Good Practice Guides

SUMS Consulting produces Good Practice Guides on a number of topics.

Copies of these Good Practice Guides are available to Members without cost. Please contact sums@reading.ac.uk for copies.

Good Practice Guides are available to non-members at a cost of £125 per copy.

Criminal Records Bureau Checks

The aim of this SUMS Best Practice Guide is to ensure that HE users of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) services are better equipped to carry out criminal record checks and better placed to deal with CRB audit visits.

Customer Relationship Management

The aim of this guide is to explain CRM in the context of HE, focusing on student relationship management. We have linked CRM to the various stages of the Student Life Cycle (SLC) and we have examined best practice for each stage. A review of CRM Systems was completed in early 2008; a briefing paper is also available on this.

Process Review

This Good Practice Guide outlines a participative approach to process review. The aim of process review is to develop support and management activities that underpin academic activities effectively; the aim of participation in process review is to ensure that proposals from the review are realistic and will be implemented.

Space Management and Timetabling

The SUMS Consulting Guide to Space Management and Timetabling summarise the lessons learnt from SUMS reviews and workshops. It gives an overview of the issues pertaining to teaching space management and is intended for:

  • Space, facilities or registry managers
  • New timetablers
  • Existing timetablers who are seeking to develop their skills.

As a result of reading this Guide, staff should be able to identify good practice and areas for improvement within their own Institution.