance in the client interface and the minimum level
3040 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 3040 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
guaranteed.
The use of other devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, wireless technologies and
devices „everywhere‟ shall be described notably, but not exclusively, in the areas of
communication, tutor support and tracking.
Synchronisation with mobile devices.
Network requirements (LAN, WAN and MAN): LAN speeds; Active network device
3050 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 3050 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
throughput; Active network protocols; Local firewall requirements.
3060 Software: Variations, Version control, Upgrade dependencies. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 Please refer to our extended response to Question 3060 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
UniServity provides a comprehensive set of disaster recovery and back up processes for our centrally
hosted customer base. Given the anticipated magnitude of the base of data, our centrally hosted SAN
storage servers will be snap mirrored to a second data centre over fibre connections. For a full overview
of UniServity's disaster recovery and backup processes please refer to our extended response to
Question 2960 in Appendix 1.
All files that are uploaded to the learning platform will remain on it until an authorised user chooses to
Back-up and disaster recovery. remove it. All files are then backed up and restored within the software. This is managed through a
Recommended back-up regimes for user data. recycle bin.
3070 The described regimes will need to recognise the magnitude of the base of data. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
Recovery options for user data which may include learner or practitioner-generated When users delete files they get put into a recycle bin from which users and administrators can restore
them. In the same way that the Windows recycle bin works, if users empty the recycle bin the file is
content.
permanently lost.
Learners can therefore either retrieve files they have removed, or if the file is an area controlled by a
teacher or other authorised user, request delivery of it using one of the many communication tools in the
learning platform (such as messaging, email etc).
The solution is entirely delivered from within the centrally hosted environment. The server configuration
consists of n+1 web servers which are load balanced, with Clustered SQL Server 2005 or DB Mirroring
and Storage servers „snap-mirroring‟ to a second data centre. Each server is configured to a minimum of
Resilience dual processors and redundant or hot-swappable components such as power supply and network cards.
Fail-over requirements and options We have 24/7 service agreements with our Managed Network Partners supported by (at least) 99.9% OLA
3080 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
uptime guarantee. UniServity warrants that access to the Product shall be at a level of 99.5% between the
% up-times and guarantees
hours of 8am and 8pm (Monday to Sunday) and 97% at all other times. For the purpose of this warranty,
24/7/365 guarantees.
technical breaks in service not exceeding three minutes shall not be deemed to amount to non-access,
provided no more than two breaks occur within one hour. Please also refer to our extended response to
Question 3490 in Appendix 1 for the draft Service Level Agreement this would form part of.
Within the hosted environment we measure and manage parameters such as temperature, humidity,
Local environment. smoke detection and full redundant UPS as standard.
3090 Power - UPS. Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
Our hosted environment is manned and monitored 24/7/365. For an estimate on these factors in a Local
Temperature and humidity control. Authority hosted implementation please refer to our extended response to Question 3030 in Appendix 1.
Configuration, Data Manipulation & Commissioning Component
Our solution is centrally hosted and managed. No local installation is required for the learning platform,
meaning we will not need to access the technical environments of E2BN's institutions. Synchronisation
of the MIS with the Learning Platform (if required) involves installing an application on one local
machine. This process is usually undertaken remotely or by a member of school staff. The installation of
this software is overseen by our experts, and is fundamentally a simple operation that only takes a few
minutes.
No technical onsite expertise should be required over and above the typical knowledge usually held by
Installation. an ICT Advisor (at LA level) or an ICT Technician (at school level). Some knowledge may be needed to
Understanding of the accessibility to the technical environment within all our enable/configure web browsers, however, this is typically not required as most institution networks will
learning institutions. already have the necessary configuration in place.
3100 Understanding of the technical expertise/capability likely to be available for the Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
Browsers should be configured to check for newer versions of a page on every visit, they should also be
installation within E2BN learning institutions. set to use javascript and have cookies enabled. The level of expertise required rarely extends beyond the
E2BN members have various approaches to management of the WAN infrastructure ability to set up these requirements.
on behalf of schools.
Our approaches to installation have been fine-tuned over the past nine years where we have deployed our
solution into over 2,500 schools. A school IT Advisor/Technician has been able to carry out the
configurations in the vast majority of cases. Our support teams are on hand however if a problem should
arise.
We have signficant experience of managing any issues related to WAN infrastructure, and are happy to
commit to working in partnership with E2BN and its Local Authority partners on any WAN issues that
may arise.
UniServity has substantial experience of providing authenticated and integrated access to a wide range
of popular content. A full overview and examples showing this is provided in our extended response to
Question 470 in Appendix 1.
