But in the meantime here is a picture which was taken by my father last week in Ripponden and was used by Look North for the weather picture on the 6:00 news. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.
Monday, 22 December 2008
No more news until 2009
But in the meantime here is a picture which was taken by my father last week in Ripponden and was used by Look North for the weather picture on the 6:00 news. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.
Friday, 19 December 2008
IT Services Newsletter Christmas 2008 edition
Feedback on one-to-one meetings
In earlier newsletters there has been some general information about the feedback that I received directly during the one-to-one sessions with everyone in IT Services. When I met with a number of you I promised to provide an anonymised summary of the information and the issues that it raised. I have done that now and it is attached to this newsletter in a tracker format. During 2009, we will begin to work our way through the 71 challenges that you raised with me. I hope that you are able to see your words and phrases in this document directly but let me know if you feel anything has been mis-interpreted.
Change Management Programme
This programme is now up and running and Peter Bollands has begun introductory meetings with some of us. You can find the documents at H:/Exchange/ProjectManagement/Projects/IT Services Change Management/. There are going to be a lot of discussions in January and February and a program for this will be published to this directory shortly. One of the first things that Peter is going to facilitate is a self-assessment workshop over four half days based on the Information Systems Management and Governance framework published at http://www.ismg.ac.uk/. Philip Briggs attended a one day event hosted by Manchester University and UCISA which showcased this framework and its use in several UK Universities and a commercial organisation (Hewlett-Packard) and we feel that it will highlight strengths we already have as well as areas for improvement. Robina Chatham begins working with LSS Board members at an event on January 9th. We are all busy completing Myers-Briggs assessments at the moment. Jermyn Consulting are also now contracted to work on the service and business continuity work and will meet with Jeff Lucas towards the end of January to begin that process.
Student PC cluster provision
In the last newsletter there was an update on a review conducted with the student union of current provision. As a direct result we have been obtaining quotes from two University-approved furniture companies for replacement chairs and new mobile/flexible furniture for group study space. Budget has been agreed to begin the process to improve some of this facility especially in terms of "health and safety" and it will improve our student experience. If you haven't had the time, I would urge everyone to visit F Floor Richmond Building to have a look at the brand new thin client student cluster facility where the old refectory used to be located. This is a fantastic environment and sets a high standard for future student PC cluster provision on campus. Many thanks to Sara Eyre and the team in technical services who are bringing all this online for January 2009.
Consultation on Making Knowledge Work - corporate planning event
Thank you to those who took part in Wednesday's consultation events around the University's values and internal communications. This was a face-to-face meeting rather than an email! If you are interested in the feedback from the two sessions or making comments then its all posted here
Regular Meetings with PVC Rae Earnshaw
These weekly meetings have continued. Rae has been working on a couple of priority areas for the next Information Strategy Committee at the end of January. The first of these relates to information access/security recommendations and is a joint piece of work with Susan Mathews. The other area is a proposal to ISC that the University undertake an "options appraisal" for providing its student email - which includes continuing as we are, but also introduces the options of outsourcing student email, as well as not providing it at all (students bring their own). This is a developing area in the sector with about 15 UK Universities choosing to outsource student email to Google or Microsoft. It is important that we evaluate and respond to what is going on in the sector - especially when it directly impacts student experience. Some email facts that you may be interested in thanks to Geoff Bell:
We delivered around 400,000 messages last week, so around 22 million this year.
We currently reject around 95% of email that is sent to us because it is spam. If we didn't do this then we would have to have a much larger primary email system. The AntiVirus software and hardware system costs us around £10k/year.
Total cost ~£70k/year, or about 1/3p per delivered message.
There remains a standing invitation for anyone who wishes to use this meeting as a way to communicate with the PVC and senior management to just let me know.
Some other bits of news in the last month
Thanks to Mark Jones, new data storage capacity was added for our G and H Drives in Learner Support Services and the rest of Corporate Services over last weekend without service interruptions.
