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Department of Higher Education and Training
    Post-School Education and Training

        Central Application Service
          Enterprise Architecture

            Executive Summary

              February 2016
Post-School Education and Training
                                                                                                           Central Application Service
                                                                                                                Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                                                  Executive Summary
                                                                                                                        February 2016

                                                               Contents

1    Terms of Reference ...................................................................................................................... 2

2    Background & Rationale ............................................................................................................... 2

3    Project Approach .......................................................................................................................... 3

4    Service Model ............................................................................................................................... 4

5    Legal Entity, Governance and Management .............................................................................. 10

6    Business Model and Operating Processes ................................................................................. 11

7    ICT Architecture and Infrastructure ............................................................................................. 14

8    Human Resource Management and Organisation Design ......................................................... 17

9    Advocacy, Communication and Stakeholder Relations .............................................................. 19

10   Monitoring & Evaluation .............................................................................................................. 21

11   Implementation Plan ................................................................................................................... 22

12   Financial Model ........................................................................................................................... 24

13   Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 26

14   Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 27

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1   Terms of Reference

     The White Paper for Post-School Education and Training (2013) indicates that Career
     Development Services (CDS) and Central Applications Services (CAS) are integral components
     of the post-school education and training system. The White Paper recommends a seamless
     service from school level with appropriate learning pathways and assistance with career
     decisions including a simplified and cost-effective application process for post-school study.

     The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has over the past three years already
     undertaken a significant amount of work to establish a number of entities in support of CAS.
     DHET must now establish a permanent institutional mechanism to coordinate and manage these
     activities.

     The aim of this project is to develop an Enterprise Architecture as Phase 1 for a National Post-
     School Education & Training Central Application Service (PSET CAS).

     Learning Strategies has been appointed by DHET as the service provider to formulate and
     recommend an appropriate enterprise architecture. This Executive Summary provides an
     executive overview of the consolidated CAS Enterprise Architecture.

2   Background & Rationale

     A National Higher Education Information and Application Service (NHEIAS) as signalled in the
     White Paper 3 (1997), reaffirmed by the National Plan for Higher Education (NPHE, 2001) as
     well as the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training (2013) has been envisaged to
     streamline and reduce the cost of applications, provide institutions with information on the
     available pool of applications, provide applicants with information on academic programmes
     available nationally, facilitate career guidance and enable the Ministry and institutions to monitor
     equity demographics.

     In 2002, the Minister of the Department of Education constituted a Working Group to conduct
     research into the NHEIAS and to propose a governance structure for the service.
     Recommendation of the Working Group (June 2002) was to establish the NHEIAS as a non-
     statutory structure (in the nature of a Section 21 Company which represents a “public” company),
     supported by statutory mechanism’s which require amendment to the Higher Education Act that
     makes all public higher education institutions members of the NHEIAS.

     In 2011, the Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) tasked the
     Council for Higher Education (CHE) to provide advice on the establishment of a central
     application office for Higher Education with a specific focus on a governance structure, models
     and funding. The recommendation of the CHE was in agreement with the Working Group (2002)
     to establish the NHEIAS as a non-statutory body owned and run by public higher education
     institutions. It agreed that the establishment of the NHEIAS should be provided for via a Statute
     to ensure the compulsory participation. It however disagreed with the Working Group in terms of
     modality of the service model, and disagreed with the comments of the higher education sector
     that the central application service cannot provide career guidance as that should be located in
     schools.

     In 2012, the newly established project steering committee reviewed the recommendation made
     by the Working Group (2002) as well as the CHE (2011) in terms of the governance model. While
     the recommendation had merits, the committee took the decision to recommend the governance
     model as a statutory body instead. A statutory body was recommended as it:

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            provides for decision-making measures,

            is underpinned by public policy,

            utilises public money,

            is a juristic person and independent, and

            is an initiative from the Minister and involves public institutions in its governing body.

     The committee’s recommendation was then submitted to the Minister and approved to become
     a statutory body.

     In 2013, The White Paper for Post-School Education and Training (PSET) renamed the service
     to become the Central Application Service (CAS). The name was changed and functions
     broadened to include applications to all education opportunities in the PSET system. The White
     Paper states that “The Central Application Service (CAS) is a crucial move towards supporting
     informed access to universities and other post-school opportunities for students, and to make the
     choices and placement of students across the system more effective. Its primary aim will be to
     offer advice and support to students applying for PSET opportunities, to allow them to pay a
     single application fee, and to facilitate their application to more than one institution if necessary”.

3   Project Approach

     An enterprise architecture translates the concept or vision for a future business or organisation
     into a design document that defines how the business or organisation should operate, be
     structured and be supported with people, technology and processes. An enterprise architecture
     provides a baseline for the development of systems, specifications and detailed operating
     procedures that would be the starting point for the implementation plan and eventual
     establishment for a new organisation.

     A project approach was formulated by Learning Strategies to define a comprehensive enterprise
     architecture. The project approach took account of work that had already been undertaken by
     the DHET project team as well as strategic guidance such as that set out in the White Paper
     referred to above.

     The CAS Enterprise Architecture project was initiated in April 2015 and concluded in February
     2016 with the delivery of 11 key components that make up the consolidated CAS Enterprise
     Architecture. The project for the development of the enterprise architecture was structured into
     nine steps including project management and quality assurance. The diagram below presents
     the initial project structure and highlights in blue the key Enterprise Architecture deliverables.

                  1.                            9.
                                                                              Implementation Plan

                 PMO                 Project Management & QA
                                                                                                    Consolidated Enterprise

                              4.1
                                          4.2         4.3         4.4
                                                                                      6.

                                                                                                         Architecture

                             Gover
                                         SOPs         ICT        HRM
                             nance
                                                                                                              8.

