A phased implementation

Warwick Assessment System (WAS) will be implemented on a phased basis with Phase One beginning in April 2022 with a limited group of departments who have agreed to help test the training and support model to deliver the summer exams and assessments. They will also help to develop how we use the system, what configurations to use and what guidance and policy to implement. From August 2022 Phase Two will then seek to bring further departments onboard to start at the beginning of the assessment cycle. Training sessions and demos will be available to all in the next couple of months.

The system will generate marks to be for Tabula Marks Management. As no system on the market can currently cope with the final part of the end to end process of assessment and marks management, this will continue to take place in our Tabula Marks Management System. Enhancements will be made to this in-house platform to ensure effectiveness gains.

Latest Update

Update October 2023

Over the summer term 123 exams were successfully delivered to 2900 students via the Warwick Assessment System with 10 new departments coming on board for the first time. The project team would like to thank all the academic departments and central teams involved for their work in making this happen.

Full guidance for staffLink opens in a new window using WAS for upload exams (Flow Assign) was published in time for the summer exams and continues to be added to including FAQs.

The project team’s current focus is to work with departments that are using AEP to enable them to adopt WAS; further details of training and support will be shared later this month. Until the first phase of integration of WAS and SITS is complete, the project will continue to support departments that are already using WAS with the type of functionality (Flow Assign/ Flow Multi) they have used up to now. IDG has allocated new resources to accelerate the first phase of this integration.

New guidanceLink opens in a new window to help with the completion of MAB-affected marking was published. This covers how to re-open marking and how to replace an assessor who is no longer able to mark. Questions about the roll out of the Warwick Assessment System are welcomed; please send these to the team at was@warwick.ac.uk

Update March 2023 - Phase 2 progress

The roll out for Phase 2 focuses on replacing pdf upload exams that would usually take place in the AEP. The departments coming on board are mostly moving year groups across to the new system in stages so that student are not being required to learn a new system in their final year.

A WAS Student Guidance website has been developed to give students guides and information to help them understand how to interact with WAS.

The staff guidance website is under construction but will be available shortly with new information being added regularly.

The planned SITS/WAS data integration, that we were hoping to have in place for the summer exams, has faced some delays due to complications and the impact of other major system projects. However, the data transfer will still take place, managed by IDG, and there will be no extra work placed on departmental staff due to this delay (This service will also be available for Phase 1 departments).

On the 13th March the WAS training programme was launched and offers various formats including step-by-step walkthrough training, online guides, drop-in session and bookable 1:1 support, so there should be something to suit everyone. WAS is a complex system to get to know fully and we advise that users attend a training session of some kind before attempting to access the staging site which will be available for all staff.

Update: December 2022 - Phase 2 launch

Thank you to all those who took part in discussions and considered onboarding in Phase 2. We have now had confirmation from all departments about whether they are moving exams across from AEP to WAS for the Summer Exam period in this academic year, or from 23/24. 

See below for a list of departments that have signed up for 22/23. Please note that this does not mean that every exam for these departments will be in WAS – some are moving exams across over a 2 year period. Our next step will be to clarify exactly which exams will take place in WAS and which will remain in AEP for 22/23. 

Further information and dedicated webpages will follow shortly.

Update: July 2022 - Phase 2 plans

Phase 1 implementation of the new Warwick Assessment System (WAS) is now successfully drawing to a close. A huge thank you goes to the staff and students of the academic departments who enthusiastically got involved with the first phase. The aim of Phase 1 was to get the system up and running with a selection of departments as quickly as possible to be able to run some live assessments and exams and explore the functionality and capabilities of the system within the Warwick setting, whilst gathering understanding about the levels of support that will be required for a fuller roll out.  

Key findings of Phase 1

Therefore, the next phase of the roll out will seek to directly replace AEP for assessments usually uploaded in pdf format to the AEP, in the Spring/Summer sessions for the academic year 2022/23. This will then allow the decommissioning of AEP at the end of 2023 all being well. 

Essential work is being carried out between now and Spring 2023 to integrate WAS with SITS and Tabula to ensure full functionality for the Phase 2 departments.  

Read more about Phase 2

Update: June 2022

By Friday 17th June the first phase of the project will have successfully delivered 18 exams and 9 assessments for a total of 417 students. This is a great achievement and the project team would like to thank the Phase 1 departments: Applied Linguistics, IATL, Warwick Medical School (UG and MBChB) and Global Sustainable Development (GSD), for their enthusiastic involvement and patience in the process as we have all learned the system together.

One student reported “The interface was very easy to use and I was able to focus on my exam”. Exams are now being marked and the team are supporting the markers with the process.

Phase 1 aimed to explore the functionality and capabilities of the system within the Warwick setting, whilst gathering understanding about the levels of support that will be required for a fuller roll out. Immediate next steps are to deal with any risks and issues that arise as we set up the system and receive feedback from Phase 1. There will be a formal review and lessons learned for Phase 1 before the plans for Phase 2 are finalised.

Update: May 2022

Phase 1 aims to explore the functionality and capabilities of the system within the Warwick setting, whilst gathering understanding about the levels of support that will be required for a fuller roll out. UNIwise have delivered some demo sessions and members of the phase 1 departments have been set up with accounts to familiarise themselves with the system.

A fantastic achievement for the start of the project is that live users and the first assessments are now taking place with support from the project team and FOLD and Exam Teams, all within 2 months of gaining access to the system for the first time. The longer term aim being for departments to be self-service with support from FOLD and Exam Teams when their expertise is required.

Our immediate next steps are to deal with any risks and issues that arise as we set up the system and receive feedback from phase 1, this includes system integration and configuration, guidance, process reviews, and policy development. There will be a formal review and lessons learned for phase 1 before the plans for Phase 2 are finalised.