Monday, 14 December 2009
Microsoft Uluru and VLE futures
Today I came across the Uluru initiative which is apparently subject to NDA but due to be formally launched at BETT on 9th January. Did a quick search and found this link which is worth reading if you are interested in this.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Guardian Saturday
Your Letters: Does anyone actually move to a place after reading Let's Move To...... Darren Evans, Hull. Wasted stamp?
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Pre Budget Report
The full report is available from here. The specific references to HE that I could find were:
This action to reduce the deficit follows a decade of unprecedented levels of investment in transport infrastructure, skills, higher education, etc
It has also created the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) which, alongside the Research Councils and the Regional Development Agencies, will invest over £1 billion in business innovation between 2008 and 2011, and will be investing £150 million in knowledge exchange in 2010-11 to support innovative start-up companies. As a result, research is increasingly being translated into commercial products and economic benefit: patent applications have doubled since 2000, to 1,913 in 2006-07; 31 university spinout companies were launched between 2003 and 2007 (note that doesn't sound very many to me?);
Higher Ambitions, published in November 2009, set the forward-looking framework
for the Higher Education sector, and identified the challenges and opportunities facing the
sector if it is to remain world-class. In November 2009, the Independent Review of Higher
Education Funding and Student Finance was also launched. The Review, due to report in
2010, will examine the balance of contributions to higher education funding by taxpayers,
students, graduates and employers.
Going further, the Government has also looked at what other efficiences can be
achieved across the public sector through better procurement, or through cutting lower value
or lower-priority programmes or projects on the basis of the early findings of the PVP.
The Government will continue to identify further opportunities for savings through the PVP,
but the 2009 Pre-Budget Report can already announce £5 billion of additional savings
by 2012-13: £600 million from higher education and science and research budgets from
a combination of changes to student support within existing arrangements;
efficiency savings and prioritisation across universities, science and research;
some switching of modes of study in higher education; and reductions in
budgets that do not support student participation;
This action to reduce the deficit follows a decade of unprecedented levels of investment in transport infrastructure, skills, higher education, etc
It has also created the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) which, alongside the Research Councils and the Regional Development Agencies, will invest over £1 billion in business innovation between 2008 and 2011, and will be investing £150 million in knowledge exchange in 2010-11 to support innovative start-up companies. As a result, research is increasingly being translated into commercial products and economic benefit: patent applications have doubled since 2000, to 1,913 in 2006-07; 31 university spinout companies were launched between 2003 and 2007 (note that doesn't sound very many to me?);
Higher Ambitions, published in November 2009, set the forward-looking framework
for the Higher Education sector, and identified the challenges and opportunities facing the
sector if it is to remain world-class. In November 2009, the Independent Review of Higher
Education Funding and Student Finance was also launched. The Review, due to report in
2010, will examine the balance of contributions to higher education funding by taxpayers,
students, graduates and employers.
Going further, the Government has also looked at what other efficiences can be
achieved across the public sector through better procurement, or through cutting lower value
or lower-priority programmes or projects on the basis of the early findings of the PVP.
The Government will continue to identify further opportunities for savings through the PVP,
but the 2009 Pre-Budget Report can already announce £5 billion of additional savings
by 2012-13: £600 million from higher education and science and research budgets from
a combination of changes to student support within existing arrangements;
efficiency savings and prioritisation across universities, science and research;
some switching of modes of study in higher education; and reductions in
budgets that do not support student participation;
Saturday, 5 December 2009
IT Services Newsletter #15
Our response to the recent electricity service interruptions
Unfortunately the main campus suffered a couple of electricity interruptions on November 17th lasting only a few seconds but sufficient to cause various service interruptions within Buildings (trip switches for example) and also to various IT Services. The good news is that all services were restored within the current “Recovery Point” targets and “Recovery Time” Objectives. No data was lost despite data storage systems being affected. Many thanks to all in IT Services and especially those in the IT Infrastructure Team who recovered systems according to the plan. There are several things which need following up, and potential new investment to put right. There is a tracker of those issues and we will be following up.
Staff Recognition
There have been a number of people in the last month who have mentioned to me their appreciation and thanks for a job well done. We often get to hear about the things that have not gone quite so well, however, we are also continuing to get positive feedback about our services. Those who have been thanked directly in the last month know who they are so I will avoid the embarrassment! For the rest of us, we can be pleased with the results of the staff survey conducted via the automated RMS emails which ask for feedback on our service. In September and October we entered over 1,600 new jobs into the system and also completed over 1,500 jobs. Of those 1,500 jobs, and of those who responded to our survey in October (that is typically about 10%) over 98% were either very satisfied (83%) or satisfied (15%) with the service.
Balanced Scorecard Report for E-Strategy
The E-strategy board was asked to prepare its annual return to the Balanced Scorecard activity with respect to e-strategy for session 2008/09. This gets reported through University Senate and University Council the most important governance committees of the University. A small subgroup of the E-Strategy Board was formed to review all the projects and with the help of the various project managers prepare an overall summary. Thank you to all those who assisted at relatively short notice. The overall judgement was “Green with improving Trajectory”. The colour is a traffic light system with Green (ok), Amber (warning) and Red (danger). The Executive Summary reads like this:
Over the year we are able to report the successful completion of 10 more projects with delivery according to the original project plans and budgets. There were 9 projects completed successfully in the last annual report. The e-strategy programme tracker demonstrates that a number of the approved projects are now completed or in the final process of project closure. Projects regarded as High Risk/High Impact have been completed successfully:
• Content Management System (completed – now business as usual)
• SAINT developments relating to progression and award (completed – now business as usual)
• HR and Payroll integrated system (completed – new requirements incorporated in HRX project)
Projects regarded as High Risk have been closed or have now moved into a managed implementation phase which is no longer considered High Risk versus the feasibility and procurement phase.
• Portal project (closed)
• Finance Business Services System project (lower risk)
Projects regarded as High Impact have been completed successfully
• Lecture Room Technology upgrades (GTA space)
• Access Control (also mainly relating to GTA space)
The e-strategy programme currently has two ongoing projects that are considered high impact and these are:
• Sun Global Desktop project enabling flexible and web-based access to IT services and
• Final investment phase of the business continuity project.
There are concerns about the availability of funding for further projects awaiting approval in line with the broader review of the University investment plan, however, these relate to the activities and projects which would form part of the e-strategy programme to support the new corporate plan (2009-14). We feel that the programme can sign off the five year review period in excellent overall shape – the e-strategy programme has broadly delivered its many projects on time, and it is has delivered them within budget.
Information Posters
You may have spotted some posters that have gone up in the last month around JBP Building and in (and around) all the other student PC clusters on the campus. They are also on the notice boards as you enter JBP Level Zero One down the main staircase. The posters are communicating the results of the student survey and also the launch of the leading edge computer-aided assessment lab which also appeared in this month’s News and Views. Many thanks to Liz Mortimer for putting the posters together. You can find the same information in accessible formats here and here.