Thanks to Rick Graves and colleagues for the first time we have been able to publish individual web-based personalised student exam timetables. These have been issued to all students for January exams.
Following discussion at the LSS Board meeting a number of cases for training support were approved within IT Services. This process is open to all and four staff in IT services made proposals. As a result Ray Brown and David Dodwell will be completing the Comptia A+ network and certification courses, Mahmood Tariq will be undertaking a Part-Time BA in Computer Systems Administration (at Bradford) and Andrew Nicholson will be taking part in a German Language BA module (at Bradford). Look out for the next round of proposals if you wish to pursue further training opportunities funded by the University
And Finally
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers.
Thank you for all that you have achieved in 2008 - have an enjoyable break and see you in 2009.
In earlier newsletters there has been some general information about the feedback that I received directly during the one-to-one sessions with everyone in IT Services. When I met with a number of you I promised to provide an anonymised summary of the information and the issues that it raised. I have done that now and it is attached to this newsletter in a tracker format. During 2009, we will begin to work our way through the 71 challenges that you raised with me. I hope that you are able to see your words and phrases in this document directly but let me know if you feel anything has been mis-interpreted.
Change Management Programme
This programme is now up and running and Peter Bollands has begun introductory meetings with some of us. You can find the documents at H:/Exchange/ProjectManagement/Projects/IT Services Change Management/. There are going to be a lot of discussions in January and February and a program for this will be published to this directory shortly. One of the first things that Peter is going to facilitate is a self-assessment workshop over four half days based on the Information Systems Management and Governance framework published at http://www.ismg.ac.uk/. Philip Briggs attended a one day event hosted by Manchester University and UCISA which showcased this framework and its use in several UK Universities and a commercial organisation (Hewlett-Packard) and we feel that it will highlight strengths we already have as well as areas for improvement. Robina Chatham begins working with LSS Board members at an event on January 9th. We are all busy completing Myers-Briggs assessments at the moment. Jermyn Consulting are also now contracted to work on the service and business continuity work and will meet with Jeff Lucas towards the end of January to begin that process.
Student PC cluster provision
In the last newsletter there was an update on a review conducted with the student union of current provision. As a direct result we have been obtaining quotes from two University-approved furniture companies for replacement chairs and new mobile/flexible furniture for group study space. Budget has been agreed to begin the process to improve some of this facility especially in terms of "health and safety" and it will improve our student experience. If you haven't had the time, I would urge everyone to visit F Floor Richmond Building to have a look at the brand new thin client student cluster facility where the old refectory used to be located. This is a fantastic environment and sets a high standard for future student PC cluster provision on campus. Many thanks to Sara Eyre and the team in technical services who are bringing all this online for January 2009.
Consultation on Making Knowledge Work - corporate planning event
Thank you to those who took part in Wednesday's consultation events around the University's values and internal communications. This was a face-to-face meeting rather than an email! If you are interested in the feedback from the two sessions or making comments then its all posted here
Regular Meetings with PVC Rae Earnshaw
These weekly meetings have continued. Rae has been working on a couple of priority areas for the next Information Strategy Committee at the end of January. The first of these relates to information access/security recommendations and is a joint piece of work with Susan Mathews. The other area is a proposal to ISC that the University undertake an "options appraisal" for providing its student email - which includes continuing as we are, but also introduces the options of outsourcing student email, as well as not providing it at all (students bring their own). This is a developing area in the sector with about 15 UK Universities choosing to outsource student email to Google or Microsoft. It is important that we evaluate and respond to what is going on in the sector - especially when it directly impacts student experience. Some email facts that you may be interested in thanks to Geoff Bell:
We delivered around 400,000 messages last week, so around 22 million this year.
We currently reject around 95% of email that is sent to us because it is spam. If we didn't do this then we would have to have a much larger primary email system. The AntiVirus software and hardware system costs us around £10k/year.
Total cost ~£70k/year, or about 1/3p per delivered message.
There remains a standing invitation for anyone who wishes to use this meeting as a way to communicate with the PVC and senior management to just let me know.
