Canon, a global technology company with consumer and enterprise solutions, has chosen the Mendix low-code platform to digitize the workflow around exams at Dutch colleges and universities. Canon's exam workflow system allows educational institutions to manage the entire exam process while ensuring visibility into status and location of exams and monitoring deadlines throughout the process. The solution is now in use at more than ten colleges and universities.
With Canon Exam Services, Canon supports Dutch educational institutions with the exam process including test printing, planning, distribution, taking, scanning and filing. Because the process has many steps with strict deadlines and involves many people, it requires a lot of manual planning and coordination. Canon was looking for a way to organize this more efficiently and provide schools with more insight and transparency around each step. Therefore a solution was created to digitize all services around the exam process and bring them together in one place.
Initially, they chose to develop and program the solution themselves. However, this turned out to be too time-consuming and labor-intensive. Canon therefore engaged Mendix partner Nokavision. Based on the Mendix low-code platform, Nokavision developed the exam workflow system, which is an application consisting of the Canon Exam Services portal linked to a workflow file system.
The system controls the entire process of servicing colleges and universities such as printing, logistics, scanning, archiving and informing all those involved such as exam office staff, teachers, students and invigilators. Examinations are scanned after they are taken and uploaded to a digital testing system so that they can be checked digitally. The right people are informed of approaching deadlines and the status and location of an exam can be retrieved at an individual level. As a result, educational institutions spend less time on e-mail communication, monitoring where exams are located and monitoring deadlines.
Lotte Kiewiet, test coordinator at Erasmus University Rotterdam: "At Erasmus University Rotterdam we test on a large scale, digitally and on paper. With the help of Canon's Exam Services we are able to make the right choice in the total workflow when it comes to tests. Here we make considerations based on numbers, the complexity of tests such as tests with many formulas, drawings or calculations and on the computer capacity required."
There are now more than 10 educational institutions using the solution. Because of the modular way the solution is set up with Mendix, nothing needs to be programmed when new educational institutions are onboarded. Thus, this process takes little time and simplifies management.
Ideal basis for expanding services
Canon Business Services Netherlands is now looking at opportunities to bring the solution to more types of educational institutions and large training companies. Sampers: "We have a solid basis on which to expand our services. It is a great advantage that the Mendix platform offers many existing integrations that enable rapid expansion to institutions with other systems. Furthermore, Mendix offers an appropriate answer to the demand for good security, thanks to the integrated security measures we effortlessly pass the annual pen tests. This allows us to focus on innovation in our services, while important basic requirements for cooperation with educational institutions are covered by the Mendix platform."
