IIUM Kulliyyah of Dentistry enters pioneering era with implementation of advance computerized system

Kuantan, May 4, 2009 – The Kulliyyah of Dentistry, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), advances to the forefront of innovativeness in modern facilities in a dental school. This follows the completion of a computerized system that incorporates both the clinical and academic modules.

The successful implementation of the system has resulted from collaboration between the faculty and local Information and Communications technology (ICT) solutions integrator 1001 Technologies Sdn Bhd (1001tech) via the latter’s wholly-owned subsidiary, MSC-Status Amaryllis Sdn Bhd. “The system would allow our Kulliyyah to be in the league of globally-known dental faculties which are using similar solutions,” said IIUM’s Kulliyyah of Dentistry Dean, Major General Dato' Paduka Professor Dr. Hj. Mohamad Termidzi Hj. Junaidi (retd).

In today’s tech-savvy environment, he said, students are increasingly relying on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in their learning process.

He adds that it is opportune for The Kulliyyah of Dentistry IIUM and Amaryllis Sdn Bhd to join the rank of early innovators and the elite in enhancing the quality of dental care and compete globally in this field.

Dato’ Professor Dr Mohamad Termidzi was speaking a Project Handing Ceremony held at IIUM’s campus here today.

1001tech Group Executive Chairman Mr Looi Kien Leong attributed the success of the project to the dedication and hard work as well as healthy collaborative spirits of both parties who are keen to make significant contribution to the development Malaysia’s dentistry education and training capabilities.

“The successful implementation of this project also proves that given a chance, local software developers are capable of developing global-standard solutions. I believe that in certain areas, we can even be ahead from the rest of the world,” he said.

Started in late 2007, the IIUM’s Kulliyah of Dentistry project involved, among others, installation of the Amaryllis Dental Management System (DMS) base system as well as development and installation of 7 dental specialist modules. The specialist modules – Periodontics, Orthodontics, Oral Surgery, Restorative Surgery, Oral Pathology/Oral Medicine, Paediatrics and Forensics – have been designed specifically for application in dental schools and dental specialist surgeries with input provided by the faculty members.

The collaboration also included the creation of innovative software, acronym as “DIET” (Dental Instruction, Evaluation and Training System), which utilizes digital and imaging techniques in evaluating dental student’s simulation and clinical operative techniques.

International Islamic University builds world-class reputation with help from SAS

KUALA LUMPUR, December 15, 2008 - International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has today announced the successful implementation of SAS® Strategic Performance Management, to automate its balanced scorecard and help execute its strategy to become a world-class teaching and research institute. The solution has been such a success that in September 2008 the Palladium Group inducted IIUM into its Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy for achieving an execution premium.

“The scorecard translates the IIUM strategic plan into day-to-day activities. It shows the cause-and-effect relationships so that a staff member not only knows what to do, but also knows why getting grants or earning a patent is important in achieving the university’s objectives,’’ remarked Professor Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar, Chairman of the IIUM BSC Core team and Dean of Office of Corporate Strategy and Quality Assurance.

In fact, with SAS Strategic Performance Management, the university’s balanced scorecard process will allow more than 50 administrators and department heads to monitor and manage performance quarterly.

The easy access to the KPIs has helped IIUM make speedy and accurate decisions. It previously took more than a week to generate the report. Now it can be accessed at anytime. It also takes much less time for the staff to generate the report.

Before this, the manual system was time-consuming, expensive and difficult to quickly get the information to staff members throughout the university. “We had to pay the vendor each time we wanted a new report, and it was very time-consuming,’’ Professor Dato’ Dr. Azmi explained.

“After three years of manual reporting, we believed it was time for us to automate the entire process,’’ enthused. Professor Dato’ Dr. Azmi. “Especially now that we are bringing the information directly to all faculties and support divisions.”

IIUM credits SAS with helping it reach its goal of having more of its faculty members recognized as experts in their fields as well as demonstrating efficiency in allocating budget.

Founded in 1983, IIUM now has four campuses with more than 20,000 students from 90 countries studying management, engineering, technology, medicine and the humanities. In 2001, university administrators adopted a strategic plan to raise the stature of the university. It began using the balanced scorecard approach in 2003 to measure focus areas like teaching efficiency ratings, student employability, patents granted and grants received. The university also measures cost per student.

IIUM chose SAS because of its expertise in data integration and its certification through the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. University officials also liked the fact that SAS has offices in Malaysia and is known for working collaboratively with its customers. It was also impressed with the work and efficiency of SAS partner Marff Resources Sdn Bhd.

SAS Strategic Performance Management has done exactly what the university expected: deliver information quickly (quarterly vs. every six months) to employees throughout the university.

By being able to communicate the university’s vision staffers are rising to the challenge.

In four years, grants increased more than 400 percent, patents doubled, publications nearly tripled and faculty members recognized as experts in their fields grew from 10 to 40 percent. The university has done all of this while reducing the cost per student and increasing the revenue and profits of the university’s business wings. Those profits are channeled back to the university as additional funds.

“Now that we have benefited from SAS Strategic Performance Management, we wished we had embarked on the project much earlier,’’ Dato’ Ahmad Zailan Shaari, the Chief Finance Officer cum the Deputy Chairman of the IIUM BSC Core team said. “It would have saved our effort and time of producing Reports which was previously prepared and consolidated manually.”

