EMIN: skills assessment tool for start-up businesses
- Services Used: web application development, content mangement, security
- Technologies Used: ASP.NET, C#, AJAX, JavaScript, MS SQL Server
- Web: www.emincubation.co.uk
Solution
Owned by six of the region’s universities, EMIN is a network of business incubators providing commercial and technical assistance to start-up companies across the East Midlands. Through their website, EMIN gives access to the tools and knowledge important to the growth of a new business. In partnership with Xibis and the Business Advice Team, EMIN developed an online skills assessment tool designed to improve the efficiency and flexibility of the support given to their user base.
EMIN worked in partnership with BAT and Xibis to develop the “business skills assessor”, an online tool for self-assessment by users. EMIN was introduced to Xibis by the Business Advice Team (BAT), which was already using Xibis for other projects. BAT designed the content: the questions asked, the weighting of answers, and the response reports. Xibis’s remit was to translate this into an easy-to-use, online application offering online skills support. The project was part-funded by the European Social Fund.
EMIN’s registered users gain access from the main EMIN website, via secure login using MD5 level of encryption. Instead of linking to a page within the EMIN site, the user is seamlessly taken to a sister website, developed by Xibis, where they complete their self-assessment. This means EMIN did not need to re-develop their existing website to accommodate for the extra functionality. Xibis used EMIN’s design to create the front end, so it looks, feels and acts like an integrated part of the EMIN site.
Once logged in, users answer a series of questions about different aspects of their business, such as planning, finance, operations and marketing. The Xibis-developed application will analyse the responses, and two levels of reports will show up any strengths and weaknesses, sign-posting the user to those EMIN resources available to help them improve. Resources include virtual training courses, information on the website, “ask the expert” online, and seminars.
"We found the statistics provided by the system extremely useful. At any one time, we know exactly how many people have taken the assessment,” commented Nick Tennant, Finance and Operations Manager of EMIN. “The system has been live for a month now and out of our 2,000 registered users, just over 100 have already taken it.”
In addition, EMIN have control of the tool’s content from the special admin area of the site. Nick continues, “We are able to listen to feedback from our users and make any changes ourselves, to reflect those comments and help improve the service we offer.
Efficiency and flexibility were the driving factors behind the project. EMIN can now serve a greater number of companies with the same level of resources, and can give them access to the help they need at any time of day (or night).
Nick found Xibis’s work ethic and approach very refreshing, concluding, “I was very impressed by the entire experience of working with Xibis.”