Award Ceremony Services
The December awards were concluded yesterday. They are a fantastic celebration for everyone involved. I was particularly impressed by two things this year – the automated system which manages all those people who assist the event which operates on-line using the e-vision system. Congratulations to Claire Cuvier and Louise Tomensen the award ceremony co-ordinator for a great example of self-service administration which is enabled by IT Services. Unfortunately I was unable to volunteer this year which is something I normally try to do (and would encourage anyone else to volunteer for). However, I was able to catch up briefly from a wireless laptop in London using the Award Cam and the other people at the meeting were very impressed with the fact that we did this at all, and also with the high quality production. We briefly watched the Student Union Academic Officer give a speech to the ceremony on behalf of the graduates. Congratulations to Matt Overton and team who provide the service.
Success with wireless services on campus
This is a "less visible" success story for e-strategy and for the IT Infrastructure Team who manage the service. Here is an exec summary of The Cloud "free" wireless service:
• There have been over 15k sessions since launch in June 2009.
• The number of users of this new service has grown each month from 140 to 664 users (fivefold increase)
• The number of individual sessions has grown from 2k to over 7k each month - on average there are over 230 sessions every day
• The number of Apple iPhone users has increased each month to almost 300 during October
• There have been occasional service issues during the launch of the service, however, the service is generally robust and reliable
We also monitor monthly usage statistics for the campus Roamnet wireless service
• In October 2009 there were 19k sessions (16k in October 2008) and over 3,400 users (3k users in October 2008).
• This represents annual growth in the order of 15-20%
Further detailed statistics are available for anyone interested. IT Services is initiating a project to review requirements for the wireless services on campus during this Academic Session. The underlying technology is approaching end of life after five years in service and is now due for replacement. The review will among other things include:
• Coverage - to recommend the future coverage of the service, which will include the provision of work space and seating with power points.
• Security - to recommend the appropriate security, for example authentication and encryption
• Functionality - to find user requirements for functionality, examples may include printing, use of Novell, etc
Unfortunately the main campus suffered a couple of electricity interruptions on November 17th lasting only a few seconds but sufficient to cause various service interruptions within Buildings (trip switches for example) and also to various IT Services. The good news is that all services were restored within the current “Recovery Point” targets and “Recovery Time” Objectives. No data was lost despite data storage systems being affected. Many thanks to all in IT Services and especially those in the IT Infrastructure Team who recovered systems according to the plan. There are several things which need following up, and potential new investment to put right. There is a tracker of those issues and we will be following up.
Staff Recognition
There have been a number of people in the last month who have mentioned to me their appreciation and thanks for a job well done. We often get to hear about the things that have not gone quite so well, however, we are also continuing to get positive feedback about our services. Those who have been thanked directly in the last month know who they are so I will avoid the embarrassment! For the rest of us, we can be pleased with the results of the staff survey conducted via the automated RMS emails which ask for feedback on our service. In September and October we entered over 1,600 new jobs into the system and also completed over 1,500 jobs. Of those 1,500 jobs, and of those who responded to our survey in October (that is typically about 10%) over 98% were either very satisfied (83%) or satisfied (15%) with the service.
Balanced Scorecard Report for E-Strategy
The E-strategy board was asked to prepare its annual return to the Balanced Scorecard activity with respect to e-strategy for session 2008/09. This gets reported through University Senate and University Council the most important governance committees of the University. A small subgroup of the E-Strategy Board was formed to review all the projects and with the help of the various project managers prepare an overall summary. Thank you to all those who assisted at relatively short notice. The overall judgement was “Green with improving Trajectory”. The colour is a traffic light system with Green (ok), Amber (warning) and Red (danger). The Executive Summary reads like this:
Over the year we are able to report the successful completion of 10 more projects with delivery according to the original project plans and budgets. There were 9 projects completed successfully in the last annual report. The e-strategy programme tracker demonstrates that a number of the approved projects are now completed or in the final process of project closure. Projects regarded as High Risk/High Impact have been completed successfully:
• Content Management System (completed – now business as usual)
• SAINT developments relating to progression and award (completed – now business as usual)
• HR and Payroll integrated system (completed – new requirements incorporated in HRX project)
Projects regarded as High Risk have been closed or have now moved into a managed implementation phase which is no longer considered High Risk versus the feasibility and procurement phase.
• Portal project (closed)
• Finance Business Services System project (lower risk)
Projects regarded as High Impact have been completed successfully
• Lecture Room Technology upgrades (GTA space)
• Access Control (also mainly relating to GTA space)
The e-strategy programme currently has two ongoing projects that are considered high impact and these are:
• Sun Global Desktop project enabling flexible and web-based access to IT services and
• Final investment phase of the business continuity project.
There are concerns about the availability of funding for further projects awaiting approval in line with the broader review of the University investment plan, however, these relate to the activities and projects which would form part of the e-strategy programme to support the new corporate plan (2009-14). We feel that the programme can sign off the five year review period in excellent overall shape – the e-strategy programme has broadly delivered its many projects on time, and it is has delivered them within budget.
Information Posters
You may have spotted some posters that have gone up in the last month around JBP Building and in (and around) all the other student PC clusters on the campus. They are also on the notice boards as you enter JBP Level Zero One down the main staircase. The posters are communicating the results of the student survey and also the launch of the leading edge computer-aided assessment lab which also appeared in this month’s News and Views. Many thanks to Liz Mortimer for putting the posters together. You can find the same information in accessible formats here and here.
Award Ceremony Services
The December awards were concluded yesterday. They are a fantastic celebration for everyone involved. I was particularly impressed by two things this year – the automated system which manages all those people who assist the event which operates on-line using the e-vision system. Congratulations to Claire Cuvier and Louise Tomensen the award ceremony co-ordinator for a great example of self-service administration which is enabled by IT Services. Unfortunately I was unable to volunteer this year which is something I normally try to do (and would encourage anyone else to volunteer for). However, I was able to catch up briefly from a wireless laptop in London using the Award Cam and the other people at the meeting were very impressed with the fact that we did this at all, and also with the high quality production. We briefly watched the Student Union Academic Officer give a speech to the ceremony on behalf of the graduates. Congratulations to Matt Overton and team who provide the service.
Success with wireless services on campus
This is a "less visible" success story for e-strategy and for the IT Infrastructure Team who manage the service. Here is an exec summary of The Cloud "free" wireless service:
• There have been over 15k sessions since launch in June 2009.
• The number of users of this new service has grown each month from 140 to 664 users (fivefold increase)
• The number of individual sessions has grown from 2k to over 7k each month - on average there are over 230 sessions every day
• The number of Apple iPhone users has increased each month to almost 300 during October
• There have been occasional service issues during the launch of the service, however, the service is generally robust and reliable
We also monitor monthly usage statistics for the campus Roamnet wireless service
• In October 2009 there were 19k sessions (16k in October 2008) and over 3,400 users (3k users in October 2008).
• This represents annual growth in the order of 15-20%
Further detailed statistics are available for anyone interested. IT Services is initiating a project to review requirements for the wireless services on campus during this Academic Session. The underlying technology is approaching end of life after five years in service and is now due for replacement. The review will among other things include:
• Coverage - to recommend the future coverage of the service, which will include the provision of work space and seating with power points.
