Saratov State University has hosted a two-day practical and methodological seminar entitled Using modern technologies and 1C solutions for digitalisation and optimisation of the main business processes in universities.

Such a meeting was held in Saratov for the first time. The moderators were Saratov State University together with Centre for Information Technologies in Education LLC of Promavtomatika CG and 1C company.

On March 21, at the opening of the seminar, the guests were greeted by SSU Rector Alexei Chumachenko, Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Alexei Koronovskii, and Deputy Director for Academic Affairs at the Institute of Physics Asel Adilova.

SSU Rector Alexei Chumachenko welcomed the participants of the seminar and noted the importance of digitalisation development in universities. ‘It is a great honour for Saratov State University to welcome guests from different Russian regions who are ready to discuss the adaptation of the higher education system to new technologies. It is now when we must not only express ideas, but also keep up with the times and fulfil the set requirements in digitalisation. This change will improve our lives, as well as make our work clearer and more thoughtful.’

At the plenary session, Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Alexei Koronovskii presented a digital strategy for optimising the main business processes at SSU to the conference participants. In 2021, Saratov State University entered the Priority 2030 federal programme, which resulted in active digitalisation at SSU.

He noted the advantages of the digital transformation of the university – speeding up processes, reducing the number of technical errors, reducing financial costs, increasing the accuracy and completeness of information. At SSU, 1C systems are actively used to manage academic affairs and to solve administrative tasks.

The principles of the digital development strategy for SSU are the integration of all data into a single system, the exclusion of “double” actions in business processes, the investment of resources in all project components, and the choice of domestic software.

Head of the 1C Higher Education Automation project Alexander Rodyukov spoke about software products, technologies, and solutions that 1C can offer to universities. 1C is a reliable software provider for various sectors of the Russian economy, including universities. Today, 1C has developed more than 1,200 applications that are used by more than 1,5 million corporate customers. Also, he commented on the experience of introducing 1C products into the digitalisation process of 50 Russian universities participating in the Priority 2030 programme, including Tambov State University, MIPT and others.

Saratov State University conducts admission campaigns based on the 1C: PROF. University software. Head of the Office for Software Products of Information Management Systems Maintenance, SSU, Pavel Kovalenko reported on the automatisation of applicants’ admission and integration with external information systems.

Head of the Office for Digital and Information Technologies, SSU, Leonid Bessonov concentrated on the approaches to filling in information about students for the Military Registration state information resource.

As a master class, Juli Gubanova, a programmer at the Directorate of the Institute of Physics, SSU, spoke about the preparation of educational documents in the 1C: PROF. University software programme. She demonstrated every stage of preparation for printing diplomas.

Dmitrii Pakin, Technical CEO of the Centre for Information Technologies in Education LLC, Promavtomatika CG, presented an automated approach to filling in a special section on the university website using digital tools. The specialists of the Centre for Information Technologies in Education LLC, Promavtomatika CG are developing this project. Saratov State University acts as a platform for technical testing of this module. The system allows to consolidate, collect, and regularly upload information in HTML and JSON formats for automated filling in the Information about Educational Organisation special section on the university website; generate reports on each subsection of the Information about Educational Organisation special section on the university website in three formats – MXL, HTML, JSON and sign the EDS of the uploaded documents directly in 1C.

In the second part of the seminar, the members continued discussing the automating possibilities of the university business processes – electronic document management and the transition of studies to digital platforms.

Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Alexei Koronovskii presented the results of such automation of the expert commission when considering scientific materials for open publication. This work is carried out on the 1C: Enterprise 8.3 platform.

Chair of the Department of Information Systems and Educational Technologies Natalia Alexandrova touched upon the practical role of the Digital Department at SSU for the training of IT-specialists. She is the head of the professional re-training course on digital transformation of education, which lasts for one year and contains four disciplines. The course graduates receive the qualification in data analysis in education. Its students are those who are taking course in pedagogy and teachers who, thanks to the course, can learn the basics of information technologies and later use them at work.

Director of the Centre for Digitalisation of the Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts Valentin Cherkashin spoke about the features of automation and optimisation of business processes at universities based on the 1C: Document Management software programme of a state institution. He paid special attention to the integration of the system with 1C: University PROF. Valentin Cherkashin shared with the participants of the seminar options for solving emerging tasks and told them about the step-by-step stages of transition to 1C: Document Management of a State Institution ed3.

During the master class on preparation of diplomas for graduates, Dmitrii Pakin, Technical CEO of the Centre for Information Technologies in Education LLC, Promavtomatika CG, reported on mass production of diplomas for graduates, when it is important to store all of them in one place and promptly transfer them from one office to another. He spoke in detail about the implementation of the functionality for issuing certificates in 1C and the advantages of the system – online data search, automatic finding of student record books, and automatic data filling.

Deputy Director for Academic Affairs at the Institute of Physics, SSU, Asel Adilova held a master class on application of the electronic document management system in academic digitalisation; electronic approval, signing of curricula. SSU started using electronic approval of documents in 2021 cooperating with the Centre for Information Technologies in Education LLC, Promavtomatika CG. The transition from paper documents took place gradually from one structural unit of the university to another. At the moment, SSU has completely switched to digital document support of academic affairs – from accounting for students and conducting orders to issuing certificates and preparing diplomas.

The first day of the seminar ended with an interactive opening day of software products. The participants had a unique opportunity to learn about digital solutions and communicate with university staff using them. The experts answered their questions.

On the second day, the members had a heated discussion based on the results of the practical and methodological seminar. The seminar for university representatives is free as part of the Priority 2030 programme. SSU is actively conducting a policy of digital transformation under the Priority 2030 programme. One of the main tasks is the digitalisation of key business processes in the university.