This section will look at the technology options available for implementing an MLE. The choices
made here will have a long term impact on the MLE as no technology or system will support
everything that you might wish to do at an affordable cost.
It is assumed by that by this stage the requirements have already been established for the MLE,
and you are now looking at the technologies and processes that are needed to support this. It is
likely that not all your requirements will be fully met whatever technology is chosen so that you
may hae to re-visit the requirements or re-consider priorities.
Issues that need to be considered include:
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How the technologies will integrate with existing systems at the institution
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How the technologies will integrate with systems at partner institutions
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How the systems will adapt as the institutions requirements change
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How well the systems meet the requirements
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Total cost of ownership including: purchase, adaption, support and training
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Long term viability of the systems
It is often easy to look at the purchase price, and to balk at some of the commercial prices,
however it is essential to look at the total cost of ownership, which may be high if a large number of
skills (and therefore people) are needed to support the system in-house.
