The Academic Workload Planner (AWP) project was commissioned by the University of Hull, as a result of a need for uniformity and transparency in their academic workload planning. The Digital Delivery Academy (part of the University of Hull-owned subsidiary, Lampada Digital Solutions) were asked to create a tool that would allow line managers to plan their staff workloads in a way that reflects the principles and tariff allocations in the Academic Workload Planning Framework policy, whilst demonstrating the uniformity and transparency the university were seeking in the academic workload planning process.

The AWP is a planning tool that allows managers to plan their academic staff’s workload flexibly and according to a specified set of principles and tariffs, whilst using an informative set of tools to inform necessary decisions. Users can easily allocate a range of activities to an individual, such as teaching and assessment activities, research/scholarship activity and academic support, or view a list of modules to which staff and teaching activities can be allocated in the first instance. Following initial allocations, the Balance feature allows fine tuning of individual workloads whilst viewing the effects of any changes immediately. The AWP is directly linked to the SITS student information system (modules) and iTrent HR system (staff) and is updated automatically as any changes are made in either system ensuring one source of truth is observed and avoiding duplication of work.