Some other bits of news in the last month
Thanks to Mark Jones, new data storage capacity was added for our G and H Drives in Learner Support Services and the rest of Corporate Services over last weekend without service interruptions.
Thanks to Rick Graves and colleagues for the first time we have been able to publish individual web-based personalised student exam timetables. These have been issued to all students for January exams.
Following discussion at the LSS Board meeting a number of cases for training support were approved within IT Services. This process is open to all and four staff in IT services made proposals. As a result Ray Brown and David Dodwell will be completing the Comptia A+ network and certification courses, Mahmood Tariq will be undertaking a Part-Time BA in Computer Systems Administration (at Bradford) and Andrew Nicholson will be taking part in a German Language BA module (at Bradford). Look out for the next round of proposals if you wish to pursue further training opportunities funded by the University
And Finally
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers.
Thank you for all that you have achieved in 2008 - have an enjoyable break and see you in 2009.
Values Consultation
At the end of November I posted some feedback on a recent event within the University aimed at its "Managers". We were all asked to cascade face-to-face the overall feedback from the event which we did on Wednesday morning and this is what we submitted out of the two sessions held that morning. Comments continue to be welcome:
Session One
For values such as creativity and flexibility to have substance then we need to do something about the rules, procedures, policies, guidelines and committee approvals that all get in the way.
We need less bureaucracy so that we can get on with our work – instead of finding ways to work around the various “systems” – it does not feel enabling, it feels stifling
Every time we get a new VC we seem to start all over again – values require continuity over extended periods and shouldn’t change every five years.
Building works and refurbishments are critical to the University demonstrating commitment. People get cynical when the building gets its first coat of paint in 28 years (rather than celebrating the new paintwork we complain about the shabby carpet)
Some of us didn’t know what was meant by “internal comms” – this has not been communicated” What is this? Who is this? Who does it affect? What is its scope? Who is Stefan etc
Have we understood why we need values at all, and who are these values for: staff, students, both (common?)
What is the driving force, the big idea?
We need to think about how our personal values map onto organisational values – maybe we are working for the right (or the wrong!) organisation for us
In some areas the values are not positive – cynical, apathetic, nothing will ever change
A lack of straight forwardness in communication leads to Chinese whispers and gossip
There are a range of tools at our disposal – we don’t always use them in appropriate ways – example is expectations about responses to emails, or emailing someone who sits in the same office etc
Session Two
An important value is Respect – respect for each other and respect for others
We work in a service environment where lack of respect affects staff morale – dealing with stressed customers is an example e.g. cannot update my PC at lunchtime
Student values have changed a great deal – the “me, now” culture is very different – I pay for this, I know my rights – staff are not always appreciated either by students, peers, or colleagues – is it a surprise that people get fed up? e.g. lack of discipline in lectures
Values are important – aspirational and positive – having goals and a vision is important
The media portrayal of society is changing – respect for elders, fear and insecurity etc – organisations need to respond to the changes in the society around them
Staff should enjoy coming to work at – plenty of activities, time for conversations, morning and afternoon scheduled breaks to meet each other – all this has gone – is it for the better? - we are all too busy doing our jobs – do we have lunch breaks any more: lunch is for wimps
There are two key functions that IT Service delivers that are absolutely fundamental to how we communicate – telephones and email. Take these away and the University could stop functioning as we now know it
Time poor, there is not a relaxed atmosphere, every one expects an instant response
Session One
For values such as creativity and flexibility to have substance then we need to do something about the rules, procedures, policies, guidelines and committee approvals that all get in the way.
We need less bureaucracy so that we can get on with our work – instead of finding ways to work around the various “systems” – it does not feel enabling, it feels stifling
Every time we get a new VC we seem to start all over again – values require continuity over extended periods and shouldn’t change every five years.
Building works and refurbishments are critical to the University demonstrating commitment. People get cynical when the building gets its first coat of paint in 28 years (rather than celebrating the new paintwork we complain about the shabby carpet)
Some of us didn’t know what was meant by “internal comms” – this has not been communicated” What is this? Who is this? Who does it affect? What is its scope? Who is Stefan etc
Have we understood why we need values at all, and who are these values for: staff, students, both (common?)
