Accreditation Management Software that Provides Flexibility to do Things Better
One of the few things we all want more of but are incapable of truly obtaining is time. We can’t add more hours in the day, and we can’t slow down how fast the days seem to go by. The best we can do is make the most efficient use of the time we have by doing things faster and smarter. It is with this context in mind that we developed our industry-leading accreditation management software, ARMATURE Fabric™.
We know that our customers spend a great deal of time managing accreditation applications, coordinating site visits, reviewing documentation, preparing for board meetings, while simultaneously answering a broad range of questions from internal and external stakeholders. That’s a lot to manage, and it’s why we’ve spent the best part of two decades developing a solution to help ease this burden by making data collection and processes more efficient and effective.
Conducting Effective and Efficient Site Visits
Most of our customers conduct site visits as part of their accreditation process. This usually follows a self-study that has already been completed by the program or institution that is applying for accreditation, or re-accreditation. Site visits are typically conducted by an internal or external reviewer, inspector, surveyor, or auditor.
During the site visit, reviewers aim to collect essential information regarding a program’s compliance with applicable standards, relating to its educational and administrative activities. Particular focus is given to areas of non-conformance, or points that require clarification, that have been identified within a self-study.
ARMATURE Fabric shows reviewers exactly what they need to see, including all applicable action items. The entire site visit process, along with applicable data collection instruments, can be configured within the system easily, and, ARMATURE Fabric allows them to access the details of an entity’s self-study, as well as other historical data, so they can prepare for their visit ahead of time. Information is easy to find within the system and enables reviewers to identify areas of non-conformance quickly.
Building your Site Visit Team in Armature Accreditation Management Software
One of the critical components of building your site visit team is matching those reviewers who are best qualified to conduct a site visit. You may want to select your reviewers based on specific skills, competencies, or specialties. You may want to select them based on their geographical proximity to the entity to be reviewed. Or, you may simply wish to select them based on their availability, or a combination of all of the criteria above.
ARMATURE Fabric allows you to define exactly the criteria you want to use to compile your team and capture it within the system. This gives you the flexibility to choose the most appropriate reviewer(s), coordinate scheduling, and ensuring they have access to the right data and tools to complete and efficient and effective site visit.
Creating the Site Visit Report Via Accreditation Management Software
When your reviewers are on site, they will be able to complete an online site visit report which will typically be used by Board Committees for accreditation decision-making. This report will include ratings against applicable criteria, the ability to flag specific issues, as well as the ability to make comments. If more than one reviewer is conducting the site visit, they will all have access to the same report, and can all make comments within the system. In addition, reviewers can capture notes from interviews, descriptions of non-conformances, and recommendations. Reviewers can also upload any supporting evidence in the form of documents, photographs, videos.
The output is a summarized report that is fit to be passed to your Board Committee for review.
Everything Configurable
ARMATURE Fabric allows educational accreditors to configure their end-to-end accreditation processes and data collection tools easily, due to its intuitive interface. Users do not have to be technical, and the ARMATURE team can be available to support you as required.
By automating the processes around site visits, accreditation staff can not only save significant time, but can allocate the most qualified reviewers, give them access to timely information, and enable them to create site visit reports that summarize all the critical information in one place.
Changes to any data collection tool or report can be made within ARMATURE Fabric in real time. This may be to accommodate updates to standards/assessment criteria, or changes to the site visit process.
Insights that Matter
With ARMATURE Fabric, you’ll get an enterprise view of your accreditation processes. You’ll be able to visualize trends and outliers, explore process summary information, and track overall performance. You can quickly assess the performance of programs or institutions, triage overdue items, identify resource issues, and remediate problems/delays with click-through access to detailed process information. These insights will enable you to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of your site visit team and all the other stakeholders involved.
Setting You — and Your Stakeholders — Up for Success
ARMATURE has been serving accreditation customers for almost twenty years. In that time, we’ve learned that accreditation management software can only be effective if all parties feel empowered to use it. That’s why we focus on designing features that are both powerful and easy to use. When staff and external users share a platform, it helps them to be more organized, save time, and leads to a higher level of success.
To learn more about how we can drive efficiency and collaboration for your organization and stakeholders, schedule a consultation. We’d love to show you how our accreditation management software supports critical activities such as site visits, self-studies, Board meetings, and issues management.