The university’s efforts have been recognized by Prof. Dr. Robert Kaplan, the creator of BSC methodology from Harvard University. “He was impressed with the IIUM’s achievement and considers us a ‘success story’ for transforming ‘just a university’ into a ‘center of education excellence’ to be emulated by other universities in the world, IIUM is the third University in the world and first organization in Malaysia to be inducted into the prestigious BSC Hall of Fame.” Dato” Ahmad Zailan enthused.

“I feel confident that the objectives are sound,’’ exclaimed Professor Dato’ Syed Arabi Idid, IIUM Rector and Vice Chancellor. “The strategies we are adopting will steer the IIUM to a brighter future and enable us to grow in stature, capacity and reputation at the national, regional and international levels.”

馬來西亞國際伊斯蘭大學與微軟合作推廣3K教育活動

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA (IIUM) AND MICROSOFT MALAYSIA INK 3K PROGRAM MOU TO DRIVE EDUCATION EXCELLENCE

Kuala Lumpur, November 1, 2007 – Microsoft Malaysia and the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) today signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) on the 3K Program (Komunikasi, Kolaborasi dan Kebudayaan), marking the first roll-out of the program since its introduction in September this year. The MoU is aimed at creating a new world of education excellence for the institution via the deployment of Microsoft’s Unified Communication (UC) offerings - namely Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007.

Signing on behalf of the International Islamic University Malaysia was Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar, Deputy Rector and the Chief Information Officer of the University of Malaysia while Microsoft Malaysia was represented by Azizah Ali, General Manager, Public Sector, Microsoft Malaysia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar said that IIUM was pleased to partner with Microsoft for the 3K Program and believes that the institution-wide roll-out of the customized Connected Education Framework will offer numerous benefits to the university, including inculcating an ICT culture necessary to excel the 21st century and enhanced collaboration and communication amongst its users with the latest in Microsoft technology.

“We can expect to see a more unified IT management environment involving lower information storage requirements and decreased back end costs and at the same time, optimize work efficiencies through improved information and communication transparency amongst people.” said Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar.

He added, “Our staff and students will not only benefit from being exposed to the latest trends in the area of communication and collaboration technologies but they can also look forward to revolutionizing their teaching and learning experience at the University with tools available at hand, making them more competitive and relevant to world standards.”

Commenting on Microsoft's aspirations for the higher education arena, Azizah Ali said that the 3K Program was established with the aim of supporting the government’s vision of creating world-class universities and drive aspirations to transform the higher education landscape via ICT as a catalyst of change. As such, the program complements the National Higher Education Blueprint launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier this year, and has adopted its objectives to evolve Malaysia into a global higher education hub.

“At Microsoft, we believe in empowering individuals to realize their potential by providing, as best we can, accessibility to the right tools and knowledge required to nurture that potential. In this instance, we are investing resources in technology transference and the sharing of best practices to see this happen. In fact, this MoU with IIUM not only signifies the first roll-out of the 3K program but also represents the first university to deploy the latest in Microsoft technology - the Unified Communications suite of products - which we have just launched yesterday,” said Azizah.

"This reflects the extent of our commitment and aspirations to move the needle in the tertiary education sphere. We look forward to partnering with more institutions on this front and to help revolutionize the teaching, learning and communication experience," she added.

The MoU between IIUM and Microsoft Malaysia will cover the three specific areas of the 3K program:

Unified University: An Enhanced Communication and Collaborative Environment

Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 to improve overall productivity via increased transparency of and accessibility to information amongst academicians, researchers, executives and students in the institution. Examples include:

**Improved internal communications amongst university staff through integrated email, telephony and instant messaging platforms
**Enabling real-time internet-based confidential sharing of documents such as exam results, assignments, thesis and more
**Establishing solid foundations of “a new world of education”, building towards the concept of a Virtual Classroom via web conferencing between faculty members and students
**Allow external partnerships with other leading universities through the “exchange” of lectures or programs, via the Virtual Classroom concept

Windows Live@Edu: Encouraging ICT Culture and Community

Managing and hosting IIUM’s communications and collaborative infrastructure (email, instant messaging and online collaboration) to support approximately 23,000 students by:

**E-Mail storage: Providing 5GB email accounts per student
**E-Mail for life: Each student is able to retain the email ID and storage even after they have left the university
**Instant Messaging: Facilitating student communication and collaboration through the provision of instant messaging application
**Enabling cost-savings on back-end servers for email and storage for the university
Maintaining industrial email and communications infrastructure through Windows Live Hotmail
Connected Education Framework: Empowering Higher Education Institutions
Jointly developing and localizing a framework to help IIUM nurture and master an ICT culture within the education institution via enhanced management, solidified infrastructure and effective business processes.

Concluding the session, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar said, "We look forward to implementing the 3K program at IIUM. It will be the first step towards moving the university into a new era of education excellence, one that only the power of information, communication and technology can bring and Microsoft has been a key strategic partner in making this happen."

The unified communications suite of products utilized in the 3K program was made available on October 31, 2007. For more information on Microsoft’s unified communications service offerings, please see http://www.microsoft.com/uc/Default.mspx