What is the driving force, the big idea?
We need to think about how our personal values map onto organisational values – maybe we are working for the right (or the wrong!) organisation for us
In some areas the values are not positive – cynical, apathetic, nothing will ever change
A lack of straight forwardness in communication leads to Chinese whispers and gossip
There are a range of tools at our disposal – we don’t always use them in appropriate ways – example is expectations about responses to emails, or emailing someone who sits in the same office etc
Session Two
An important value is Respect – respect for each other and respect for others
We work in a service environment where lack of respect affects staff morale – dealing with stressed customers is an example e.g. cannot update my PC at lunchtime
Student values have changed a great deal – the “me, now” culture is very different – I pay for this, I know my rights – staff are not always appreciated either by students, peers, or colleagues – is it a surprise that people get fed up? e.g. lack of discipline in lectures
Values are important – aspirational and positive – having goals and a vision is important
The media portrayal of society is changing – respect for elders, fear and insecurity etc – organisations need to respond to the changes in the society around them
Staff should enjoy coming to work at – plenty of activities, time for conversations, morning and afternoon scheduled breaks to meet each other – all this has gone – is it for the better? - we are all too busy doing our jobs – do we have lunch breaks any more: lunch is for wimps
There are two key functions that IT Service delivers that are absolutely fundamental to how we communicate – telephones and email. Take these away and the University could stop functioning as we now know it
Time poor, there is not a relaxed atmosphere, every one expects an instant response
Monday, 15 December 2008
LSS Board Meeting today
Today's LSS Board meeting was a three hour marathon. The first section of the agenda included others from the Student Union and Estates to consider various options for decanting and moving staff to enable the major refurbishments that are planned to the Communal and JBP buildings where some of us live. It really sounds like things are starting to happen after an important meeting of the University Council on Friday that authorised the overall capital investment plan. It will be a difficult time for current student facing services as they adapt for an interim period before moving into the new space and that will be a challenge. It's looking increasingly likely that the IT Service will remain in JBP BUilding on the current floor (but refurbished) along with student facing services - comfortable seating, PC provision, some flexible learning and group study spaces etc. It's a very exciting project for those who have waited a very long time - the starting pistol is due to be fired around April next year for the decanting and then end May for the contractors on site. Probably will take about a year and a half before its all ready. The second section was on staffing and there were some submissions for the professional education and training fund and also an update on a new sickness absence policy that is being introduced from early next year. Third section was on budget - it was interesting that well over £1 Million comes into LSS from each of the fours divisions from external grants and bids. That is a big change over previous years I suspect. We also looked at the management accounts for November (on track) and the spend against a carry forward from last year. There is some money for new furniture and that is why the furniture suppliers have been around with tape measures in the last week.
Friday, 12 December 2008
Weekly update
A whole week has rushed past. So here's what's been happening in brief. There have been three annual review meetings with respect to e-strategy and IT futures with Academic Schools (Social and International Studies, Informatics and Health). These have resulted in a review of things that were requested before and new things on the agenda. When reflecting back on these meetings, I'd say that apart from one, they have been operational rather than strategic, and slightly adversarial (this may be too strong a word) - I hope to look back in a year's time and find that the culture may have changed in a positive direction. It's our job to help agenda the strategic conversations and on this occasion (as before) these meetings have been for the School to tell us their agenda and issues and for us to listen and respond. In reality we have a good debate on most issues that is fairly well balanced but the language that is sometimes used to describe situations is more negative than positive. Maybe its "spin" and good old plain yorkshire speaking. On Thursday there was a guest lecture from PVC at Coventry about the SMART-Campus@CU initiative. I've been following up the glossy hype with the reality on the ground. It's certainly a story which has provided debate this morning. I've attended a few end of term internal type meetings this week - the Technical User Forum (TUF) and the First Level Support Team meeting. The TUF heard about a range of great and innovative new developments here such as the major email upgrade over xmas including a new web front end, a new unified voice messaging service - voice to email and voice to SMS, the launch of a Secure Global Desktop service on Valentine's Day 2009 using VMWare and Virtual Desktop technologies and the launch in January of a brilliant 100 seat thin client cluster atop the atrium in Richmond Building. The techncial teams are also doing a load of moves and changes over the Christmas at risk period including a major upgrade to the student system infrastructure for test, devel and live environments with 8 new servers. Finally, we have come up with some creative ideas to try and get rid of recharges and be more transparent with the way we deal with "premium or added-cost" services. Need to get some agreements to this but looks possibiity.