• Security - to recommend the appropriate security, for example authentication and encryption
• Functionality - to find user requirements for functionality, examples may include printing, use of Novell, etc
Monday, 30 November 2009
Kit Kat Reflections
This may seem a little strange to some people but why don't the makers of kitkats make a kitkat without the wafer. Every now and then (it is pretty rare and maybe only once every few years) you bite into a kitkat and its pure chocolate. It's not that the chocolate is all that nice really but it seems like a bit of a treat. There is a campaign on facebook (24 members) called CAMPAIGN TO STOP VARIATION KIT KAT PRODUCTS. I think that the proposed four finger Kit Kat chunky could be a mouthful. But what about a banana kit kat Philip? In Japan they sell the following different types of Kit-Kats... here's a list-Green Tea-Strawberry-Parfait-Sweet red bean-Melon-Banana-Choco Banana-Blueberry-Blueberry fromage-Cherry(normal)-Exotic Sakura-Double Berry-Grape-Lemon-Marugoto Lemon-Mango-Cantalope-Orange-White Peach-Pineapple-Raspberry-Strawberryeis & cream-Strawberry fromage-Chocolatier Strawberry & Nuts-Winter Strawberry-Ichigo (Strawberry) Milk-Tsubu Strawberry(with freeze dried strawberry pieces)-An Nin Dofu (Almond tofu)-Azuki-Hokkaidō Azuk-Brandy & Orange-Waguri Chestnut-Chocolatier Noir (Dark)-(dark petits with almond creme filling and dusted dark cocoa powder on outside...OMG!)-Exotic Hokkaido-Exotic Kansai-Exotic Kyūshū-Exotic Tokyo -Exotic Tokyo White-Gold(petits with fudge like covering and dusted cocoa powder on outside..yummm)-Koshian-Matcha -Matcha Milk-Kir-Pumpkin-Uji-Kintoki Milk-Chocolatier Ujimaccha & Kinako-Wish Upon A Star-Big Kat Bitter-I-Stick -Stick Almond-Crispy Monogatari Chestnut-Crispy Monogatari Mango-Little-Little Yubari Melon.
A wierd seam.
A wierd seam.
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Monday, 2 November 2009
Hadrian's Wall
Last week we spent three days in Northumberland national Park visiting Hadrian's Wall. This is the first time we have visited Hadrian's Wall although I can remember doing it in a history at school etc. The weather was great and we only had Billy with us as the others not around. Billy reserved the word "LEGEND" when he saw the Google camera car in Todmorden. This is us on the 8 mile circular walk along the wall from Steel Crag to Housesteads and Vindolanda on Thursday. The beer in the Once Brewed Inn" is highly recommended (called once brewed bitter rather imaginatively) and helped improve the Folk Group that were playing in the corner in more ways than one.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
IT Services Newsletter #14
Finance Business Services System (FBSS) Project
At October’s FBSS Project Board there was a message of thanks and appreciation to IT Service teams in delivering the COA system infrastructure against tight time timescales to enable the training and development work to commence according to schedule. There was a particular appreciation from COA on the ease of use and capability of the Sun Global Desktop (SGD) set-up that they were provided with during this process. Thank you to those involved for making this part of the project happen so effectively.
Award for ALPS - Supported by IT Services at Bradford
A University project - The ALPS CETL – won the 2009 Handheld Learning Awards for Innovation & Best Practice. This involves colleagues from across the University and our participation is led by the School of Health Studies. We are particularly pleased that this award is shared with John Fairhall and Zee Miran who provide the pioneering “shared support service” on behalf of the consortium based at the University of Bradford. Congratulations to everyone involved and especially John and Zee.
Shared Services and Collaborative Working Project
Geoff Bell and I attended a full afternoon’s workshop with KMPG the facilitators. The results of that workshop have just been circulated – basically there are a number of significant hurdles in respect of IT collaborations because the Council have outsourced to IBM (two years into a ten year contract), the Health Trust have ruled IT “out of scope” and the West Yorkshire Police service already act as a regional collaborator within the Police service and have a number of policy (not technical) issues with sharing data networks for fairly obvious reasons. On this basis, the potential areas that the group came up with were fairly limited but included less controversial areas such as printing/copying (where all participants have “spare” capacity including InPrint and Design at Bradford University) and also shared call centre operations. Our interest was in Clearing/Enrolment and potential plans to contact alumni for fundraising in the New Year.
Leeds College of Music (LCM) Merger
There has been a lot of activity in the last month preparing a bid to the Funding Council (HEFCE) for the set-up costs of merging the University with the College of Music. This has been done in consultation with colleagues at LCM. There are a number of new opportunities from closer collaboration with what would become a new “Academic School” and there are also a number of challenges with merging a wide range of corporate and support services and systems. We have identified a wide range of services that would be affected, and this could lead to a significant project for us, if the project is approved towards the end of December by the HEFCE Board.
Student Account Provisioning Workshop
Russell Allen facilitated the first of several workshops with representatives from every Academic School and colleagues from IT Services. We are looking at how we currently provision IT accounts for new students, with a particular focus on the needs of flexible, distant and “non traditional” student entry. This is going to be a growth area in the new Corporate Plan for the University and we are trying to facilitate some more streamlined and effective working procedures. It is already clear that the current approaches in Schools can be fragmented and sometimes down to individual preference – and we reached a consensus that there were some opportunities to make this better in terms of both student experience and reducing our manual administration. The next workshop takes place in late November.
New University IT Strategy 2009-14
The new IT Strategy was approved at Information Strategy Committee (ISC) - subject to a inclusion of Research requirements.
Improving the student printing experience
The self-service student printing facility is continuing to work very effectively. We will hopefully be able to compare the print volumes with the new service compared to the previous system and see if there has been a reduction (as forecast) in the volume of paper that is being printed. We will need to factor in the additional student numbers on campus – it seems even busier than usual, perhaps affected by the closure of the Communal Building for refurbishment. During the last month an additional printer was fully commissioned on Level Zero, potentially increasing capacity by 50 percent. There are plans to further increase capacity for the busy end of calendar year assignment deadlines.
Leading-edge computer aided assessment
Hopefully you will have seen the article in the current News and Views around learning and teaching. It’s a very positive piece. The University is hosting a major UCISA seminar on e-assessment on November 4th with John Dermo as one of the keynote speakers, and involving other colleagues from LSS and IT Services. We are establishing a very positive position in the HE sector around e-assessment and should continue to be proud of this association.
Update on Library Management System (BradFinder) project
All the major modules are now implemented, with telephone renewals now operational. Next steps are transferring Virtual Scholars records to BRADfinder (the project starts in November), implementing the Electronic Resources module to allow better management of the Library’s electronic journals and databases packages (starts January) and lots of new functionality for BRADfinder (email alerts for new items based on saved searches, RSS feeds for items on order etc). For the photocopiers in the Library, a trial has started of the Ricoh iMFP software, that will enable printing via Pharos on a photocopier.
At October’s FBSS Project Board there was a message of thanks and appreciation to IT Service teams in delivering the COA system infrastructure against tight time timescales to enable the training and development work to commence according to schedule. There was a particular appreciation from COA on the ease of use and capability of the Sun Global Desktop (SGD) set-up that they were provided with during this process. Thank you to those involved for making this part of the project happen so effectively.