                  3.
                Service          2. Enterprise Architecture Review
                Model
                                               5.2              5.3              7.
                               5.1
                                           Stakeholder      Monitoring &        Cost
                             Advocacy                        Evaluation
                                           Management                        Estimates

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    The consolidated CAS Enterprise Architecture described in this document represents the
    baseline for the design, implementation, launch and operationalisation of the CAS. It must,
    however, also be borne in mind that things change over time and that the key assumptions, which
    underpin the definition of the enterprise architecture, may change from time to time. In these
    cases, it is likely that the enterprise architecture would need to be updated to account for
    significant changes. Accordingly, an enterprise architecture is a living document which builds on
    a baseline and should overtime account for the fundamental changes in business assumptions
    as required.

4   Service Model

     A service model is the starting point for the definition of an enterprise architecture. A service
     model will define the services to be provided, the various parties that will be impacted including
     service partners, service beneficiaries and other stakeholders, and the structures through which
     the services will be delivered.

     The expectations for the service are defined in a set of objectives and/or outcomes, outlined in
     the CAS Vision 2030 document as follows:

         1) Making available access to information on the full range of educational opportunities and
            training information, and making available career-related information to assist in making
            informed choices;

         2) Making affordable applications available for all applicants, across multiple institutions;

         3) Reducing the effort of application processing for institutions;

         4) Optimal placement of applicants which includes a clearing house facility to ensure
            optimal placement of applicants;

         5) Facilitating the applications process for institutions to make timely offers to applicants;

         6) Improving the predictability of the take-up rate;

         7) Collecting and providing accurate and timeous data;

         8) Providing national reporting on the entire PSET system as never previously available;

         9) Providing all potential entrants into the PSET sector a single point for application for all
            education and training opportunities in the sector, combined with application for
            accommodation and financial assistance;

         10) Establishing a centralised platform and capability for the receiving of applications from
             applicants and the submission of these applications to the relevant PSET institutions;

         11) Promoting and ensuring awareness of the centralised application process for all potential
             entrants into the PSET sector;

         12) Efficient interface with PSET institutions to submit relevant applications to them and to
             receive back information on the acceptance or otherwise of these applications,
             continually maintaining the status of the application and informing the applicant
             accordingly; and

         13) Ensuring the capability to provide application advice as well as to be able to refer
             applicants for career counselling where indicated.

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To define the service model, it is then necessary to first define the key principles which should
guide the model. These principles have been developed based on extensive consultation with
key stakeholders and advisory committees, and have been defined as follows:

           Policy and legislative matters are the responsibility of the DHET inter-branch steering
            committee;

           DHET should be responsible for ensuring the appropriate compliance with the
            implementation of the CAS;

           Participation should be compulsory for all applications (not voluntary participation by
            institutions);

           Focus is strictly applications handling, not admissions;

           Target market is “entering undergraduates into PSET”(refer detail below);

           A single point for information and access into the PSET, similar to CACH;

           The final objective is “one application, one fee” with an affordable application fee where
            the one application could be to multiple institutions and/or programmes, covering also;

               o   Integrated application for Study, Learnerships, Apprenticeships, Scholarships,
                   Student housing and Funding; and

               o   Funding from Both NSFAS and other sources including funding from institutions;

           Visibility of selection and offering by institution;

           Accommodate full cycle service from application through status changes to confirmed
            offer and acceptance;

           Resolve or substantially address the multiple acceptances and registration uncertainty;

           A single database of all applications and applicants;

           Seamless transfer of data between CAS, institutions (both educational and funding
            institutions) and applicants;

           Receive feedback data of “walk-in” students especially/specifically at skills centres and
            community colleges to “close the loop”, but also from any other Institutions where walk-
            in applications are recorded;

           Once an institution selects a student, communication should be directly between
            institution and applicant with CAS assistance if required; and

           The CAS should be self-funding.

The service model principles are also supported by the expectations of the various stakeholders.
The stakeholders were grouped into three primary beneficiaries of the service of the CAS, being
government (DHET), the institutions which are serviced and the applicants who utilise the service.
The benefits to these parties were grouped into academic oriented and funding related benefits
as follows:

                Government: DHET                      Institutions                   Applicants
  m
  A

  d
  c
  a

  e

  c
  i

             Improve access to PSET             Retain admissions            Simplicity
              opportunities                       autonomy                     Ease of access
                                                                               One application

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                        Government: DHET                            Institutions                               Applicants

                     Information for Planning and             To select appropriate                 Advice
                      Steering                                  applicants                            Low cost
                     Visibility of application data           Simplicity                            Access to PSET
                     Applicants HEMIS data                    Real time information                  opportunities
                      requirements                             Accurate                              Student housing
                                                               Complete                               application
                                                               Meets requirements

                                                                                                 
  Funding

                     Efficient allocation of                   Funding available to                   Access to funding
                      funding to students                       students                               (NSFAS and other)
                     Avoidance of duplicate                   Selection of students                 Early assessment of
                      funding                                   with funding                           eligibility and, where
                                                               Access to funding status               possible, commitment to
                                                                and process                            funding

The principles and stakeholder expectations then enable the formulation of an operating model
for the expected business in the form of a value chain. The value chain identifies all the key
components of the services to be delivered. The operating model for the CAS was defined as
follows:

                                                                                                                   Clearing        Reporting
                           Academic       Outreach                               NSFAS           Interface
   Policy &                                                 Application                                            House &         Monitoring
                          Programme          &                                  Funding             with
  Legislation                                                Handling                                             Application           &
                           Definition     Training                            Integration       Institutions
                                                                                                                    Closing        Evaluation
                                   CDS/NCAP
                                                                     Two-way Communication with Applicants
                                   integration

                                         Application Handling
                                          Receive &      Receive &        Receive &
                            Receive &
                                           Match          Process          Process
                             Process
                                         Application    Supporting        Change of
                           Application
                                             Fee           Docs             Mind

                                                                                             Interface with Institutions

                                                                                                        Receive Data         Online
                                                                                      Send Data to
                                                                                                             from          Applications
                                                                                       Institutions
                                                                                                         Institutions        Portal

Each of the components can be described as follows:

                   Policy and Legislation – is largely the responsibility of DHET and provides the enabling
                    environment for the operations of the CAS.

