An inquiry into low-code solutions in institutions for higher education : a case study of low-code implementation at the Admissions Office at the Norwegian School of Economics

2019

The background for our research is the digitalisation strategy for the higher education sector

2017-2021, issued by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The strategy report

addresses the potential for further efficiency and quality improvement through the utilisation

of existing and new ICT solutions.

Our study is based on Design Science Research, a methodology in which one creates

knowledge in the development and evaluation of an artefact. In cooperation with the

Admissions Office at the Norwegian School of Economics, we have developed a low-code

solution for the process of deferment of study offer. We have used the Business Process Model

and Notation Framework to document the process and developed an artefact using the lowcode

development platform OutSystems. The artefact has been evaluated by industry experts

to provide insight into the viability of low-code development platforms in the administration

of institutions of higher education.

The artefact has demonstrated that it is possible, within a short amount of time, to develop a

low-code solution that removes most manual processing steps, thus reducing processing time,

while still maintaining a satisfactory overview. Our findings suggest that low-code

development platforms can enable non-professional developers to contribute to application

development, thus increasing the number of people that can assist in the digital transformation.

However, we argue that most low-code development processes are still dependent on IT

professionals running the underlying IT infrastructure.

We suggest that shared low-code development between institutions of higher education can

reduce cost and development time, but differences in existing information systems and work

processes might reduce the possibility of shared development among institutions.