The learning platform is shibboleth compliant and uses shibboleth to manage any licensing and
Configuration.
authentication/configuration issues, hence removing any potential problems in these areas.
Understanding of the existing products being used by learning institutions for
education ICT. The learning platform supports all IMS QTI 1.2 (Questions and Tests Interoperability) content as
3200 Understanding the existing products being used by learning institutions for Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 individual assessment items, or banks of assessment items. The learning platform also supports
management ICT. Shibboleth, enabling integration with other Shibboleth compliant content.
The vendor should satisfy themselves that they are fully aware of any and all The learning platform is also fully SCORM 1.2 and 2004 compliant beyond the mandatory requirements of
standards being utilised by E2BN members. the BECTA Framework, supporting any SCORM object from other providers.
With regards to configuration of the learning platform with existing MIS providers please refer to our
extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1.
Integration.
Capability of managing the relationship with existing Learning Platform/VLE
suppliers to E2BN learning institutions in order to achieve integration with the data
held within their product.
UniServity has significant experience of managing relationships with existing VLE providers to manage
Capability to technically achieve integration with an existing Learning Platform/VLE the integration of existing VLEs with the UniServity learning platform. Please refer to our extended
supplier‟s product. response to Question 450 in Appendix 1 for an overview of our experience and technical capabilities in
Capability of managing the relationship with existing MIS suppliers to E2BN learning this area.
3300 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2
With regards to integration with existing MIS systems, UniServity also has significant experience of
institutions in order to achieve Learning Platform/VLE integration with the data held
integrating our learning platform solution with popular MIS solutions including Capita SIMS, Serco
within their product.
Facility CMIS & RM Integris G2. Please refer to our extended response to Question 30 in Appendix 1 for
Capability to technically achieve Learning Platform/VLE integration with schools‟ full details of our current technical capabilities and plans including two way transfer of data.
existing MIS systems.
Capability to achieve technical integration of MIS systems of all major providers in
the education market with the Learning Platform/VLE, including seamless automatic
two-way data transfer and provided clear timescales for such integration.
UniServity has been chosen by more than 20 Local Authorities under the Becta Learning Platform
Migration: Capability of managing the relationship with an existing Learning framework to provide our learning platform solution and many of these agreements have involved
migration from existing Learning Platform solutions including Net Media, Fronter & Moodle. We are
Platform/VLE supplier to learning institutions in order to achieve the successful
3400 Compliant E 3 LOTs 1 & 2 therefore more than capable of managing the relationships with existing VLE providers to achieve
migration of data held within their product. Capability to technically achieve successful migration to the UniServity learning platform. For a full overview and details of how we
migration from an existing Learning Platform/VLE supplier‟s product. approach this from a technical and planning perspective please refer to our extended response to
Question 330 in Appendix 1.
Support / Management Component
Tools: in-house support; end-user support and training; development; fault
3410 Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3410 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
determination and rectification.
End-users will be provided with access to a range of facilities via the UniServity help desk including
telephone support, remote diagnostics and help facilities delivered by our ITIL v3 qualified help desk
staff. Please refer to our extended response to Question 1060 for a full overview of the support facilities
provided.
Post-implementation support: On-site support; Remote diagnostics; Remote help
3420 Compliant E 3 All LOTS On-site support provided by UniServity is normally focussed on enhancing the use of the learning
facilities, Compliance with ITIL Service Management or equivalent platform as part of our training programme as outlined in our response to Questions 3430 & 3440. Given
the reliability of the UniServity learning platform and the opportunities for remote and telephone
diagnostics it is extremely rare that an on-site visit is required for technical reasons, but if required we
will of course do so.
Continuing Professional Development Component
The vendor‟s vision for delivering quality training and support over an extended
3430 period to different clients including: LA representatives, Senior management, Compliant E 2 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3430 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Curriculum area management, Class teachers, Support assistants, Learners.
The vendor‟s proposed training programme for continuing professional development
at all levels including: Training and development requirements provided within the
core provision: Training arrangements for LA officers supporting learning
institutions, including number of training units provided as part of the package;
Required level of technical expertise needed from the learning institution; Systems
3440 management technical training arrangements for learning institutions including Compliant E 2 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3440 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
number of training units provided for each; Learning Platform/VLE system training
arrangements for teachers in learning institutions including number of training units
provided for each; Pedagogical training arrangements for teachers across learning
institutions including number of training units provided for each; Training
recommendations based on an audit of the individual learning institution.
Documentation & Escrow Component
As a centrally hosted managed solution, no local on-site installation is required for the learning platform.