                   Academic Programme Definition – is the step which requires the definition of all of
                    the programmes to be offered to applicants through the CAS. This function may be a
                    specific responsibility of the CAS itself or the CAS may be able to draw on an established
                    and authoritative dataset of academic programmes to be offered.

                   Outreach and Training – is the component of the services of the CAS which ensure
                    that the institutions and applicants both know about the CAS and how to access it and
                    are able to utilise its facilities and services effectively. Outreach will specifically include

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         marketing and extensive communications, as well as ensuring information regarding
         study programmes is made available to applicants (and future applicants)

        Application Handling – is one of the core functions of the CAS and can be broken-
         down further into receiving and processing applications, receiving and matching the
         application fee, receiving and processing supporting documents, and receiving and
         processing change of mind instructions from applicants. In effect, this component is a
         mechanism through which the applicant interfaces directly with the CAS to submit an
         application. Applications cover academic programmes, student housing and funding
         applications

        NSFAS Funding Integration – the application process will also facilitate the receiving
         of an initial application for funding which will be passed onto institutions such as NSFAS
         and other potential funding agencies.

        Interface with Institutions – this is the second significant core activity of the CAS and
         involves the mechanism by which applications which have been received and validated
         are submitted to institutions for their assessment and potential acceptance. This
         function includes sending data to institutions, receiving data back from institutions and
         proving mechanisms for institutions to interface with the CAS through various channels
         including an online application portal.

        Clearing House and Application Closing – this component is the mechanism through
         which approved and accepted applications are communicated back to applicants and
         whereby unsuccessful applicants are provided alternative opportunities for application.
         The clearing house process becomes an integral component of the CAS functions,
         attempting to ensure that all possible applicants find a training or education opportunity
         within the PSET sector.

        Two-way communication with applicants is an underlying process that supports all of
         the above core process steps from application handling, funding integration, interface
         with institutions and the application closing process. Throughout these components,
         protocols will be in place to ensure effective two-way communication with the applicants.

        Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation – the entire CAS function needs to be
         monitored and evaluated providing extensive reporting to all key stakeholders, but
         particularly providing information which will support the more effective planning of the
         PSET sector.

The operating model then enables the identification of the various stakeholders and beneficiaries.
These have been categorised as follows:

        Applicants – the most important group will be the applicants themselves who will apply
         through the CAS to the various institutions. The applicants should be seen as the
         customers of the Central Applications Service.

        Service Partners – the term service partner has been used to group all the entities who
         will receive services from the CAS. The primary service partner grouping will be the
         institutions and entities to whom applications are made which will include all universities,
         TVET colleges, community colleges, private colleges, skills development providers and
         other private education and training entities.

         The second group of service partners are the various other institutions such as
         government departments and agencies as well as various NGOs which play a role in
         the PSET sector. These entities will also utilise information generated by the CAS, and
         some of these service partners may also play a role in providing distributed points of
         presence in their existing infrastructures.

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        Funding Agencies – A separate group of service partners would be the various funding
         agencies including NSFAS and the Skills Fund. Private sector funding agencies will
         also form part of this group.

        Information Providers and other Service Partners – the CAS will also interact with
         various entities and agencies who will provide information to the CAS. This will include
         the Department of Home Affairs, SARS, DBE, and the various examination agencies
         and the National Learner Records Database.

The operating model, service providers and partners and the expected functions from the CAS
can then be used to formulate an overall service model as follows:

The CAS will interface directly with all institutions to which applications are made. The CAS will
also interface and co-operate with other entities specifically including Career Development
Services and NSFAS. The objectives and functions of CDS and NSFAS are closely aligned to
CAS and care should be taken that the various agencies co-operate and interface effectively in
order to present a seamless service interface to the applicant.

The applicant or target market, is defined as all entering undergraduates, applying for entry into
post-school education and training to academic programmes leading to NQF approved
qualifications from PSET institutions to which they have not yet applied before. The main aim is
school leavers from grade 9 to 12 entering the PSET sector for the first time. The target market,
however, also includes adult learners and foreign students entering the PSET sector.

The target market specifically excludes returning students and recommencement of previously
registered academic programmes. Post-graduate students, short-courses and unregistered
courses are also excluded from the target market. Transfers between institutions beyond the

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entering level as well as conversions from one course to another within the same institution are
specifically excluded.

The application handling process will facilitate a number of channels targeting mainly online
applications, but also enabling hardcopy applications submitted by mail or hand delivered to
application centres. Walk-in applications being applications made at the time of attempting to
register for a programme are no longer allowed at university level but may be required at college
and community college level in the future. These applicants will effectively apply through the
CAS and get immediate admission to the institution at the same time.

The application, once submitted, will be validated, matched to an application fee if applicable,
and then confirmed as a valid application for submission to the appropriate institutions.

Once submitted, the application will be forwarded to the institution to which the applicant has
applied for the institution to manage the selection process. At this point, the application will be
managed through various status codes ranging from pending through offer made, regret or
application withdrawn. Offers made will be communicated to applicants, enabling the applicant
to either take up the offer or decline the offer. Institutions will be able to place timelines on offers
to drive decisions to be made and enabling the offer to be withdrawn or cancelled if not accepted
within the given timeframe.

