CourseworkerXML - Benefits

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Benefits

CourseworkerXML is the first hosted single-source publishing solution that is specifically built for education providers.

CourseworkerXML and “SaaS”

"Software as a Service (SaaS)" as a model of providing hosted business services via the Web emerged in 2003. The success of Salesforce.com has proven the concept and many more SaaS applications like CourseworkerXML are emerging because they remove the need for big capital expenditures for software products, and to maintain multiple software applications on local computers.

CourseworkerXML is the first SaaS application to specifically target the development of course materials and online programmes, and comes from a company with a 12 year track record of success at it."

Cost benefits

CourseworkerXML offers a rapid deployment path to achieving substantial cost savings with XML based production.
Single source materials are between 40-60% less expensive to produce over their lifetime largely due to single source maintenance and batch re-publishing.
Volume based menu pricing can be accurately estimated, allowing work to be outsourced for best price if desired.
There are no capital equipment expenditures for hardware or software, so the investment risk is reduced.

The cost case

An extract from one customer’s business case for CAPDM’s XML technologies concluded:

“It has been recognised that the course material is the crown jewels of the college and as such needs to be protected. The business plan states that all course material (approximately 1500 papers) should be completely re-written over the next 4 years. To be able to do this without hiring an extra 2 people into the materials development team dedicated to this task, we would need to implement a solution such as CAPDM.”

Quality benefits

CourseworkerXML offers state-of-the-art batch pagination and generation components. It outputs professional quality typeset print and web outputs time after time.
It uses Semantic markup to enhance the quality (fitness for purpose) of the resulting learning materials. These enrich online teaching and learning experiences.
Optimised print versions, it can be setup for commercial litho printers.
Accessible web materials are generated with improved navigation and accessibility.
Course materials are continuously improved, driven by feedback in their use on-site and online.
Hyperlinks, refrences and unique identifiers are managed throughout and maintained by computer.
Consistent style and structure is applied across the entire domain of course materials.

The quality case

An extract from one customer’s business case for CAPDM’s XML technologies concluded:

“For the college to be known as a quality learning institute it is necessary that the materials that the students interact with are of an appropriate quality level and be delivered in a timely fashion. In the past we have had issues with material being delayed as well as layout errors. The CAPDM solution would help to mitigate both of these issues by expediting the time to convert the documents as well as reducing human error.”

Speed benefits

CourseworkerXML uses efficient batch publishing tools for multi-format outputs. These can batch typeset professional text books in minutes and generate thousands of web pages in seconds.
Students will receive updates for all print and online learning more conveniently and quickly.
Course materials can be re-branded and shared almost instantly.

The speed case

An extract from one customer’s business case for CAPDM’s XML technologies concluded:

“The CAPDM solution automatically converts Word documents into XML and then into HTML and or PDF formats. The intention is therefore to use this product in the production team to replace what is currently a manual, labour intensive, inflexible and error prone system. The current solution takes approximately 3 hours to convert a Word document to HTML, the CAPDM solution takes 2.5 minutes. Looking at the current time carrying out this activity this would represent a saving of 2.8 effort years based on our current resource usage and very conservative estimates.”

Strategic benefits

CourseworkerXML lets you centralise all your course materials in one standards based repository.
Course materials are converted once and forever into vendor neutral XML format.
Materials production becomes extremely scalable, multi-language ready, and more compatible with education industry standards.
Production workflows can be shared, allowing each party to apply thier expertise to create a better course development solution.

The strategy case

An extract from one customer’s business case for CAPDM’s XML technologies concluded:
“The corporate services opportunity is being identified as a way to generate more income. This solution would be based on the premise of having developed course material for various corporations. Existing material could then be evolved for different clients.

To be able to do this effectively there needs to be a solution where material can be quickly modified and re-branded. The CAPDM solution would allow us to do this quickly and easily in a consistent manner.”