Award for ALPS - Supported by IT Services at Bradford
A University project - The ALPS CETL – won the 2009 Handheld Learning Awards for Innovation & Best Practice. This involves colleagues from across the University and our participation is led by the School of Health Studies. We are particularly pleased that this award is shared with John Fairhall and Zee Miran who provide the pioneering “shared support service” on behalf of the consortium based at the University of Bradford. Congratulations to everyone involved and especially John and Zee.
Shared Services and Collaborative Working Project
Geoff Bell and I attended a full afternoon’s workshop with KMPG the facilitators. The results of that workshop have just been circulated – basically there are a number of significant hurdles in respect of IT collaborations because the Council have outsourced to IBM (two years into a ten year contract), the Health Trust have ruled IT “out of scope” and the West Yorkshire Police service already act as a regional collaborator within the Police service and have a number of policy (not technical) issues with sharing data networks for fairly obvious reasons. On this basis, the potential areas that the group came up with were fairly limited but included less controversial areas such as printing/copying (where all participants have “spare” capacity including InPrint and Design at Bradford University) and also shared call centre operations. Our interest was in Clearing/Enrolment and potential plans to contact alumni for fundraising in the New Year.
Leeds College of Music (LCM) Merger
There has been a lot of activity in the last month preparing a bid to the Funding Council (HEFCE) for the set-up costs of merging the University with the College of Music. This has been done in consultation with colleagues at LCM. There are a number of new opportunities from closer collaboration with what would become a new “Academic School” and there are also a number of challenges with merging a wide range of corporate and support services and systems. We have identified a wide range of services that would be affected, and this could lead to a significant project for us, if the project is approved towards the end of December by the HEFCE Board.
Student Account Provisioning Workshop
Russell Allen facilitated the first of several workshops with representatives from every Academic School and colleagues from IT Services. We are looking at how we currently provision IT accounts for new students, with a particular focus on the needs of flexible, distant and “non traditional” student entry. This is going to be a growth area in the new Corporate Plan for the University and we are trying to facilitate some more streamlined and effective working procedures. It is already clear that the current approaches in Schools can be fragmented and sometimes down to individual preference – and we reached a consensus that there were some opportunities to make this better in terms of both student experience and reducing our manual administration. The next workshop takes place in late November.
New University IT Strategy 2009-14
The new IT Strategy was approved at Information Strategy Committee (ISC) - subject to a inclusion of Research requirements.
Improving the student printing experience
The self-service student printing facility is continuing to work very effectively. We will hopefully be able to compare the print volumes with the new service compared to the previous system and see if there has been a reduction (as forecast) in the volume of paper that is being printed. We will need to factor in the additional student numbers on campus – it seems even busier than usual, perhaps affected by the closure of the Communal Building for refurbishment. During the last month an additional printer was fully commissioned on Level Zero, potentially increasing capacity by 50 percent. There are plans to further increase capacity for the busy end of calendar year assignment deadlines.
Leading-edge computer aided assessment
Hopefully you will have seen the article in the current News and Views around learning and teaching. It’s a very positive piece. The University is hosting a major UCISA seminar on e-assessment on November 4th with John Dermo as one of the keynote speakers, and involving other colleagues from LSS and IT Services. We are establishing a very positive position in the HE sector around e-assessment and should continue to be proud of this association.
Update on Library Management System (BradFinder) project
All the major modules are now implemented, with telephone renewals now operational. Next steps are transferring Virtual Scholars records to BRADfinder (the project starts in November), implementing the Electronic Resources module to allow better management of the Library’s electronic journals and databases packages (starts January) and lots of new functionality for BRADfinder (email alerts for new items based on saved searches, RSS feeds for items on order etc). For the photocopiers in the Library, a trial has started of the Ricoh iMFP software, that will enable printing via Pharos on a photocopier.
Launch of CampusM
On Monday went to the launch of the oMbiel product called CampusM (I learnt on the day that oMbiel is an anagram of Mobile doh). The University has procured the system for set-up and launch early in the New Year, initially on Iphones and Touch, and by Spring available cross platform (smartphone). The attenders didn't get complimentary iPhones but I am now the owner of an apple ballpoint - looks of envy all around. Bradford already has a dotmobi site and has been a pioneer - we will be active members of the inaugural University User Group. The early adopter is Sheffield. There are other people blogging about this - about 70 people attended. We also got an update on iTunesU which is growing fast however, the key enabler of this is great content - providing the full platform for free is an interesting gesture and I liked the way that John Hickey described "rock star academics" and the analogy between U2 (the University), CD (the course), music track (the module). Yes. Quite. If anyone is interested in the session notes then they're available. Key message: more and more students will have access to this sort of mobile technology. It enables new ways of accessing a wide range of University services. We will be part of a pioneering club that will improve student experience. We may also save student's time and also University staff/resources through mobile and self-service. We are continuing to invest in new technology at Bradford Universtiy.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
First IT Managers "Away Day"
Well to reassure in these budget conscious times it wasn't away (it was Horton Building) and although it included a sandwich (menu A) I went to the co-op and provided the biscuits, croissants, chocolate twisty pastries and crisps - and the supplementary food was definitely needed after 6 straight hours with only comfort breaks thrown in. We had a presentation from Richard on his recent asignment from the PGCert module covering an IT Services marketing audit. We discussed the Leeds College of Music in order to provide an updated document to the project board later that day with updated costs. We spent the majority of time (2.5 hours) on going through the draft plan and the individual team plans developed so far for 2009/10. Sara joined us for an hour to cover the governance and "account management" discussions which was really productive - we may have an emerging plan. Finally we covered some further areas around the new structure including some labels (which are being slept on). So overall a very good use of time. At the end, it felt like a very intense day - and we also seemed to generate a productive set of ideas, actions and agreements. Thanks to all.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Another campus tour - pretty in pink?
Last week three of us took another look around some of the areas that are associated with IT provision on campus across three buildings. It took us nearly two hours. One of the group was a critical friend who is Fellow in Arts and we asked for an opinion on the spaces - how they could be improved or modified to respond to student criticisms the last time we took a tourist group. I started out thinking that we could do something with student work and/or art display. What I discovered is that the rooms (especially the ones that have just been built or refurbished) are all rather good in terms of colour choice, flooring and general ambience. The main proposals were to highlight the space outside the rooms on the entry and exit points, where sometime students wait between classes or maybe take a break for 5 minutes. Toalso provide a small "oasis" space with calming colour, soft furnishing (for one or two people only) and maybe plants. These changes could be done with feature walls in plain colours and perhaps a temporary transient exhibition. We are going to investigate the photographic exhibition which is on display in the atrium and was commissioned by the University using its own students (with consent) and campus spaces. These are colourful and bright and "people" oriented. I think the most controversial recommendation could be the flourescent pink (matt finish) proposed for the entrance lobby on level 01 - the colour chart arrived today and we are going to get some costings. Watch this space!