UniServity will create each initial learning platform site and provide access for schools to their learning
platform site at their initial training session, enabling the schools to start developing and customising
the learning platform for their particular requirements. If applicable, school or Local Authority staff will
need to be involved with synchronisation of the MIS with the Learning Platform which involves installing
an application on one local machine in the school. This process is usually undertaken remotely or by a
member of school staff. The installation of this software is overseen by our experts, and is a simple
3450 Installation breakdown – tasks, who involved, time on-site, time off-site, training. Compliant E 3 All LOTS
operation that only takes a few minutes.
Administrator training will be carried out to provide learning platform managers with the necessary skills
required to carry out day to day management tasks (an overview of which is provided in our extended
response to Question 3410 in Appendix 1). For an overview of the proposed training programme that will
enable these tasks to be carried out, please refer to our extended response to Questions 3430 & 3440 in
Appendix 1.
3460 Lead roles and responsibilities, suggested post holders, what is entailed. Compliant D All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3460 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Implementation flow-chart with sequences of actions, who should undertake them
3470 Compliant E 1 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3470 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
and approximately how long they take.
Service description: The individual components of the Learning Platform/VLE, MIS, UniServity will provide appropriate documentation on the individual components of the Managed
Learning Service as required by E2BN institutions. For an overview of the components currently provided
3480 or resources as shown on the attached diagram, to be available to E2BN learning Compliant E 1 All LOTS
and due to be provided shortly as part of our development roadmap please refer to our extended
institutions are fully described within an accessible service description. responses to Questions 400, 2000 & 45 in Appendix 1.
Service level agreement; The individual components of the Learning Platform/VLE
are included with a service level agreement document; Each Learning Platform/VLE
component in the service level agreement is measured and reportable to the level of
a learning institution; Each Managed Learning Platform/VLE component‟s
3490 Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3490 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
performance can be aggregated to LA level; Each Managed Learning Platform/VLE
component‟s performance can be aggregated to E2BN Services level; The SLA is
linked to performance guarantee; A Customer Handbook will support the contract
and SLAs.
Documentation:
The Learning Platform/VLE, MIS or utility components are fully covered within
3510 technical documentation that includes the relevant APIs published for further Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3510 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
integration and open component development. The Learning Platform/VLE
components are fully covered within end-user documentation.
There are no copyright limitations on content created within the UniServity learning platform. External
3520 Copyright: The vendor states any copyright limitations. Compliant E 3 All LOTS 3rd party content uploaded into the learning platform may be subject to any copyright limitations
imposed by the provider.
Licensing; The vendor states any licensing restrictions: As a fully web based solution, the UniServity learning platform is available on any standards based
Of special interest is any restriction which will inhibit the concept of „anytime internet browser on a wide variety of different device types meaning that genuine anytime anywhere
–anywhere‟ learning. In particular; use from home, library, community centre, learning can be achieved.
internet café, hot-spot, etc. There are no restrictions which should inhibit different user types and indeed the role-based nature of
the UniServity learning platform enables a wide variety of user types to successfully use the UniServity
3530 Of special interest is any restriction which inhibit different user types: Compliant E 3 All LOTS
learning platform. For an overview and examples of this please refer to our extended response to
In particular, parents, learners over 18, etc. Question 2980 in Appendix 1.
GNU General Public Licence. UniServity is fully behind increasing interoperability and choice for learners and fully agrees with the
Of special interest is the embracing of interoperability through the production of open source principles behind the GNU General Public Licence. We would be happy to discuss GPL v3
requirements with E2BN and its other suppliers to ensure interoperability is maximised.
solutions under the GPL.
Intellectual Property Rights: The vendor affirms it has the IPR, or where needed, the UniServity is the sole owner of the Intellectual Property Rights for the UniServity Learning Platform
3540 permission of the IPR owner to provide the various components within the Learning Compliant M All LOTS solution, and consequently there are no IPR issues with any of the components provided within our
Platform/VLE, MIS or other resources. solution.
Escrow arrangements: The vendor describes its current arrangements for Escrow; UniServity has already established escrow agreements with Software Escrow Solutions (SES) and can
3550 where E2BN judges these to be less than desirable, alternative arrangements will be Compliant E 3 All LOTS provide the same service for E2BN and its Local Authorities if required on an optional chargeable 'cost
required of the successful vendor/s. plus' basis. We would be happy to discuss alternative escrow arrangements if required.
Quality Assurance Component
A statement of the method of working; An acceptance test plan and procedures
which form part of the main contract; An agreed generic project plan for the
3560 implementation sequence at any one site; An agreed change control mechanism on Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3560 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
platform upgrades, enhancements and resource additions; Programme of high-level
reviews.