Friday, 5 December 2008
Google at Westminster
Earlier this year I scanned some stuff about leeds met and Educause this is from the University Business magazine for December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Employers restrict internet access
I bought the Guardian on Tuesday because it had a Digital Student supplement sposnored by the JISC (maybe that's where some of the money goes). It's worth a read but I thought that a page towards the back of the main paper made an interesting contrast - most employers restrict staff time on the internet - internet useage as a timewaster. Interesting.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
John Sergeant Rules!
I'm afraid that I don't watch strictly come dancing or any of the other "celebrity" talent contests - although I did enjoy Peter Kay's spoof of them. But I have become interested in John's antics because we approached him to be our after dinner speaker at the UCISA Conference in Liverpool March 2009 about a year ago and before all this fuss about the dancing. Too many press cuttings to keep but when we introduce him it might be nice to have some bio information.....
Monday, 1 December 2008
Fourth Newsletter to IT Services
Staff Culture Survey
The results of the first survey are now available and have been stored on H Drive (Exchange/IT Services Consultation/Connect Survey/). The individual reports for each of the teams that comprise IT services can be found in this folder. Thank you to everyone that took part - over two thirds of us completed the survey which is a good return. There is feedback for every team except the Systems Team where there were not enough total responses to run the report and this is also a small team. Please take a look at this information and let me have your thoughts and reflections on the survey conclusions. The second survey will follow shortly.
Change Management Programme
This programme has been initiated as a result of recommendations in the MIS Department review conducted during the first half of 2008. The scope of the change management programme has (by agreement) been extended to include the new IT Services Division of Learner Support Services which incorporates the MIS Department. A project mandate has been developed and approved and will be overseen by a Change Management Board sponsored by Prof. Jeff Lucas. You can find the documents at H:/Exchange/ProjectManagement/Projects/IT Services Change Management/. This process will be transparent and all of the documents will be posted into this area. Rather than "push" this information out to everyone we will presume that you will "pull" the documents and information from this folder. The process has already started with all three consultants now working on the various aspects that they will assist with (they are Peter Bollands, Jermyn Consulting and Robina Chatham). The key objectives of this change management programme are as follows:
. Managing the implementation of recommendations established in the MIS Department Review during 2008
. Clarify University vision and objectives in terms of the new IT Service – how it should underpin the University, Academic School and Corporate Service Objectives.
. Interim budget and systems planning process for 2009/10
. Identification of potential ‘quick wins’ which will allow customers to experience positive changes from an early stage. This should encourage customers, and increase their support for the overall exercise.
. Early confirmation of a (potentially) revised structure for the IT Services department and appointments to the senior posts in that structure.
. A service catalogue which will enable the IT Services to be defined in terminology that its customers can understand. Ultimately this will lead to service ownership, service level definitions and related activity (a best practice approach to service management – framework ITIL)
. Specific resources to help with management development and individual coaching of the management team.
Office Space Consultation - a reminder
Estates and Facilities have been working on various potential plans for the JBP Building and Communal Building refurbishments. We agreed to provide an initial space requirement for this purpose which was sent out before the October reading week/half term as a draft for further consultation. The document can be found at H:/Exchange/IT Services Consultation/ We discussed this at IT Board and it was suggested that the easiest way for everyone to contribute to this consultation would be to use comments and the track changes features in word. So please take a look at the document add your comments, make any changes and please save it as a new version (by incrementing the version number by 1). After a month we haven't had any further input so the deadline for this opportunity is now Friday December 12th.