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Dave Gorman returns
So the Cycling Curry Club have booked half a dozen tickets for the Dave Gorman show in Bradford. We are all on different rows as its nearly sold out. Looking forward to it because (a) like Dave Gorman (b) it may have a cycling theme (c) it will be rounded off with a curry (d) sounds like an excellent evening all round
Friday, 2 October 2009
IT Services Newsletter #13
Welcome to the second newsletter, this year. IT Services can be very proud of the outstanding level of service to our students and support staff since A level results day on August 20th. The A Level Results Day, Confirmation, Clearing, Enrolment and Re-Enrolment processes have been executed in a highly professional and co-ordinated manner. During the last two weeks and before then, via the pre-enrolment portal, over 4,100 new UG and PG students have enrolled at the University. The University systems have ably managed the increased volume and also the new business processes introduced this year (e.g .scanning almost 30,000 images to meet new Borders Agency external requirements). THANK YOU to everyone that has made this year such a success.
As usual there have been lots of other things happening and this update will only cover a few selected items.
Re-structure of IT Services
There was an important communication sent on October 1st in a separate email about the new IT structure. Alastair was the first to spot an error in the document. I expect it’s not the only one, so we will not re-issue at this stage awaiting further feedback. We will soon be starting the process of individual and team discussions.
Student Survey: “You said this, we did that”
There has been a lot of work going on over the Summer to respond to the issues raised by students in our first ever survey. Please take a look here to see just how much we have already achieved in response to student feedback. In a related initiative to improve the overall environment on level 01 JBP Building in particular, there is a site survey taking place on the 13th October with Caroline Hick who is the recently appointed Fellow In Arts. Caroline has already identified some really exciting new visuals for corridors and open spaces which complement the current exhibition of student photography on display in the Richmond Building atrium. In addition, Liz Mortimer has put together some proposed new signage for office doors to identify who we are and where we live. This has been agreed in principle, through managers, and awaits final sign off from Sara Marsh regarding more general signage provision in the JBP Library. I hope that the there will be some new signs arriving on your door before the next newsletter.
IT Services Annual Report 2008/09 – Final Version
This final version is available. It has grown quite a bit since the last version that was circulated. I am hopeful that we will get some support to turn the copy into a better formatted document for internal circulation and also a potential “micro-campaign” with the support of Marketing and Corporate Communications.
Shared Services and Collaborative Working Project
This project is continuing, after an initial data collection exercise. there are two half day workshop meetings taking place on Thursday October 8th and Monday October 12th. There is little more to say at this stage but will keep you posted – we have reports that Bradford Council will experience difficulties in trying to move any of their IT to shared services. They have a long-term contract in place with IBM.
Leeds College of Music Merger
We are currently planning an impact analysis in relation to the proposed merger between the University of Bradford and the Leeds College of Music. We have an initial meeting in Leeds to meet one or two people involved in delivering the IT Service on October 14th (Keith Craig and Karen McMahon)
New University IT Strategy 2009-14
As reported in the last newsletter there have been lots of one-to-one meetings and discussions about this new strategy with the members of Information Strategy Committee (ISC). It will be presented for discussion and approval at the next ISC meeting on October 6th. All of the papers for ISC are published here and the new IT Strategy is here
IT Services - Mission, Vision and Values
This is provided as an appendix to the new strategy document. All feedback and comment welcome. I know that some for some this will be a “pass the sickbag” moment, but there will be others who may be keen to engage in a debate about this. I’ve provided an opportunity for an open dialogue on that via the blog and private comments are also welcome. Those of us that attended the “Inspirational Leadership” events with Robina Chatham had a go at describing something called the cultural web for IT Services – current and future - comprising the following elements: stories and myths, symbols, rituals, control systems, organisational structure, and power structures. If you are interested in what we came up with then they are all displayed currently on the walls in room 01.57.
Update on Communal Building Refurbishment
You will have noticed this week that the work to the Communal Building Project has commenced and that green and orange hoardings are being erected around the building by the contractors Bam Construction. As part of the projects ongoing consultation there will be regular meetings between the contractor and a representative group of end users / UoB neighbours to discuss issues around the construction process its programme and consequences. In addition BAM will issue a newsletter which is intended to inform a wider audience.
E-Strategy update
The E-Strategy Board met on 14th September and it confirmed its approval for three major new investments this academic session, as well as reviewing the status of all existing e-strategy projects. The new investments will be made in:
- SUN Global Desktop to allow off campus access to University image desktop via web browser. This project covers expanding the service with additional licenses and infrastructure.
- Upgrade to latest network cabling in all remaining buildings on City and Emm Lane Campus
- Elluminate Virtual Classroom to support distance learners, host online conferences & meetings
The message is important – the University is continuing to invest in its IT Services
Missions and all of that
Here is something for comment and feedback - anything constructive is welcome. We have included this as an appendix to the new IT Strategy for 2009-14.
Our Mission
To deliver and support high‐quality, reliable and innovative Information Technology services.
Our customers say “keep it simple”. They want to see realistic, noticeable, measurable and incremental improvements in service delivery, rather than a grand design. They also want IT to offer a “service” not just computer systems, which includes working with others outside of traditional “silos” to ensure that process review, support, training, documentation, expertise and use of systems is part of the package.
Our Vision
By 2014 we will
- Continue to deliver robust and reliable IT services that meet current and future needs.
- Use technology to differentiate the University, to transform the student and staff experience and to enable communication and engagement.
- Make a direct contribution to process improvement and enable the business and academic processes of the University.
- Be recognised as a customer‐focused, professional, innovative provider of Information
Technology Services.
Our Values
The values of IT Services will reflect those of the University – to aim and continue to be
Inclusive, Ethical, Reflective, Supportive, Adaptable and Sustainable – these demonstrate
the culture the institution aspires to.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Newspaper Stories strange but true
BRITISH NEWSPAPERS
Commenting on a complaint from a Mr. Arthur Purdey about a large gas
bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, 'We agree it was rather high
for the time of year. It's possible Mr. Purdey has been charged for the
gas used up during the explosion that destroyed his house.'
(The Daily Telegraph)
Police reveal that a woman arrested for shoplifting had a whole salami
in her underwear. When asked why, she said it was because she was
missing her Italian boyfriend.
(The Manchester Evening News)
Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van,
because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle
and they don't want the public to know what it looks like.
(The Guardian)
A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was
rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman
commented, 'This sort of thing is all too common'.
(The Times)
At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coast guard and
asked him to estimate the wind speed.. He replied he was sorry, but he
didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just
blown his Land Rover off the cliff..
( Aberdeen Evening Express)
Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue , Boscombe, delighted the audience
with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each
week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she
recalled - 'He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the
crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt
out 'Heil Hitler.''
( Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Commenting on a complaint from a Mr. Arthur Purdey about a large gas
bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, 'We agree it was rather high
for the time of year. It's possible Mr. Purdey has been charged for the
gas used up during the explosion that destroyed his house.'
(The Daily Telegraph)
Police reveal that a woman arrested for shoplifting had a whole salami
in her underwear. When asked why, she said it was because she was
missing her Italian boyfriend.
(The Manchester Evening News)
Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van,
because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle
and they don't want the public to know what it looks like.
(The Guardian)
A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was
rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman
commented, 'This sort of thing is all too common'.
