Customer story highlights

• Improved system security and performance by transitioning from on-premises to SaaS.
• Automated exam scheduling using TechnologyOne’s Exam Scheduler.
• Streamlined timetable production by reducing administrative workload.
• Reduced server maintenance and backlogs in timetabling.

About Kingston University

Established in 1899, Kingston University is the largest provider of higher education in south-west London, serving a community of over 20,000 students and 2,000 staff. Located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, the University spans four faculties offering a range of academic disciplines.

Recognised as a leading institution for Future Skills, Kingston University is renowned for its transformative educational model, designed to equip students with the practical knowledge and professional competencies highly valued by today’s employers.

Kingston University website

The challenge: Resource-intensive legacy systems

Like many higher education institutions, Kingston University was constrained by outdated, on-premises systems. Maintaining these legacy environments was time-intensive, inflexible, and misaligned with the University's digital-first strategy.

“Our on-premises servers were old, and they were crashing. Our IT department had to maintain and restart the servers which all takes time and puts a backlog on our timetabling staff,” said Jatin Shah, Integration and Data Manager at Kingston University.

These operational inefficiencies were beginning to have a tangible impact on service delivery and the student experience, particularly during critical periods such as course planning and exam scheduling. As a future-ready University, Kingston recognised that on-premises systems could no longer meet evolving requirements for security and scalability.

In response, the University made a strategic decision to invest in modernising its digital infrastructure to enhance system reliability, reduce administrative workload, and, ultimately, improve the overall experience for both students and staff.

The solution: SaaS-based timetabling & scheduling

In need of a more dynamic, secure environment, Kingston University partnered with TechnologyOne to implement a true SaaS-based timetabling product: TechnologyOne Timetabling & Scheduling

The University began migrating core applications to TechnologyOne’s SaaS OneEducation solution, starting with timetabling, followed by its HR and finance systems. The move was a key part of the University’s “cloud smart, cloud first” transformation strategy, designed to reduce overheads and improve system security and performance.

A standout implementation for Kingston was Resource Booker, a centralised platform allowing staff and students to easily book campus spaces.

Integrated directly into the University's mobile app, it enables students to schedule rehearsal rooms or private study spaces and automatically adds these bookings to their personal timetables and preferred calendars.

Kingston University was already familiar with TechnologyOne’s product, and the shift to a true SaaS model offered scalability, security, and simplicity.

“We were very happy with a lot of the solutions that they already had, so we were keen to take the next step and move to the cloud,” said Academic Registrar, Mark Bonetzky.

The results: Faster scheduling, data-driven decisions

Since moving to TechnologyOne, Kingston University has seen a significant improvement in system speed, stability and operational efficiency.

“The benefits of the timetable in solution, now that we're hosted in the cloud, is the overheads have all disappeared for us. So the onerous is not on us now, it's with the vendor, TechnologyOne,” said Mr. Shah.

Exam Scheduler has revolutionised Kingston University’s exam management process by generating personalised exam timetables for every student. What once took up to two weeks to manually coordinate can now be completed in just two days, thanks to automation and intelligent scheduling.

The University now benefits from CIA-native tools that enable faster, data-driven decisions, particularly around timetable planning and staff workload allocation.

The visualisation capabilities of TechnologyOne’s reporting tools have also been a major improvement, helping departments to clearly understand resource demands through intuitive dashboards and graphs.

“Upon moving to the cloud, we're starting to automate a lot of reports that we use on a daily basis, which is enabling us to save a lot of time rather than manually downloading reports and sending them over,” said Mr Bonetzky.

“We've been able to streamline that process from about 40 clicks down to two.”

Cross-functional collaboration was key to the success of the project, with IT and business teams working closely alongside TechnologyOne to manage a complex integration landscape. This ensured the new system fit smoothly into Kingston’s broader digital ecosystem.

“It was very important for us to understand the full scope of integrations downstream from the timetable in solution,” said Oksana Viytovych, Chief Information Officer at Kingston University.

“We had quite a complex suite of integrations that we needed to consider, and we have worked with TechnologyOne to create a great design, because the system, like a timetable, is part of a much bigger environment.”

Looking ahead: A modern system for enhanced student experiences

By transitioning to TechnologyOne’s SaaS platform, Kingston University has laid a strong digital foundation for the future. The move away from resource-heavy, on-premises systems has not only streamlined internal operations but also created a more agile and secure environment, better suited to the evolving needs of a modern university.

“Moving to the cloud has given us a clear vision of the strategy moving forward,” said Mr Bonetzky.

“We are still working very hard to move a lot of our other core university systems. And we're very proud that one of the first things we did; moving the timetabling systems to the cloud with TechnologyOne; was very successful.”

As early adopters of new cloud-native features, Kingston University is ready to scale its digital transformation, respond quickly to change, and support a future-focused model of higher education.