During this period, the CAS will be interfacing directly with institutions, receiving regular and
ideally real-time updates on the application status, and communicating this to the applicants
through appropriate channels.

A crucial outcome of the CAS is to improve the application take-up and registration certainty.
The current situation of multiple offers being made to individuals results in uncertainty whether
the individual will register at a particular institution. This should be overcome through the CAS
system which ensures transparency of multiple offers and creates the mechanism by which
institutions can place expiry dates on offers made to overcome the multiple offer dilemma.

The CAS Enterprise Architecture has been formulated based on the principle that the CAS will
be self-funding. A comprehensive assessment of application fees was undertaken at the various
universities in South Africa indicating that application fees ranged between R100 and about R200
for local applicants with international and SADC applicants being significantly higher. A number
of institutions have, however, taken the decision to allow free online applications. On the basis
that the CAS will be receiving one application, potentially to multiple institutions with up to ten
application options, it has been recommended that the CAS should target self-sustainability
through the charging of an application fee of R200 including VAT at the outset, increasing by
inflation. The nature of application fees is, however, one for further debate, particularly in light of
the #FeesMustFall campaign. The financial impact of a zero fee scenario has been estimated.

One of the key challenges for the CAS is to obtain a comprehensive set of programmes offered
by the institutions. Detailed information is required about these programmes including their entry
requirements, closing dates and other key information. This information is currently held by the
individual institutions but sub-sets of this information are also held by various agencies in the
sector including CHE, DHET, SAQA (NLRD) and other service providers to the sector such as
Career Development Services. A strong recommendation has been made to streamline this
information set into a single comprehensive national academic programme database established
as a service to all institutions and entities utilising this information including the CAS, but the
solution design is based on a minimum requirement for a central academic programme database
in which Institutions are required to maintain academic programme information.

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5   Legal Entity, Governance and Management

     Based on various inputs and studies, it has been formally approved that the CAS will established
     as a public entity under the Department of Higher Education and Training. The public entity will
     be established by way of legislation which first requires the formulation and approval of a policy
     by DHET after extensive consultation with all stakeholders. The legislative and policy
     environment has been thoroughly reviewed and a policy framework has been developed which
     sets out the scope and objectives of the CAS together with the functions and operations,
     participating institutions and entities and responsibilities of the various parties. Key policy issues
     such as dates and turnaround times, sharing of information and application fees have also been
     addressed in the policy framework. The proposed structure and governance of the CAS has
     been included. The Enterprise Architecture has been developed based on the assumption that
     the policy framework will be accepted and implemented largely in its current form.

     The policy framework can then be used to inform the drafting of an appropriate bill for the
     establishment of the CAS as a legal entity. The CAS would therefore be an autonomous entity
     from the Department of Higher Education and Training but responsible and accountable to
     parliament through the Department. The CAS will derive its mandate and functions from the
     enabling legislation and be guided by the policy framework of the Department. A draft bill for the
     establishment of the CAS as a national public entity has been prepared.

     The bill proposes that the responsibilities of DHET in regard to the CAS will be the definition of
     all policy and legislative matters and the creation of an inter-branch Policy Committee to advise
     on policy matters related to central applications.

     The CAS itself will be responsible for the receiving and processing of applications and all the
     supporting tasks and processes that this requires. The CAS will be responsible for interfacing
     with the institutions as well as with other service partners including services providers and users
     of information accumulated by the CAS.

     The various service partners will engage with the CAS. The policy framework and legislation will
     make it compulsory for all institutions offering programmes leading to NQF qualifications to offer
     these programmes through the CAS and to receive their applications for these programmes
     through this mechanism. In addition, these institutions will be required to close the loop in terms
     of information by informing the CAS of final registration of students which will enable the CAS to
     create a meaningful information set relating to the annual cohort of entrants into the PSET sector.

     The executive authority of the CAS will be the Minister of Higher Education and Training, who
     will be responsible for policy directives, the operating and capital budget of the public entity, the
     approval of strategic and performance plans and the submission of performance reporting to
     Parliament.

     The minister will be responsible for the appointment of the Board of the CAS through a process
     of requesting nominations for this Board from the public and direct stakeholders. The Board will
     comprise two executive board members and 13 non-executive board members appointed by the
     minister ensuring effective representation across the PSET sector. The Board should comprise
     at least four representatives from universities, two from TVET colleges, two from the SETA and
     skills sector, one from community colleges, three non-executive board members with experience
     and involvement from across the PSET sector and one further ministerial appointment. The
     Chairman of the Board should be elected from the non-executive members. The process of
     appointment, re-appointment and filling vacancies is set out in the draft bill. The Board should
     meet at least four times per year.

     The Board will appoint the necessary board committees, including an Executive Committee, an
     Audit and Risk Committee, a Human Resources and Remuneration Committee and a

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     Information, Communication and Technology Committee. Terms of Reference for the board
     committees have been developed.

     The Board will also establish sectoral advisory committees for each of the major sector serviced
     in the PSET sector including universities, TVET colleges, SETAs and skills development
     institutes and community colleges. The sector advisory committees will advise the CAS on
     matters related to the specifically to that sector.

     Furthermore, user groups will be established for each of the major sectors which will deal with all
     functional aspects of the interface and integration between the CAS and the various service
     partners in that sector.

     The CAS will be managed by a Chief Executive Officer together with an executive team made up
     of a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, an IT Executive, a Marketing and Outreach
     Executive and a Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Executive.