(The Times)
At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coast guard and
asked him to estimate the wind speed.. He replied he was sorry, but he
didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just
blown his Land Rover off the cliff..
( Aberdeen Evening Express)
Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue , Boscombe, delighted the audience
with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each
week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she
recalled - 'He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the
crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt
out 'Heil Hitler.''
( Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Thursday, 10 September 2009
IT Services Newsletter #12
To: All staff in IT Services
Welcome to the first newsletter of this new academic session after the Summer break. Here is the latest update as we prepare for the onslaught of another year. I hope that all readers have been able to take a well-deserved break over the Summer. As usual there have been lots of things happening and this update will only cover a few selected items.
Graham
==========
Re-structure of IT Services
During last week’s LSS staff meetings, Sara announced the changes to both the Learner Support Services structure (as a result of the creation of a new Academic Development Unit), and also the recruitment process for two new posts (Head of LSS Customer Services and Head of Library Services). Sara had already circulated the interim line management arrangements for staff who previously reported to Sara Eyre. As a high priority we are now working on a new structure for IT Services. I understand that we need a speedy resolution to end a period of uncertainty, and also wish to confirm a consultative approach via managers and seeking input from individuals. I have made myself available for one-to-one or team discussions on this subject, and that remains an open invitation. Several discussions have already taken place and more are scheduled in the next few weeks. I will keep you informed through this newsletter.
Shared Services and Collaborative Working Project
Sara Marsh has already circulated briefing materials on this initiative. It has also been circulated in the weekly staff briefing this week. As is the usual way with corporate communications, the best laid plans for a structured cascade of information on this topic were swiftly overtaken by the rumour mill across the University campus. Our involvement so far has just begun, with the collection of some basic data about the functions of the IT Service (as at July 31st census date). KPMG are involved in co-ordinating this stage with support from colleagues in Finance. It is interesting to reflect that we sometimes struggle to share services within the campus and within the University, never mind with a wide range of other external partners.
Clearing, Confirmation and Enrolment 2009
This is just a brief update as I have tried to take every available opportunity to put on record my personal thanks to all of those who contributed to the Clearing and Confirmation process. It has been a tremendous success in terms of the new student Undergraduate recruitment. We can all be proud of our association with supporting the Academic Schools and Academic Administration in delivering a record-breaking student intake. We have also begun the process of pre-enrolment via the student portal and in the last ten days or so, over 2,500 students have engaged with this web-based process. It seems to be going very smoothly so far and this is in contrast to the student experience in 2008.
IT Strategy one-to-one meetings with members of Information Strategy Committee
We are in the process of consulting widely on the development of a new IT strategy for the period 2009-2014. This has involved presentations to various forums, and at the moment I am meeting one-to-one with all the members of the Information Strategy Committee, who in turn are mostly consulting with the areas that they represent. I hope that this group will feel able to sign off the strategy in early October. In the meantime, we welcome your ideas and suggestions on the content of this important document. The draft that has been used as the basis for the consultation and can be found here: http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/planning/cttees/isc/2008-09/72-08-09.pdf. There are a number of documents that you may be interested reading which went to the last ISC also here: http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/planning/cttees/isc/docs0809.php
E-Strategy next steps
The PVC for Strategic Systems Development (Prof Rae Earnshaw) stepped down at the end of July after almost 5 years leading the e-strategy and related developments. We have established a process to continue the embedding of e-strategy developments within LSS and the IT Service and there are further meetings planned of the e-strategy board to review and approve further activity. I would like to record our thanks to Rae for the particular focus he has brought to delivering improvements to the student experience and the support he has given to vital investments in IT and business projects throughout his period of office.
Start of Term IT Services meeting
An invitation was extended to all staff in LSS to the first “IT Services meeting” since Sara Eyre’s retirement. We managed to conclude the meeting in under two hours (a record) but I don’t know if we had as much fun as previous meetings. There are lots of things going on ahead of the start of term including the launch of new student printing services, newly refurbished PC cluster facilities in Richmond and Chesham Building, as well as the launch of the new webmail service. The minutes are drafted and will circulate to all staff shortly.
Staff Updates
There are a few things to announce this month. Some of you will already know that Richard Davis is now a proud dad – William who was born on August 19th. We have also said goodbye this month to Susan Fellows after 35 years service making a wide range of contributions in DP, ACU through MIS via MAC. Susan’s post has been filled by Rick Graves (an indefinite post). We have also recruited two new staff for the Finance Business Systems Support project. Sian Norman and Javed Iqbal begin with us on September 14th on 18 month contracts in the first instance. I am sure that you will join me in welcoming them to IT Services.
Outline Priorities for the next few months
Just for information, each Division of LSS was asked what it thought the main priorities were at the recent LSS Board Away Day. Here are some things that I think will be a particular priority in the coming months.
Sorting out the new IT services structure as a result of wider re-organisation in LSS
Signing off the new IT strategy for 2009-14
Putting together a prioritised customer-led IT plan for the current year
Responding to the feedback we received in the inaugural student survey
Support for the new Finance Business System project
Planning and launching Microsoft Live@edu service beginning with our students who graduated in July 2009
Welcome to the first newsletter of this new academic session after the Summer break. Here is the latest update as we prepare for the onslaught of another year. I hope that all readers have been able to take a well-deserved break over the Summer. As usual there have been lots of things happening and this update will only cover a few selected items.
Graham
==========
Re-structure of IT Services
During last week’s LSS staff meetings, Sara announced the changes to both the Learner Support Services structure (as a result of the creation of a new Academic Development Unit), and also the recruitment process for two new posts (Head of LSS Customer Services and Head of Library Services). Sara had already circulated the interim line management arrangements for staff who previously reported to Sara Eyre. As a high priority we are now working on a new structure for IT Services. I understand that we need a speedy resolution to end a period of uncertainty, and also wish to confirm a consultative approach via managers and seeking input from individuals. I have made myself available for one-to-one or team discussions on this subject, and that remains an open invitation. Several discussions have already taken place and more are scheduled in the next few weeks. I will keep you informed through this newsletter.
Shared Services and Collaborative Working Project
Sara Marsh has already circulated briefing materials on this initiative. It has also been circulated in the weekly staff briefing this week. As is the usual way with corporate communications, the best laid plans for a structured cascade of information on this topic were swiftly overtaken by the rumour mill across the University campus. Our involvement so far has just begun, with the collection of some basic data about the functions of the IT Service (as at July 31st census date). KPMG are involved in co-ordinating this stage with support from colleagues in Finance. It is interesting to reflect that we sometimes struggle to share services within the campus and within the University, never mind with a wide range of other external partners.
Clearing, Confirmation and Enrolment 2009
This is just a brief update as I have tried to take every available opportunity to put on record my personal thanks to all of those who contributed to the Clearing and Confirmation process. It has been a tremendous success in terms of the new student Undergraduate recruitment. We can all be proud of our association with supporting the Academic Schools and Academic Administration in delivering a record-breaking student intake. We have also begun the process of pre-enrolment via the student portal and in the last ten days or so, over 2,500 students have engaged with this web-based process. It seems to be going very smoothly so far and this is in contrast to the student experience in 2008.
