TU/e notebook program - Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

3.4.3 Part III Process Measurement
“Process measurement (and management) is a way to affect the IT organization’s
performance drivers. Measuring and managing processes is about measuring and managing
the causes behind costs and service-level results” (Benson, 2004). Regarding the notebook
program several processes are important to make sure that the costs for both students and
university stay at the lowest possible level, without making any concessions to the quality or
service level of the offered services. Although a process model for the fine-tuning or
monitoring of the processes that make up the notebook program is never used, the processes
were improved significantly since the start of the program. Not alone did this for instance lead
to faster decision making on the notebook choice and the applications to be used, but also to
the extension of facilities like the possibility for students to place an image on their notebooks
without interference of a service desk, which at itself lead to a cost reduction regarding
personnel.
3.5 Effects on communication
One of the initial goals of the notebook program was to provide students with IT means and
knowledge about those means by using Information Technology in the education program.
The matching strategic intention is “Embedding IT in the education program”.
Due to the ways to communicate with the notebook, and the provided applications, the way
students communicate has changed over the years. The notebook improved the possibility to
communicate enormously, with the use of a notebook it is possible for students to e-mail their
teacher (or colleague students) at any time or place. And although some students and teachers
find that behavior rather disturbing regarding their privacy, most students think it is a
tremendous increase in flexibility that they feel is convenient.
In spite of the fact that it is almost impossible to determine the real influence of the notebooks
regarding the aspects of communication any time and any place, some earlier inquiries among
students concerning the notebook program indicate that the use of IT in communication has
increased considerably during the past years. A questionnaire sent to all notebook users three
years after the introduction of the notebook program reveals that 45% of the notebook users at
that time used the notebook to communicate in education on a regular basis, most of them
even frequently. For private communication usage this percentage was even higher; 70% of
the notebook owners used the notebook for communicative purposes. 87% of the
communication was carried out by means of e-mail. Only 18% of the students frequently used
the notebook to chat.
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