     Each of these executives will be responsible for various key functional areas as set out in the
     proposed organisation structure. The specific responsibilities of the executives have been
     formulated into draft job profiles for each position. In addition, a Delegation of Authority policy
     has been developed.

6   Business Model and Operating Processes

     To support the Board and the executive team in the operations of the CAS, a comprehensive
     business and operating model has been formulated. The starting point for this business model
     is the business architecture which presents the core functions that relate to the application
     handling service and related activities and the support functions that relate to the activities that
     support the core functions and/or administer the CAS entity. The components of this business
     architecture have been broken down into applicant facing and institution facing components and
     supported with process definitions, process maps, protocols, scripts and policies that give effect
     to these individual business components. The business architecture is presented as follows:

                                                                     Applicant Facing

                                                                                         Offline
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Planning and Monitoring & Evaluation

                                                                                       Applications                      Call Centre
                             Academic Programme Information

                                                                 Online
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 IT Support & Business Intelligence
                                                                                                                                                                         Human Resource Management

             Outreach
                                                               Applications
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Supply Chain Management

                &                                                                       Application
                                                                                                                                                    Finance Management

            Promotion                                                                    Handling
                                                                                                       Communication

                                                                                                                         Application
                                                                             Application QA                              Referrals &
                                                                                                                          Clearing
                                                                                                                           House
                                                                      Payment Processing &
                                                                         Reconciliation
             Training
                                                                                                                          Institution
                                                              Institution Front          Institution                     Integration
                                                                     End                Integration                        Support

                                                                                                                       Core functions              Support functions

                                                                     Institution Facing
                                                                                                       Generic Process
              Process Maps                                       Protocols                Scripts                                       Policies                                                     Process Flow
                                                                                                           Maps

     The various functions can be described as follows:

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                 Component                         Description
                 Outreach & Promotion              The function through which the CAS markets itself to
                                                   key stakeholders, especially applicants
                 Training                          The function through which Institutions and other
                                                   service partners understand the CAS processes and
                                                   systems
                 Academic Programme                The function through which the National Academic
                 Information                       Programme is maintained and made available to
                                                   applicants
                 Online Applications               The (systems) function through which online
                                                   applications are entered and submitted by applicants
                 Application QA                    The function through which applications are validated
                                                   (and where appropriate are referred)
                 Payment Processing &              The function through which payments are processed
                 Reconciliation                    and allocated (largely systems function) and are
                                                   reconciled
                 Institution Front End             The (systems) function through which Institutions can
                                                   perform their portion of the application process (i.e.
                                                   select and regret applicants)
Core Functions

                 Institution Integration           The (systems) function through which integration
                                                   between the CAS and Institutions is executed
                 Offline Application               The function through which offline applications are
                                                   received, scanned and filled
                 Application Handling              The function through which offline applications are
                                                   captured on behalf of applicants (using the Online
                                                   Application function)
                 Communication                     The function through which communication with
                                                   applicants is managed
                 Call Centre                       The function through which inbound and outbound calls
                                                   from stakeholders (predominantly applicants) are
                                                   managed
                 Referral & Clearing House         The function through which applicants and/or
                                                   applications (with poor chance of success or that are
                                                   regretted) are referred for guidance and possible
                                                   alternative selection and/or are placed in a clearing
                                                   house where Institutions may approach applicants with
                                                   offers
                 Institution Integration Support   The function through which support is provided
                                                   (predominantly via a call centre) to Institution to assist
                                                   in integration and other issues relating to the application
                                                   processes between CAS and Institutions
                 Finance Management                The function through which the financial management
                                                   of the CAS is executed
Functions
 Support

                 Human Resource Management         The function through which the human resource
                                                   management of the CAS is executed
                 Supply Chain Management           The function through which the supply chain
                                                   management of the CAS is executed

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                                                                               Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                 Executive Summary
                                                                                       February 2016

        Component                          Description
        IT Support & Business              The function through which the IT support is provided to
        Intelligence                       the CAS and through which Business Intelligence
                                           information is provided
        Planning and Monitoring &          The function through which the planning and M&E of
        Evaluation                         the CAS is executed

The business architecture has then been expanded through the formulation of the various
operating processes using the IDEF methodology which stipulates the triggers/inputs to each
activity, the controls for each activity, the actors/resources involved in each activity and the
goals/outputs of that activity. In this summary, we present below only the level one process map
for the entire central application handling process as follows:

Each of these process steps have been expanded into more comprehensive analysis of the
underlying process flow and steps required for each function and requirement. Furthermore,
supporting process maps for support areas such as financial management and supply chain as
well as the proposed protocols for outreach and training have been formulated. Communication
protocols including timeframes and response times together with call centre script definitions
have be formulated to support the operating processes of this business model. These process
maps are too detailed for inclusion in a summary of this nature but have been formulated as a
key step in the process towards defining the specific systems and process requirements that will
enable the establishment of the CAS and its effective operations for the delivery of its objectives.

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                                                                                                       Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                                         Executive Summary
                                                                                                               February 2016

7   ICT Architecture and Infrastructure

     Having defined the business architecture, it is then possible to make an initial assessment of the
     ICT architecture and infrastructure which would be required to enable the business processes of
     the CAS.

     To do this, an initial assessment was performed of the information and communications
     technology landscape of the PSET sector in order to assess the implications of interfacing with
     and sharing information with the various service partners including universities, TVET colleges,
     community colleges, SETAs and private colleges as well as other service partners either
     providing or receiving information from the CAS. This analysis indicates that there is a fairly wide
     diversity of ICT maturity in the PSET sector which will require various solutions and capabilities
     to address the requirements of the various sectors and entities.