IT Strategy one-to-one meetings with members of Information Strategy Committee
We are in the process of consulting widely on the development of a new IT strategy for the period 2009-2014. This has involved presentations to various forums, and at the moment I am meeting one-to-one with all the members of the Information Strategy Committee, who in turn are mostly consulting with the areas that they represent. I hope that this group will feel able to sign off the strategy in early October. In the meantime, we welcome your ideas and suggestions on the content of this important document. The draft that has been used as the basis for the consultation and can be found here: http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/planning/cttees/isc/2008-09/72-08-09.pdf. There are a number of documents that you may be interested reading which went to the last ISC also here: http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/planning/cttees/isc/docs0809.php
E-Strategy next steps
The PVC for Strategic Systems Development (Prof Rae Earnshaw) stepped down at the end of July after almost 5 years leading the e-strategy and related developments. We have established a process to continue the embedding of e-strategy developments within LSS and the IT Service and there are further meetings planned of the e-strategy board to review and approve further activity. I would like to record our thanks to Rae for the particular focus he has brought to delivering improvements to the student experience and the support he has given to vital investments in IT and business projects throughout his period of office.
Start of Term IT Services meeting
An invitation was extended to all staff in LSS to the first “IT Services meeting” since Sara Eyre’s retirement. We managed to conclude the meeting in under two hours (a record) but I don’t know if we had as much fun as previous meetings. There are lots of things going on ahead of the start of term including the launch of new student printing services, newly refurbished PC cluster facilities in Richmond and Chesham Building, as well as the launch of the new webmail service. The minutes are drafted and will circulate to all staff shortly.
Staff Updates
There are a few things to announce this month. Some of you will already know that Richard Davis is now a proud dad – William who was born on August 19th. We have also said goodbye this month to Susan Fellows after 35 years service making a wide range of contributions in DP, ACU through MIS via MAC. Susan’s post has been filled by Rick Graves (an indefinite post). We have also recruited two new staff for the Finance Business Systems Support project. Sian Norman and Javed Iqbal begin with us on September 14th on 18 month contracts in the first instance. I am sure that you will join me in welcoming them to IT Services.
Outline Priorities for the next few months
Just for information, each Division of LSS was asked what it thought the main priorities were at the recent LSS Board Away Day. Here are some things that I think will be a particular priority in the coming months.
Sorting out the new IT services structure as a result of wider re-organisation in LSS
Signing off the new IT strategy for 2009-14
Putting together a prioritised customer-led IT plan for the current year
Responding to the feedback we received in the inaugural student survey
Support for the new Finance Business System project
Planning and launching Microsoft Live@edu service beginning with our students who graduated in July 2009
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Celebrating Susan Fellows Retirement
The subtitle for this brief speech is from DP to ACU to MIS via MAC – which some of you will know all about.
I have asked friends and colleagues for stories and anecdotes from Susan’s career and nearly everyone has said to me that there really aren’t any stories to tell. I don’t really believe that, but I have to say that in the fifteen short years that I have been at Bradford my main memories are of someone who has been exceptionally hard working, diligent and a very supportive colleague.
But let’s go back to the beginning and retrace one or two steps along the way – and find that there are parallels with today.
Susan first joined the University as a Systems Analyst Programmer in January 1974, what was then called the “Data Processing Division of the Bursar’s Department” – it was called DP for short. Susan was appointed as one of three (the others were?) reporting to a senior Systems Analyst (John Greenwood?) and it was a time when this team did the development work and there was an Operations section whose job was to get in the way....I mean to ensure that there was information, documentation, support in order to ensure error-free running of live systems. Happy Days!
In the last month or so some of us have been attending courses on something called ITIL or service management and wondering how useful it might be to still have an operations team
One of Susan’s early accomplishments was supporting and delivering Library systems which at the time were pioneering in the University sector. As on-line facilities came into place, Susan wrote software for circulation of books (issues, returns, renewals, reader registration etc), on-line ordering for library acquisitions. Those were really ground breaking days when response times were measured - target less than 4 seconds, and transactions were carefully counted - 2000 on-line library transactions a day at the start of term.
This month LSS has just invested £300k in a new library catalogue and management system called BRADfinder.
The early ‘80s were characterised by severe financial cuts imposed by the Government on some target Universities and this resulted in a loss of development staff – leaving Susan holding the fort on her own for a while. This included supporting the University’s payroll system which was an adapted package. The financial situation had a massive impact over a long period to IT developments at Bradford
In 1985, Susan took responsibility for the first of several payroll crises when the supplier told us they would withdraw their package within three months – working over 100 hours a week as the deadline approached. Despite all the odds, Susan ensured that all staff were paid correctly from the start of the new tax year and dealt with a number of technical issues to ensure that everyone was paid.
In 1991 Susan again was instrumental in implementing the Unipay payroll system when support for this package was withdrawn, not only again managing the project as project leader, but also ensuring that the overall system was reliable, well documented, self-maintaining as far as possible and Susan was highly commended by the University senior management for all of her efforts in ensuring the success of that project
In 1992, DP became the Administrative Computer Unit or ACU under the leadership of John Town. It seems that this was a slight bumpy time for all concerned as John had many new ideas and new ways that he wanted things to be done. In some respects it was John’s tenacity that led to the new investments in IT alongside the MAC initiative – the holy grail of administrative systems in the sector.
Susan became involved in the first of those MAC systems – the undergraduate admissions system written in INGRES and leading to our first automated results day linking with UCAS replacing a manual system and motorbike and sidecar to Cheltenham.
In 1994, ACU became Management Information Services and Susan has been involved in a wide variety of new and innovative systems – there are too many to list in detail but they include:
• Beyond UG Admissions to include non UCAS Admissions and Postgraduate Admissions.
• HESA returns (electronic for the first time)
• The project to investigate the new student system – which eventually became SAINT
• Implementing the accommodation package Room Service and interfaces to the Finance system – when we had over 2000 students in our own Halls of Residence.
• Examinations management systems
In among all of this Susan also managed to complete a Part Time Degree with the Open University through Saturday lectures and correspondence courses. The Honours award was in Maths and Computing – I think it took a little more than a decade – a true lifelong learner.
Something that struck me particularly in collecting all these achievements was a brief note from Susan which said: “the best work is often done in the background and is no less creditable for that – it is management’s job to raise the profile of such hidden but vital and often challenging work”. I don’t know whether Susan feels that management has done it’s job over the years, but in my experience Susan has always set and achieved exceptionally high standards and will be missed by all of us. Congratulations on your retirement and our very best wishes for the future.
I have asked friends and colleagues for stories and anecdotes from Susan’s career and nearly everyone has said to me that there really aren’t any stories to tell. I don’t really believe that, but I have to say that in the fifteen short years that I have been at Bradford my main memories are of someone who has been exceptionally hard working, diligent and a very supportive colleague.
But let’s go back to the beginning and retrace one or two steps along the way – and find that there are parallels with today.
