Efficient administration requires effective software and this applies as much to Cambridge University as anywhere else. Off-the-shelf solutions, written for businesses, usually deliver good value in areas such as finance. At the periphery of finance, such as fees and supervisions, and in other areas, such as in admissions and tutorial offices, specially-written software is a necessity.
The Colleges' Administration Software Consortium (CASC) exists to maintain, support and develop a suite of software which is used by more than half of the 31 Cambridge colleges to administer their admissions, tutorial, finance, and associated systems. The original software was written by Churchill College in the mid-1980s, but was rewritten in the late-1980s and substantially enhanced between 1993 and 1995. Staff changes at Churchill College in 1995/6 meant that adequate support could no longer be provided. The consortium was formed in 1996 by the main user-colleges: Corpus Christi, Churchill, Emmanuel, Lucy Cavendish, Magdalene, Newnham and Pembroke. In 1998, four new colleges joined the consortium: Caius, Clare, Jesus and King's. At the same time, Churchill left. Over the next few years, St John's, Downing, Homerton, New Hall and Christ's joined. This gave 15 members. The admissions module was re-written in 1998 and the tutorial module in 1999. Supervisions and Fees modules were added in 2000.
A long-term future for the Supervisions module became clear in 2004 and that has now been re-released as a web-database application called the Payment Preparation System (PPS).
Soon afterwards, CamSIS agreed to make some data available from the central database to college systems via a machine-to-machine interface. The demand for this and its scope have grown steadily since, and CASC's Synchro product is a robust engine which maintains a cache of this data in a college, available 24/7, even when CamSIS or the University Data Network is down. Three new colleges (Churchill, St Catharine's and Trinity) joined as Associate Members so that they could use either Synchro or PPS, or both. This gave us 18 members.
As a result of the changes in the undergraduate admissions process that will come into effect in September 2008, a further three colleges (Girton, Peterhouse and Queens') have joined us, and one of the Associate Members (St Catharine's) upgraded their membership, making a total of 21 members.
During 2010 a new web-based product for online fellowship applications was developed (FAS), and in 2012 a web-based rooms management system (RMS) was launched.
As of 2017 Clare Hall, Darwin, Peterhouse and Trinity Hall had joined CASC to use either PPS or FAS, and in March 2017 CASC took over the role of the CamCORS helpdesk.
A major decision was made during 2017 when the Bursars' Committee agreed in principle to all members of OIS becoming members of CASC with charges (still based upon product use) to be incorporated into the system of levies currently operated by the Colleges.
From 1st July 2018 CASC became part of OIS.