     It is, however, evident that the CAS will need to be established based on high level ICT capability
     and enablement. The business model for the CAS was used to formulate an ICT architectural
     overview which presents the various ICT channels which will be used by applicants and service
     partners for engaging with the CAS as well as the integration layer required to facilitate direct
     integration with the various service partners and other entities. The architectural overview can
     be presented as follows.

                                   Web F/E                Mobile F/E                 CAS F/E                    Institution F/E

                                                         CAS                                                           Finance &
                                    Content                                  CAS                   Contact
                                    Manager           Application          Finance                 Centre                 SCM
                                                      & Workflow
                                    Scanning                             SMS/Email                                        HR &
                                                        Engine
      Reporting platform

                                     System                               Service                                        Payroll

                                    Document                                User
                                    Manager           Programme DB        Directory

                                                                   Integration Layer
                                                                                                             Home
                               Old CACH        CDS          DBE          NSFAS           ITS                              Easypay
                                                                                                             Affairs

                                 SETA                                                   People
                                               NCAP          IEB          NSF                                SARS          Pay@
                               Systems                                                   soft

                                                                         Other         Open
                                          Career Sites       CIE                                                           Bank
                                                                        Funding        W/serv

                                                          SAQA NLRD                    Flat File

     The key components of this architecture include:

                                CAS Application and Workflow Engine – this is the central core of the application
                                 process and the engine through which applications will be received, validated,
                                 processed and forwarded to the appropriate institutions.

                                CAS Academic Programme Database – the CAS application and workflow engine will
                                 rely heavily on a dataset of available programmes and programme offerings. This will
                                 either be a database established directly by the CAS or, potentially a shared single
                                 comprehensive national database of all available programme offerings.

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                                                                               Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                 Executive Summary
                                                                                       February 2016

        Front-Ends - will be established for the various channels including web (online) as well
         as mobile enabled access. The database will also be accessed directly by CAS
         employees as well as potentially via institutions engaging directly with their applicants
         and data.

        The application set will be supported by a number of capabilities including content
         management,     scanning,     document    management,       financial management,
         communications (SMS and email services), contact centre (call centre) and a
         comprehensive user directory and authentication capability.

        The CAS Web Front End application will also require functionality to assist applicants
         (and future applicants) with determining academic programmes, for instance:

          o   Functionality to allow an applicant to identify academic programmes for which they
              meet entrance requirements based on their school results;

          o   Functionality to allow a future applicant to determine what school curriculum they
              should follow to enable them to qualify for a particular academic programme; and

          o   Functionality to incorporate Academic Ranking systems into the application
              processes.

        The entire solution should be established to provide comprehensive reporting to the
         various key stakeholders including government (DHET).

        Integration between CAS and the various institutions will be in various forms but
         provided for through an integration layer providing web services and other best practice
         integration capabilities.

An analysis was undertaken of the availability of technology and platform components from both
the KZN Central Applications Office and NSFAS to investigate the potential for close corporation
and even leveraging existing capabilities.

The CAS Application and Integration Architecture is designed around the principle of seamless
transfer of data between CAS, institutions (both educational and funding institutions) and
applicants. It is important to note that, in line with the requirements of the POPI Act, applicants
will need to consciously permit the CAS to share their data with Institutions, and the CAS will
need to ensure that it has agreements in place with these Institutions to ensure that the
institutions adhere equally to the POPI guidelines.

The ICT infrastructure required for the CAS is likely to be cloud based in the form of an operational
cloud capability for core systems and supporting business systems as well as disaster recovery
cloud based capability. This should be accessed by a wider network from the various CAS offices
and application centres. The applicants and institutions will access the system directly in the
cloud. Cloud-base hosted infrastructure is proposed as best practice in the current ICT
environment.

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                                                                 Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                   Executive Summary
                                                                         February 2016

Applicant                         Institution
                  “Cloud”                             “Cloud DR”

            CAS Core    CAS Bus                  CAS Core       CAS Core
            Systems     Systems                  Systems        Systems

    CAS Office                                              CAS Office

       WAN Infrastructure                       WAN Infrastructure

        LAN Infrastructure                      LAN Infrastructure

        PC Infrastructure                        PC Infrastructure

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                                                                            Central Application Service
                                                                                 Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                   Executive Summary
                                                                                         February 2016

8   Human Resource Management and Organisation Design

     The Human Resource strategy for the CAS will be based on the following:

            Ensuring the capability to define the human resource capacity requirements for the
             functions to be delivered by the CAS and to forecast these requirements in anticipation
             of the changing circumstances and operating environment.

            To establish a capable and functional human resource and management capability that
             ensure appropriate human resources are attracted, retained and developed to meet the
             requirements of the CAS.

            To manage an efficient HR function including all administration functions related to the
             human resources including performance management, remuneration, payroll
             administration, lead management and determinations.

            To support the organisation through the efficient acquisition of appropriate resources
             including induction and on-boarding at the outset and appropriate on-going training and
             development as required. This human resource strategy can be formulated into the
             following human resource management model:

     Within this model, it is then possible to perform a functional analysis and workload assessment
     in order to develop an appropriate organisation structure including the required functions and
     departments as well as make an initial assessment of the resourcing requirements within each
     area.

