Makoiedova V. Information technology of support for an introductory campaign at institutions of higher education

The term and structure of information technology at the institution of higher education are investigated. Based on the analysis, the paper formulates a complex definition of the term «information technology», which differes from other definitions in that it takes into account the ethical use of information technology and destruction of information. The structure of information technology, which can be presented as a complex of hardware and software, is defined. The intended purpose of information technologies of the IHE is revealed, which is the possibility of their use to regulate administrative relations and to ensure the information and employees’ communication environment of the IHE. A refined classification of information technologies according to their intended use is proposed. The possibilities of using ready-made solutions for managing the activities of the admission committee of the IHE, which are mostly part of the general information system of the IHE, and often cannot function separately or be compatible with third-party information systems, are analysed and disclosed. The advantages and disadvantages of using ready-made solution and own development, modelled on the needs of the IHE, to support the introductory campaign are identified. A conceptual model of information technology of the IHE introductory campaign is proposed, which is based on modelling the information flows of support of the IHE introductory campaign using CASE technologies. The dissertation examines causal modelling, which allows on the basis of empirical data and monitoring, to recreate a model that represents the cause-and-effect relationships between the processes during the introductory campaign. The factors are analysed using statistical methods of analysis of the introductory campaign data, the method of interviewing applicants and employees of the admission committee and monitoring. The causal models of information flows of applications for admission to the IHE and specialities, implemented on the basis of the paper results, make it possible to understand better of the cause-and-effect relationships of the submitted applications and identify factors that can be improved in the process of supporting the introductory campaign. The CASE-technologies for the support modelling of the university introductory campaign are considered. The choice of tools for modelling the process of introductory campaign support is substantiated. A functional approach is applied to identify the objects of the introductory campaign support and the relations between them. The Input Arrow, Output Arrow, Control Arrow and Mechanism Arrow are detailed and described. The contextual model «Support of the introductory campaign at institutions of higher education», the model of the first decomposition «Support of the introductory campaign at institutions of higher education», the decomposition model «Analysis of the previous year’s introductory campaign», the decomposition model «Preparation for admission to institutions of higher education», the decomposition model «The introductory campaign conducting» and the decomposition model «Completion of the introductory campaign» have been developed. The developed model of the introductory campaign support consists of 18 processes of the second level of decomposition. The modelling of information flows of the introductory campaign support by means of information technology is demonstrated. The requirements for the information system of the admission committee, which is a result of the information technology for supporting the introductory campaign at the IHE, are formalised. Using UML diagrams, the information system model of the admission committee of the IHE, the model of information flows for admission of applicants to the institutions of higher education, and the model for processing information flows of applications to the institutions of higher education are implemented. We found which data flows should be processed by the information system for the needs of the structural units of the IHE. The work offers the concept of «informatisation of the processes of the introductory campaign at the IHE», which contains the development, improvement and use of information technologies, networks, information systems in order to increase the efficiency of the introductory campaign at the IHE. The AS-IS model for formalising the available information links of the introductory campaign on the example of State University of Trade and Economics was implemented, its shortcomings were identified and possible directions for optimising the organisation of information flows were determined. The TO-BE model was proposed, which showed ways to improve the efficiency of the introductory campaign. An integration model Spark SQL for processing and analysing structured data in the information system was built. The proposed models form the basis of the developed software solution.