TCS iON, a unit of Tata Consultancy Services, plans to launch next month its own assessment Operating System (OS) that can run in laptops or personal computers to conduct online assessment tests.
When installed, the OS takes control of the machine and deactivates the existing OS, which could be Microsoft’s Windows or Linux till the test is over, said V Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON.
There will be only one software and an individual can do nothing other than attending the exam. The OS is to improve security and efficiency as there have been cases of tampering with the system and students trying to do other things in the computer while taking the exams, he told
iON Digital Assessment Solution allows conducting large scale assessments digitally and shortens exam cycle to one month from nine months, he said. At present, 1-2 per cent of total assessments are done in digital form and the rest in physical format. However, considering huge benefits, the digital form will make physical form disappear in a few years, he said.
Over 85 per cent of all digital academic assessments, including CAT, GATE, engineering, medical and law examinations, is being done on iON platform, he said.
In the past, scale was an issue in conducting assessments digitally due to shortage of PCs across the country at the same time. However, today, through iON platform, two lakh candidates can take the test simultaneously in a single shift. Last April, in the Railway Recruitment Board nearly 1.94 crore students participated across the country in a single shift — a record anywhere in the world — through iON platform, he said.
Ramaswamy said so far around 7.9 crore candidates have taken tests online through iON platform. In the last 12 months, there was an incremental addition of 3.5 crore. “Opportunity is increasing as government is giving a push to digital and more tests are getting migrated to digital form from manual,” he said.
Digital formThrough the digital form, results can be provided on the same day or the next day. It can be objective or subjective answer, he said.
Ramaswamy said that company’s platform is being used in nearly 20 countries, including Japan and UK. However, India is the biggest market, he said.
Talking about scale, Ramaswamy said the company has now a reach of around 3.8 lakh computers across 1,700 colleges. It rents college labs during holidays and weekends to conduct the online exams. In addition, it has 1.2 lakh computers in an entrepreneurial model using computers at browsing centres, he said.