Covalent - a simple and effective solution to Curriculum Planning and Performance Monitoring

Further Education Colleges are facing significant challenges due to the introduction of the most complex funding methodology to date, which essentially means that they have to deliver a lot more for a lot less.

Colleges have concerns regarding the ever changing and increasing number of funding targets set and need the confidence and ability to know that they will hit both their funding allocation and their tuition fees income.

It is absolutely crucial to be alerted to problems of potential under performance quickly and early enough to take remedial action in year to avoid massive penalties, not only as a result of an in year under performance but the “double whammy” of funding reductions in future years.

There is a fundamental need for a college to know the exact position against its planned profiles if it is to hit agreed annual targets by monitoring actual performance against planned provision. Principals and their staff need to be alerted when a potential problem occurs anywhere across the curriculum during the academic year.

What is needed is an effective early warning system - a “sleeping policeman” that alerts the people that need to know of problems in a timely manner, when there is still time to take remedial action to avoid significant adverse financial consequences.

Covalent is a simple web-based curriculum and funding planning tool that crucially monitors your actual performance against plan and alerts users across college when shortfall thresholds are breached...

• Acts as an effective early warning system, alerting you to dangers by raising the alarm before it’s too late, giving you time to take action - in year. No more “rear view mirror” scenarios when the damage is already done
• Allows you to plan your curriculum and monitors your actual progress against the plan – in a simple, meaningful and visually engaging way
• Provides intuitive dashboards, snaphots and automated email alerts to users to those that need to know: Principal, Curriculum Director, Head of Faculty and others
• Monitors Key Performance Indicators, helping you to plan and monitor provision performance across all areas (e.g. learner numbers - planned, target, actual and variance, funding planned, target, actual and variance, actual available teaching hours, planned teaching hours, teaching hours delivered to date, planned student hours to date)
• Continually raises alarms until someone takes remedial action
• Provides simple or complex performance dashboards
• Includes built in digest and detailed analysis reports
• Offers peace of mind to college management – they know what is going on and that action is needed, staff can’t hide and the system will continually raise the alarm, meaning staff have to take ownership and action

For more information on Covalent's Curriculum and Funding Performance Management tool, please click here.