Review of student PC cluster provision
Within the document there is mention of a review of student cluster provision. We visited every cluster room supported by IT services during this month with representatives from the Student Union Sabattical team to do a condition survey. The detailed verbatim comments and scores provide an insight into what our student customers think about our current facilities in this building and in the other parts of the campus. There is also a document prepared earlier this year on PC cluster usage and observations that was presented to the e-strategy board. This can be found in the same location as the space consultation survey.
Regular Meetings with PVC Rae Earnshaw
These weekly meetings have continued. We have discussed the recent meetings and service priorities with corporate services directorates and this was presented and approved (with some further additions) at last week's meeting of the Corporate Services Exec. We are now a good way through meetings with academic schools to pull together a companion document which will also prioritise this activity. We have discussed an E-strategy "program management" role, and Russell Allen has agreed to take on this responsibility in the New Year adopting the new guidelines from Jo Hills who was appointed to the Project and Programmes role within the Strategic Planning Office. We have also reviewed the Educause student evaluation of IT on campus http://www.educause.edu/studentguide/873?time=1226909532 and believe that this would be a useful way to take forward the promotion of student facing IT services to prospective (and current) student. There remains a standing invitation for anyone who wishes to use this meeting as a way to communicate with the PVC and senior management to just let me know.
IT Services - Furniture condition survey
Some funds have been set aside to replace funriture (desks and chairs) in a number of offices where we have health and safety issues identified by a recent condition survey by Wendy Wrigglesworth who is the LSS health and safety rep. We are also going to replace broken and worn out chairs in student clusters and put some decent furnniture into the group study rooms that will be re-commissioned in the New Year. If you have any specific requests for furniture that have not already been identified then please inform your line manager - there is a weekly meeting of the IT Heads on Thursday's at 14:00 and we will review the requests this week to forward to the preferrred suppliers for pricing.
Some other bits of news in the last month
Tanks to Jamie Ansell and colleagues in Estates, the plasma screen at the School of Health reception has been ordered after a long delay (not a technical delay) and should be in place for the New Year.
Thanks to Mark Jones, new data storage capacity was added which has relieved problems in various Schools including Management and Health.
A small team has been working hard on the SAINT system hardware upgrades which is a very significant change to both the hardware and software configuration to improve performance and resilience. This will be happening during the at risk period in December.
Sun microsytems have approached us with a view to publicising the great work that has been taking place with Computer Aided Assessment and the new facility that will be opening shortly in F Floor Richmond building using Sunray thin client technology. Sara and team have done a great job with this project which has been recognised as a national exemplar and will bring great credit to the University as the first installation of its kind in the UK.
The results of the first survey are now available and have been stored on H Drive (Exchange/IT Services Consultation/Connect Survey/). The individual reports for each of the teams that comprise IT services can be found in this folder. Thank you to everyone that took part - over two thirds of us completed the survey which is a good return. There is feedback for every team except the Systems Team where there were not enough total responses to run the report and this is also a small team. Please take a look at this information and let me have your thoughts and reflections on the survey conclusions. The second survey will follow shortly.
Change Management Programme
This programme has been initiated as a result of recommendations in the MIS Department review conducted during the first half of 2008. The scope of the change management programme has (by agreement) been extended to include the new IT Services Division of Learner Support Services which incorporates the MIS Department. A project mandate has been developed and approved and will be overseen by a Change Management Board sponsored by Prof. Jeff Lucas. You can find the documents at H:/Exchange/ProjectManagement/Projects/IT Services Change Management/. This process will be transparent and all of the documents will be posted into this area. Rather than "push" this information out to everyone we will presume that you will "pull" the documents and information from this folder. The process has already started with all three consultants now working on the various aspects that they will assist with (they are Peter Bollands, Jermyn Consulting and Robina Chatham). The key objectives of this change management programme are as follows:
. Managing the implementation of recommendations established in the MIS Department Review during 2008
. Clarify University vision and objectives in terms of the new IT Service – how it should underpin the University, Academic School and Corporate Service Objectives.
