Web-Based System to Improve Resource Efficiency in University Departments

This paper presents the main features, characteristics and benefits of an economic and financial information management system that has been introduced in several departments at the University of Granada (Spain). The system is web-based and intended to optimise efficiency in the management of public resources, according to e-government approach and principles. It is based on a combination of expressive, yet intuitive, query language, and faceted search, and has meant an important advance by comparing its performance with that achieved by other approaches. To assess the usefulness and functionality of this web-based system, in-depth interviews were conducted of different types of users. The methodological approach followed to address the analysis of this type of qualitative information is Constant Comparative Analysis from which it is derived a casual network whose main outcome is the improvement of economic and financial efficiency in the department. To encourage widespread use of the system, the application is open source software.