The South Essex Learning Partnership (SELP) Adult Group commissioned The Research Centre, City College Norwich to undertake a pilot project in the South Essex area.  The original brief for this research project was to use computer technology in order to analyse data from 2001/2 delivery Information Technology courses across the colleges, private providers and work based learning units in the South Essex Learning Partnership area.  At the present time, it is apparent that between thirty and forty providers of IT education in South Essex deliver independently organised and marketed courses.
A computer database has vast possibilities of comparing data in terms of speed, accuracy and sorting but as with any paper-based system the database needs to be able to compare ‘like with like’.  It became clear that the challenge for the SELP Adult Group is to finds a means of identifying courses with similar content across all providers and all funding regimes.  Such a ‘unique identifier’ exists for Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funded courses but no such identifier exists for courses that are provided outside the framework of LSC funds.
The proposed milestones in the original Project Specification have had to be continually revised because of the time lags between requests for, and eventual return of, data and because of the need for further requests for information.  The researcher, mindful of the additional administrative burdens being placed on staff within the organisations, reported to and discussed with the SELP Adult Group the need to emphasise the process rather than the data results of this project.
The database that has been compiled is a prototype.  The value of this prototype is not so much in the database itself as in the process of compiling and using it.  The results of this process were recorded as the work took place and it is envisaged that this report will act as an initial handbook for technical process of merging data which is, in part, a precursor to the gradual development of collaborative planning across South Essex.

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