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Our solutions · SANEX

Script anonymity, end to end

Working draft

This page is published for review. It will be completed and proofread before the site goes fully live.

The problem

A folded corner leaves no evidence: it can be forgotten, or worked around.

The marker recognises a hand, a name, a family. They need not even want to favour anyone: they know, and knowing is enough to weigh on the mark. Above all, when a student appeals six months later, no one can demonstrate that the script was marked blind.

The idea: a link no one sees

The whole product rests on a single relation — the student’s registration number on one side, the number of their script on the other — and on the way that relation is protected. The link is created the moment the student receives their script, by a scan. From then on, the marker sees only a number.

The product goes further than keeping two columns apart: when strict anonymity is on, the application itself refuses to show the link. Registration numbers appear masked, and search works by script number only.

The life of a script

Each script passes through states that match real moments: assigned by scan, handed in, marked. A script may be reported missing, be the subject of an appeal, then be closed. A supplementary answer sheet issued during the examination carries its own number and stays attached to the main script.

Lifting anonymity is an act, not a lookup

This is the most closely guarded point of the product. Lifting anonymity on a script requires a written justification: the system refuses to proceed without one. Every lifting of anonymity is written to the log with its reason, its author and its timestamp.

De-anonymisation remains possible — it is sometimes necessary — but it is never discreet. That is what makes it acceptable.

What makes the log stand up to scrutiny

The log is not a plain list of traces: each entry is sealed and chained to the one before it. The system refuses to write if it cannot seal, and the chain can be verified at any time. A log that cannot be verified is worth nothing.

What SANEX does not do

Seeing SANEX at work

SANEX is in service with its clients, and the public address points to their live system: giving access to it would mean opening the door to their examinations. We therefore run the demonstration with you, on test data, on a date that suits you.

Request a demonstration of SANEX