- Opinion
🤝Sustainability
Every assessment counts
Supporting more digital assessment workflows
RM Compare enables organisations to run assessment workflows online. By replacing or reducing reliance on printed materials, physical script distribution and in-person processes, it can help assessment teams adopt more resource-efficient ways of working.
Environmental outcomes will vary by assessment design, existing process, participant location, device use and how the platform is configured. However, digital assessment can create practical opportunities to reduce the use of paper, printing, physical handling and travel associated with assessment delivery.
How RM Compare can support sustainability goals
Reduce reliance on paper-based processes
RM Compare enables assessment materials and judgements to be accessed, completed and managed digitally.
For organisations moving from paper-based assessment, this may reduce the need to:
- Print assessment materials and scripts
- Copy, collate and store paper records
- Send physical scripts or portfolios between locations
- Manage the secure return, archiving or disposal of paper materials
The extent of any reduction depends on the organisation’s existing workflow and the proportion of paper processes that are replaced.
Support remote assessment
RM Compare can be accessed online, enabling assessors, moderators and other participants to take part without needing to be in the same physical location.
This can support remote marking, moderation and comparative-judgement activities. Where remote participation replaces journeys that would otherwise have taken place, organisations may be able to reduce travel associated with assessment activity.
Travel outcomes depend on local delivery models, participant locations and whether travel is genuinely avoided rather than supplemented by digital activity.
Streamline assessment administration
Digital workflows can make it easier to distribute work, manage progress and coordinate assessment activity without relying on manual handling of physical materials.
RM Compare supports organisations to:
- Allocate and manage assessment activity online
- Give participants secure access to relevant assessment materials
- Monitor progress through digital dashboards and reporting
- Reduce the operational burden of handling, transporting and storing physical scripts
- Maintain a more accessible record of assessment activity
These capabilities can help organisations review where resources are used in their current assessment process and identify opportunities to work more efficiently.
Cloud-based delivery
RM Compare is delivered as a cloud-based platform. This allows organisations to access the service online without maintaining equivalent on-premises assessment infrastructure.
Our cloud infrastructure is designed to support secure, scalable digital assessment. RM works with cloud-service providers to manage performance, resilience and operational efficiency as usage changes.
Cloud services have environmental impacts, including those associated with data centres, electricity use, network activity and hardware. RM Compare should therefore be considered as part of an organisation’s wider assessment and technology footprint, not as an environmental benefit in isolation.
Making meaningful progress
Sustainability is not achieved simply by digitising an existing process. Meaningful progress depends on how an assessment workflow is designed and delivered.
Organisations seeking to reduce the resource demands associated with assessment may wish to consider:
- Whether digital delivery can replace, rather than duplicate, paper-based processes
- Whether remote participation can replace avoidable travel
- How long assessment materials need to be stored
- How devices are procured, maintained, reused and recycled
- How suppliers measure and manage their own operational impacts
RM Compare can support the move to digital assessment workflows. The environmental effect of that move will depend on the organisation’s starting point, implementation choices and wider technology estate.
Working with RM
RM is committed to improving the sustainability of its own operations and working practices. We continue to review how we procure, deliver and support our products and services, including through responsible resource use, supplier engagement and operational improvement.
For information about RM Group’s sustainability commitments and reporting, please visit the RM Group environmental pages.
Talk to us
If you are exploring how RM Compare could support a more digital assessment process, our team can help you review your current workflow and identify where paper handling, physical distribution or travel may be reduced.
We can also help you define the information needed to evaluate the operational and environmental implications of moving to a digital assessment model.