Centralization of information management indispensable for large-scale school operations

-What is the background of the introduction of ArielAirOne?

Mr. Ikeda:

Before the introduction of ArielAirOne, different departments were using different portal systems, and even when a new system was introduced, there was no unified awareness of the need to actively utilize the new system.

In order to centralize information management, we compared several groupware systems and referred to case studies of other universities, etc. We decided to introduce ArielAirOne in 2011 as the first groupware to be used by the entire organization.

Ishihiro Seko, who has been called the key person in the Kindai reforms and is currently the head of the Corporate Strategy Division, has taken the lead in making sure that all departments are aware of the importance of using ArielAirOne for centralized management of information, and it is now firmly established as an information sharing platform used daily by faculty and staff. ArielAirOne is now firmly established as an information sharing platform used daily by faculty and staff.

Kinki University has more than 34,000 students enrolled in the university alone, and more than 53,000 in total (as of May 2022), including students from kindergarten to graduate school. Nearly 10,000 faculty members support students and faculty members support students. I think the centralized management of information was an indispensable step for us to carry out large-scale school operations.

DXing of faculty and staff operations to provide the necessary information at the necessary time

-How is ArielAirOne being used?

Mr. Ikeda:
We use the workflow tool and all the standard groupware functions such as scheduler, facility management, notice posting, and task management.

One of the features of ArielAirOne is its flexible access privileges. Because we are a large organization, this was a necessary element from the perspective of risk management to prevent information leaks, etc. For example, only those with the appropriate authority can access the necessary information at the necessary time, such as who is allowed to see the schedule of Professor XX and to what extent.

The number of applications on Kinki University's proprietary ArielAirOne system has been increasing year by year, from about 100 in the first half of 2011 to more than 800 now, an eight-fold increase. The use of applications for applications and other approval-related tasks has greatly contributed to the paperless operation of the university. Kinki University's paperless system has been realized not only among faculty and staff, but also in all other areas, including the nation's first complete shift to Internet-based applications and the introduction of a website for transferring school fees.

Most of the decisions involving faculty and staff on campus are made on "ArielAirOne. Since decisions can be viewed not only on PCs but also on tablets and smartphones, they can now be made from any location and can be used while on the move, on the go, or in other spare time.

The follow-up system after the introduction of the system has been very generous, and the company has responded quickly and flexibly to ensure stable operation of the system and to improve business efficiency, such as checking resource usage, server maintenance, and support for custom app development. In addition, even now, more than 10 years after the system was introduced, meetings are still held once a month.

In addition, as a groupware, we use various other functions tied to schedule management, such as sharing schedules, reserving facilities linked to schedules, managing tasks, and setting up notifications. Since we have started using Slack as a communication tool within the university, we expect to receive notifications from "ArielAirOne" on Slack and further improve work efficiency through data integration.

Kinki University's DX-ization is unstoppable

-What are your plans for the future?

Mr. Ikeda:
Kinki University will continue to promote the DXing of faculty and staff operations. We believe it is important to create an environment in which faculty and staff can focus more than ever on essential tasks that contribute to students and society. For example, a lot of data is stored on "ArielAirOne," such as individual schedules and decision-making data, etc. We expect to realize enhanced data integration with analysis functions and external systems so that such data can be better utilized in various situations.

-Thank you very much for your time today.

*This article is as of June 2021.