Carla King-Molina | Junior Editor
At the cost of up to €25,000, the Board of Trinity College Dublin has invested in an app which will allow it to conduct its business electronically using tablet devices. The move to digital documentation was approved at the September 17th meeting.
The College has cited benefits such as environmental and financial gains as well as more efficient use of college resources and staff. Informal estimates place the cost of the development at between €15,000 and €25,000, depending on the sophistication of the cloud element of the technology.
However, iPads will not be provided for and Board members are asked to meet the price of the tablet from their own individual budgets. The office of the Secretary to College will purchase the devices on behalf of members, who can choose to loan the device for the duration of their term. Board members are usually allowed to claim all expenditure relating to the performance of their duties but less than €100 was claimed in the last academic year.
Several similar apps that enable board members to access meeting agendas and documents exist on the market but security appears to be a serious priority to the College. Indeed, Apple iPads are the tablet of choice following an analysis of security, accessibility, and distribution imperatives.
Various factors make an impact on the price of developing the app, with anything from app icons to the aesthetics of the app itself actually affecting the cost.
Despite the costs of the application, the Board has affirmed its importance for circulating Board documentation efficiently and, after exploring the practices of other educational providers, this became the preferred option.
Training for Board members has also been organised as the rollout is managed by the Secretaries Office but overseen by the College IT Security Officer and IS Services. A dual system of document circulation will be followed for the month of November to lessen any issues arising due to the changeover. Electronic circulation has only been planned for the December meeting of the Board, and in addition to the training sessions, IS Services will be on hand for 45 minutes at the beginning of each meeting to answer any user queries.
If the Executive Officer Group agrees that the application has been a success, a review will be conducted in the next academic year where the group will decide whether the application should be rolled out to all Principle Committees of the College.