. Interim budget and systems planning process for 2009/10
. Identification of potential ‘quick wins’ which will allow customers to experience positive changes from an early stage. This should encourage customers, and increase their support for the overall exercise.
. Early confirmation of a (potentially) revised structure for the IT Services department and appointments to the senior posts in that structure.
. A service catalogue which will enable the IT Services to be defined in terminology that its customers can understand. Ultimately this will lead to service ownership, service level definitions and related activity (a best practice approach to service management – framework ITIL)
. Specific resources to help with management development and individual coaching of the management team.
Office Space Consultation - a reminder
Estates and Facilities have been working on various potential plans for the JBP Building and Communal Building refurbishments. We agreed to provide an initial space requirement for this purpose which was sent out before the October reading week/half term as a draft for further consultation. The document can be found at H:/Exchange/IT Services Consultation/ We discussed this at IT Board and it was suggested that the easiest way for everyone to contribute to this consultation would be to use comments and the track changes features in word. So please take a look at the document add your comments, make any changes and please save it as a new version (by incrementing the version number by 1). After a month we haven't had any further input so the deadline for this opportunity is now Friday December 12th.
Review of student PC cluster provision
Within the document there is mention of a review of student cluster provision. We visited every cluster room supported by IT services during this month with representatives from the Student Union Sabattical team to do a condition survey. The detailed verbatim comments and scores provide an insight into what our student customers think about our current facilities in this building and in the other parts of the campus. There is also a document prepared earlier this year on PC cluster usage and observations that was presented to the e-strategy board. This can be found in the same location as the space consultation survey.
Regular Meetings with PVC Rae Earnshaw
These weekly meetings have continued. We have discussed the recent meetings and service priorities with corporate services directorates and this was presented and approved (with some further additions) at last week's meeting of the Corporate Services Exec. We are now a good way through meetings with academic schools to pull together a companion document which will also prioritise this activity. We have discussed an E-strategy "program management" role, and Russell Allen has agreed to take on this responsibility in the New Year adopting the new guidelines from Jo Hills who was appointed to the Project and Programmes role within the Strategic Planning Office. We have also reviewed the Educause student evaluation of IT on campus http://www.educause.edu/studentguide/873?time=1226909532 and believe that this would be a useful way to take forward the promotion of student facing IT services to prospective (and current) student. There remains a standing invitation for anyone who wishes to use this meeting as a way to communicate with the PVC and senior management to just let me know.
IT Services - Furniture condition survey
Some funds have been set aside to replace funriture (desks and chairs) in a number of offices where we have health and safety issues identified by a recent condition survey by Wendy Wrigglesworth who is the LSS health and safety rep. We are also going to replace broken and worn out chairs in student clusters and put some decent furnniture into the group study rooms that will be re-commissioned in the New Year. If you have any specific requests for furniture that have not already been identified then please inform your line manager - there is a weekly meeting of the IT Heads on Thursday's at 14:00 and we will review the requests this week to forward to the preferrred suppliers for pricing.
Some other bits of news in the last month
Tanks to Jamie Ansell and colleagues in Estates, the plasma screen at the School of Health reception has been ordered after a long delay (not a technical delay) and should be in place for the New Year.
Thanks to Mark Jones, new data storage capacity was added which has relieved problems in various Schools including Management and Health.
A small team has been working hard on the SAINT system hardware upgrades which is a very significant change to both the hardware and software configuration to improve performance and resilience. This will be happening during the at risk period in December.
Sun microsytems have approached us with a view to publicising the great work that has been taking place with Computer Aided Assessment and the new facility that will be opening shortly in F Floor Richmond building using Sunray thin client technology. Sara and team have done a great job with this project which has been recognised as a national exemplar and will bring great credit to the University as the first installation of its kind in the UK.
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