The project plan for the learning platform delivery will be individually created and developed for each
Pre-implementation for individual sites: Proposals on how to adapt the generic school following the initial consultancy session. This is critical to ensure that the learning platform is
mapped on to the key school development priorities for each school, rather than simply becoming
3570 project plan for the implementation sequence to the actual site‟s requirements; Compliant E 3 All LOTS
another ICT initiative. For a full overview of this approach and examples of individual project plans
Method of working; Published agreed test plans – unit and system. please refer to our extended responses to Questions 3430 & 3560 in Appendix 1. For an overview of the
proposed test plans please refer to our extended response to Question 3580 in Appendix 1.
3580 Implementation for individual sites: A site acceptance test plan and procedures. Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3580 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Post-implementation for individual sites:
Programme of reviews
Programme of user-testing of enhancements and processes to include feedback on
refinements prior to launch or upgrade
3590 Programme of monitoring meetings with the LA and schools Compliant E 3 All LOTS Please refer to our extended response to Question 3590 in Appendix 1 for a full overview.
Templates of monitoring reports provided to the LA and schools, with details on how
they would be provided (hard and soft copies), and including Learning Platform/VLE
usage trend, including use of individual components and performance against
performance targets.
MIS, School Management Information Systems
3600 Ability to comply with DFE statutory data returns. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3610 Compliance with DfE common basic data set standards. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3620 Compliance with DfE common transfer CTF standards. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3630
Facilitates interoperability to SIF standards across MIS suppliers and other E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
applications e.g.. LPs, Admission authorities
3640
Ability to handle dual and multiple registrations, including attendance across E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
multiple sites.
3650 User-friendly management reporting tools to support leadership decision-making. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3660 Ability to export in EXCEL format and re-import with additional information. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3670 Ability to export changed data items for updating central LA systems. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3680 Functionality to record and manage behaviour issues. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
Functionality to record and track pupil attainment progress in the classroom
3690 E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
environment with built-in analysis tools.
3700 Functionality to report on individual or custom groups of pupils or staff. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3710 Ability to handle school federations, multiple school or centralised LA versions. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3720 Functionality to meet school attendance registration requirements. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3730 Real-time remote data access and updating. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3740 Appropriate access for parents and pupils. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3750 Financial and budget management. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3760 Timetable management. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3770 Personnel Management linked to financial management. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3780 Examinations management. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3790 Workflow and letter/e-mail generation. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
Back-up and disaster recovery.
Recommended back-up regimes for user data.
3800 The described regimes will need to recognise the magnitude of the base of data. E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
Recovery options for user data which may include learner or practitioner-generated
content.
3810 Internal and external hosting options. E 1 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3820 Payment and invoicing system. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
3830 Integrate with existing financial/accounting systems, e.g.. SAGE. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
Asset management to support efficient and effective business and Service
Management processes by providing accurate configuration information to enable
people to make decisions at the right time e.g. to authorise change and releases,
resolve incidents and problems faster.
• To provide a logical model of the services, assets and different components
(physical, logical, etc.) and their relationships needed to deliver these services.
3835 E 1 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
• To define and control the components of services and infrastructure and maintain
accurate configuration records.
• To enable compliance with governance requirements, control the asset base,
optimise costs, manage change and releases effectively, and resolve incidents and
problems faster.
3840 Support package E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
A real commitment to maximising management information. The vendor will specify
3850 D LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
how this will be measured.
The vendor will give examples of an understanding of the business processes of the
3870 D LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
education market place
3880
The vendor will provide innovative proposals for spreading development costs and E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
risk across the life of the contract
The vendor MUST describe how it will ensure that capacity levels meet service level
3890 E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
targets.
The vendor MUST describe how it will ensure that the appropriate levels of resource
3900 E 3 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
are available to support the service level targets.
The vendor MUST describe activities including: Transaction
and exchange trust – authenticity and non-repudiation. Critical success factors
for security management are the cost effective maintenance of confidentiality,
integrity and availability of services, data and information and the proactive
improvement of security as required. Key performance indicators include: The
4000 number of incidents caused by internal security failures. The number of incidents E 1 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
caused by external security failures. The percentage of services
covered by security audits. The number of security audit and testing failures.
The vendor will explain how the MIS enables users increasing accessibility whilst
reducing workload and obstacles in the light of the remodelling agenda “Raising
Standards and Tackling Workload: A National Agreement”. Further information
can be found at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/remodelling/
4100 • its ease of use and management. E 2 LOT 2 Not applicable - UniServity is only bidding for Lots 1 & 3.
• facilitates knowledge management across relevant areas.
• facilitates parental access.