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                                                                                             Central Application Service
                                                                                                  Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                                    Executive Summary
                                                                                                          February 2016

The high level organisation structure proposed for the CAS is as follows:

                                                               Board

                                                                  CEO

          Chief Operations           Chief Financial                                               Marketing &      Planning and
                                                                          IT Exec
               Officer                   Officer                                                  Outreach Exec      M&E Exec

   Application                                                                                        Stakeholder
                      Call Centre           Finance       CAS Systems               IT Support                           Planning
    Handling                                                                                           Relations
                       Manager              Manager       Administrator             Technician                           Specialist
    Manager                                                                                            Manager

                      Referrals /
 Communications                                                                 System Training         Outreach
                    Clearing House        HR Manager      CAS BI Analyst                                               M&E Specialist
    Manager                                                                          Lead               Manager
                       Manager

                                         SCM Manager

     Key Assumptions:
     1. Internal Audit is provided as a service by an external service provider
     2. IT system is developed and supported by an external vendor and supported and hosted by a 3 rd party vendor
     3. The Organisation Structure represents roles that will be filled or combined based on job requirements
     4. Likely additional admin roles such as receptionist, secretary, cleaning and driver have not been defined here

This structure has been extended to create more detailed structures for each functional area
including operations, finance function, human resource function, supply chain management,
information technology and business intelligence, marketing and outreach, and planning
monitoring and evaluation.

Six executive positions, nine management positions an 24 other staff positions identified in the
organisation structure. Each job profile includes the job description, reporting relationships and
grade levels, core responsibilities, key performance areas, skills and competencies, qualifications
and professional experience required. The core responsibilities have been summarised into
tables for executive management, management, operational staff and support functions. More
detailed functional design for human resource planning and talent management have been
formulated in a proposed set of human resource management practices.

The actual organisation structure is dependent on the size and volume of applications handled
as well as the mix of paper and online applications. For this reason, the actual organisation
structure has been formulated together with the financial model developed for planning the roll-
out and cost analysis for the CAS over its initial few years.

The table below contains a summary of the projected staff numbers, resulting in a business as
usual staff complement of 196 in Financial Year 2022/2023:

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                                                                                                                  Central Application Service
                                                                                                                       Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                                                         Executive Summary
                                                                                                                               February 2016

                             Financial Year           2016/              2017/         2018/           2019/           2020/                 2021/        2022/
                                                      2017               2018          2019            2020            2021                  2022         2023
      Executive Structure                                      -                 1             4               6                 6                   6            6
      Operations                                               -                 1             4             21                 34                   56       71
      Call Centre                                              -                 -              -            13                 21                   36       45
      Human Resources                                          -                 -             1               3                 3                   4            4
      Finance                                                  -                 1             2               5                 5                   7            7
      Supply Chain                                             -                 -             1               2                 2                   2            2
      IT & Business Intelligence                               -                 2             5               5                 6                   10       12
      Marketing & Outreach                                     -                 -             2             12                 24                   36       42
      Admin Support                                            -                 1             2               5                 5                   6            7
      Total FTEs                                               -                 6           21              72             106                    163       196

9   Advocacy, Communication and Stakeholder Relations

     Three broad phases have been formulated for the implementation of the CAS. Phase one is the
     project for the establishment of the CAS which includes the enterprise architecture, detailed
     design, legislative environment and initial establishment. Phase two is the launch and roll-out of
     the CAS as it progressively expands to cover all of the areas and sectors of the PSET sector.
     Phase three is business as usual, being the full functioning of the CAS in its expected end-state.

     Each of these phases requires a communication, advocacy and stakeholder engagement
     strategy to meet the specific requirements of the phase. Communication is defined as imparting
     knowledge and exchanging information with various interested parties. Advocacy on the other
     had is defined as the process of obtaining support for and buy-in to the proposals, establishment
     of and operations of the CAS. Both communication and advocacy are integral to stakeholder
     engagement across all phases of the establishment of the CAS. To assist in this process, a
     stakeholder map has been developed which identifies the various stakeholders categorised as
     either applicant facing, service providers or institution facing stakeholders. The various
     categories of stakeholders have been identified and communication and advocacy programmes
     have been formulated. For the advocacy strategy, an advocacy objective and approach has
     been formulated for each key stakeholder including the Department of Higher Education and
     Training, the university sector, the TVET colleges and other colleges and the skills sector.

                                                Career Fairs                        DHET Regional Offices
                                       CDS/NCAP                Private           DBE                   DoL
                                                                            Libraries                     NYDA
                                                 Career                                  Points of          PSET Institutions
                                                Guidance                                 Presence                                    Univs
                                                                                                                                             TVETs
                                                                                                                       PSET
                      In
                    school
                                                                                                                    Institutions             SETAs
                                                                    Central Application                                         Community
                              Applicants
                                                                         Service
                    Out of
                                                                                                                                       NSFAS
                    school
                                                                                                                      Funding                NSF
                                                                                                                    Institutions
                                                                                       Information                                     Private
                                                    Schools
                                                                                         Providers                              Government
                                                                                 DBE
                                                                                   CIE                SARS
                                           Public         Private                                 NLRD
                                                                                      IEB
                                                                                         Home Affairs

                                   Applicant Facing                              “Service Providers”               Institution Facing

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                                                                            Central Application Service
                                                                                 Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                   Executive Summary
                                                                                         February 2016

The communication strategy identifies the key messages and branding approach to be used at
the various key stages including pre-launch, launch of the CAS and then the repetitive process
required for each application cycle. Within each cycle, key communication messages will be
required to create awareness of the application process, announce the opening of applications,
promote the completion of applications in advance of the closing date and then to communicate
the selection cycle and clearing house phase.

It is anticipated that the CAS will roll-out to the university sector first and thereafter to the TVET
and college sector and subsequently to the skills sector, eventually covering the entire PSET
sector.

A communication plan has been formulated to cover applicants, parents, schools, institutions and
service providers and deals with the communication objective, specific message and
communication medium and timing. The communication plan has been separated into the project
phase, launch phase and business as usual/annual cycle.

The key communication mechanisms and tools include the proposed hand book, a how to
document supporting the application process which will be supported by online resources,
institutional prospectuses and detailed programme information available from individual
institutions.

Online application process will have immediate access to online support resources including all
of the detail held in the hand book as well as direct links to institutional prospectuses and
programme information.

Social media will be exploited as a mechanism to ensure broad-based information sharing to the
target applicant group. Outreach services will specifically target schools and career fairs to
directly engage with the target applicant group and to share information with them and provide
support materials to facilitate and manage the application process.

The communication strategy will actively drive online applications due to both the efficiency
improvements as well as the benefits of immediate communication capability with the applicant.

Stakeholder engagement is expected to take place through the various project and eventually
entity governance structures of the CAS. During the project stage, the engagement with
stakeholders is through the project advisory group, technical working groups and project steering
committee. The project advisory group and technical working groups will continue even post the
initial launch of the CAS and will be re-formulated to account for the focus on the next target
sector within the PSET sector.

The primary stakeholder groups expected as the direct mechanism for engagement with the
service partners are the Registrars Forum of Universities South Africa, the College Principles
Forum as co-ordinated through the VSET branch of DHET and the SETA CEOs Forum as co-
ordinated through the Skills branch. These stakeholder groups will be the primary point of contact
with the various sub-sectors of the PSET sector. These stakeholder groups will be engaged with
in order to establish user groups and technical working groups as required.

During the implementation phase, it will be necessary to engage directly with key sector service
providers such as IT solution providers for the various sectors and other sector service providers.
Eventually, it will be necessary to engage directly with individual institutions in order to implement,
test and prove the interface capability required before the launch of the CAS.

Stakeholder engagement with applicants is somewhat more difficult as it is expected to be
achieved largely through career fairs and social media. Direct engagement with teachers and
the career advisory sector will be targeted as a proxy for the applicants themselves.

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                                                                              Central Application Service
                                                                                   Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                     Executive Summary
                                                                                           February 2016

10 Monitoring & Evaluation

    The CAS will be established as a public entity providing a public service. This requires an
    effective monitoring and evaluation framework and properly implemented monitoring and
    evaluation processes to ensure that the service meets the expectations of the various
    stakeholders and achieves its objectives. The CAS public entity will operate under the oversight
    of DHET and will be responsible to the Minister of Higher Education and Training as the executive
    authority. DHET’s role includes the development of the policy to be implemented through the
    CAS and therefore the performance of the CAS should be monitored in terms of the
    implementation of this policy and the achievement of these objectives. The framework below
    has been formulated to achieve this objective.

    Performance is measured by assessing inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and the impact of
    these activities. All these need to be measured in order to manage towards achieving the
    required results. Performance indicators have been formulated at each level including economy
    indicators, efficiency indicators, effectiveness indicators, equity indictors and satisfaction
    indicators. These indicators are developed as performance targets which need to be specific,
    measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. The monitoring and evaluation process has
    developed an initial set out applicant indicators, application indicators, institutional indicators,
    school indicators, training and outreach indicators and process indicators which will enable the
    effective evaluation of the performance of the CAS.

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Post-School Education and Training
                                                                              Central Application Service
                                                                                   Enterprise Achitecture
                                                                                     Executive Summary
                                                                                           February 2016

11 Implementation Plan

    During the process of formulating the service model, a number of implementation options were
    considered including assessing options for either a Green Fields or Brown Fields implementation,
    and in the case of the Brown Fields option, considering the establishment of the entity including
    all internal capabilities or the use of certain service providers to provide components of the
    service offering. These options were investigated more fully at the time of formulating the
    implementation plan. A set of planning assumptions were formulated to guide the planning
    process. The key assumptions include:

            The implementation plan is based on the enterprise architecture as formulated.

            The implementation will be phased into manageable cycles in terms of initial institutions
             in the university sector before completing the university sector and extending the scope
             of service to the TVET and then skills sector.

            The location of the CAS is proposed to be in Gauteng which is opportune in terms of
             major academic institutions, service partners such as CHE, SAQA, SETAs, QCTO are
             established in this academic capital of SA. This may limit the Brown Fields opportunities
             in terms of utilising existing capabilities of the KZN CAO and even NSFAS but there is
             still potential for leveraging these capabilities and systems.

            The entities to be established as a public entity requiring the legislative process to be
             followed including conducting a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) and
             thereafter, the passing of the required legislation.

            The plan has been formulated on the basis that a programme database will be available
             to the CAS which may or may not be based on a single national programme database
             as recommended by the enterprise architecture study.

            The CAS will be implemented aiming largely for online applications but providing support
             to the applicants through various points of presence made up of DBE schools, DHET
             regional offices, potentially UNISA service centres and certainly the existing applications
             offices of universities and colleges and the Department Of Labour regional offices.

            The launch date for the CAS has been set for 1 April 2018 based on this date achieving
             the formal establishment of the CAS as a public entity and the establishment of the
             Board of the CAS and employment of the initial resources. The CAS would then open
             for business in order to begin the process of direct engagement with the institutions in
             preparation for receiving applications in the following year’s application cycle. This
             would mean that applications will be received in 2019 for the 2020 academic year.

    A detailed implementation plan was then formulated covering seven key areas:

            The enterprise architecture being the current phase is anticipated to be completed
             within the first half of 2016.

            This will then commence a stakeholder programme which will begin the extensive
             engagement with stakeholders including the communication and advocacy plans
             formulated as part of the enterprise architecture.

            In parallel, the legislative establishment will commence, aiming to be completed in
             time for the formal establishment on 1 April 2018.

            The CAS entity establishment process commences immediately after the finalisation of
             the enterprise architecture and includes the securing of the appropriate seed funding
             and the initial establishment projects which will be put in place prior to the formal
             establishment to coincide with the legal establishment on 1 April 2018.

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