Susan first joined the University as a Systems Analyst Programmer in January 1974, what was then called the “Data Processing Division of the Bursar’s Department” – it was called DP for short. Susan was appointed as one of three (the others were?) reporting to a senior Systems Analyst (John Greenwood?) and it was a time when this team did the development work and there was an Operations section whose job was to get in the way....I mean to ensure that there was information, documentation, support in order to ensure error-free running of live systems. Happy Days!
In the last month or so some of us have been attending courses on something called ITIL or service management and wondering how useful it might be to still have an operations team
One of Susan’s early accomplishments was supporting and delivering Library systems which at the time were pioneering in the University sector. As on-line facilities came into place, Susan wrote software for circulation of books (issues, returns, renewals, reader registration etc), on-line ordering for library acquisitions. Those were really ground breaking days when response times were measured - target less than 4 seconds, and transactions were carefully counted - 2000 on-line library transactions a day at the start of term.
This month LSS has just invested £300k in a new library catalogue and management system called BRADfinder.
The early ‘80s were characterised by severe financial cuts imposed by the Government on some target Universities and this resulted in a loss of development staff – leaving Susan holding the fort on her own for a while. This included supporting the University’s payroll system which was an adapted package. The financial situation had a massive impact over a long period to IT developments at Bradford
In 1985, Susan took responsibility for the first of several payroll crises when the supplier told us they would withdraw their package within three months – working over 100 hours a week as the deadline approached. Despite all the odds, Susan ensured that all staff were paid correctly from the start of the new tax year and dealt with a number of technical issues to ensure that everyone was paid.
In 1991 Susan again was instrumental in implementing the Unipay payroll system when support for this package was withdrawn, not only again managing the project as project leader, but also ensuring that the overall system was reliable, well documented, self-maintaining as far as possible and Susan was highly commended by the University senior management for all of her efforts in ensuring the success of that project
In 1992, DP became the Administrative Computer Unit or ACU under the leadership of John Town. It seems that this was a slight bumpy time for all concerned as John had many new ideas and new ways that he wanted things to be done. In some respects it was John’s tenacity that led to the new investments in IT alongside the MAC initiative – the holy grail of administrative systems in the sector.
Susan became involved in the first of those MAC systems – the undergraduate admissions system written in INGRES and leading to our first automated results day linking with UCAS replacing a manual system and motorbike and sidecar to Cheltenham.
In 1994, ACU became Management Information Services and Susan has been involved in a wide variety of new and innovative systems – there are too many to list in detail but they include:
• Beyond UG Admissions to include non UCAS Admissions and Postgraduate Admissions.
• HESA returns (electronic for the first time)
• The project to investigate the new student system – which eventually became SAINT
• Implementing the accommodation package Room Service and interfaces to the Finance system – when we had over 2000 students in our own Halls of Residence.
• Examinations management systems
In among all of this Susan also managed to complete a Part Time Degree with the Open University through Saturday lectures and correspondence courses. The Honours award was in Maths and Computing – I think it took a little more than a decade – a true lifelong learner.
Something that struck me particularly in collecting all these achievements was a brief note from Susan which said: “the best work is often done in the background and is no less creditable for that – it is management’s job to raise the profile of such hidden but vital and often challenging work”. I don’t know whether Susan feels that management has done it’s job over the years, but in my experience Susan has always set and achieved exceptionally high standards and will be missed by all of us. Congratulations on your retirement and our very best wishes for the future.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
The World is Flat - first reflection
Over the holidays I got around to reading the Thomas L Friedman book. What were the key nuggets of information after 600 pages of well researched information and analysis? The first thing I want to reflect on is the call centre environment - having spent a couple of days involved with our own mini-call centre for clearing as a hands on operator and observer. "This is a high stress environment" said the CEO of Infosys which runs a big call centre. "It is 24x7. You work in the day, then the night, then the morning. But the working environment is not the tension of alienation. It is the tension of success. It is not the challenge of worrying about whether they would have a challenge". These are highly educated folk and relatively wel paid who work these big centres in India. While on holiday I had cause to phone Moneycorp who had supplied me with a pre-paid Euro credit card. I made about half a dozen calls to sort out a security problem. They were dealt with efficiently and accurately and within the timescales they set out and this was an overseas call centre for sure - they had excellent records of every call different person every time. The most mind blowing thing for me was standing by an ATM in a remote part of Northern Spain talking on a mobile phone (UK which had switched automatically to an alternate Spanish carrier) to a call centre operator for a US bank (who was most likely in India), as he reset a security parameter to enable me to withdraw cash at a Telebank operated by a Spanish bank in real time. Our own call centre was staffed by highly educated folk - we didn't manage 24x7 but it was definitely a challenge for many of us. I doubt we did as efficient a job but then it is only a few days every year.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Confirmation and Clearing 2009
So the dust is now begining to settle on another set of A level results and confirmation of new admissions to the University. The call centre approached seems to have worked very well in its new location as a result of all the planning and preparation works and in particular the co-location of all Academic School support staff in close proximity. I worked the clearing helpline on Thursday from 08:00 till about 15:00 and it was non-stop with calls coming in as early as two minutes past midnight. This year many more students seem to have used UCASTrack to seek confirmations online before going to collect their results. We took a record number of calls on the first day. The helpline continued over the weekend and for the two Open Days on Saturday and Sunday and although a little quieter by then was still taking new business. All the indications are that we will be managing the cap on numbers rather than pushing to meet intake targets for Home UG students. Some anecdotal things from my personal experience: nearly all students in clearing seem to have hotmail accounts (would like to check this), the information that students are supplying could be self-service (we could be smarter in processing the clearing enquiries), enquirers in general had excellent grades (is this the famous grade creep), some of us came across a web site call Unistats for the first time (this is well worth a look), it says some good things about our learning resources in the national student survey section (must investigate more). Oh, and Megan got her place confirmed at Sheffield using UCASTrack at about 07:30 and we are very proud of her results collected later in the day.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Annual Leave looking forward to A Level Results
There have been no posts for a fortnight as I have just found it too difficult to find time - the main reason was the time invested in reaching contract closure for a new Finance Business System which was signed off by the Vice Chancellor on behalf of the University at 3pm on Friday July 31st - a mementous day for many reasons. Now on annual leave for the next 20 days so will be back for 07:30 on Thursday August 20th - A Level Results Day, to be a volunteer on the Clearing Helplins. Also an important family day - Megan finds out if she has done well enough to start studying English Literature at Sheffield University.
Retirement bash for Sara Eyre
Yesterday it was a memorable day for many as four key staff in the Library and IT Service retired with a combined service in excess of 100 years. A number of people were unable to be present as they were running services, or involved in an internal exam. There were also people away on annual leave. Very unusually for me I wrote up a few words about Sara and provided some exhibits - they are reproduced here.
I realise that I am now standing between you and the Titus Salt so will attempt to be brief.
So how do you celebrate an illustrious career spanning over 30 years? We may think that times are difficult at the moment – global war on terrorism, banking crisis, millions of unemployed, Higher Education in funding crisis BUT cast yourself back to the start of Sara’s career – the 3 day week, 25% annual inflation, 1970’s pop music. Clearly it was a good foundation for a career in the
Over the last few months many colleagues have provided artifacts, anecdotes and stories to try and shed some light on this journey. I only have time for three pieces of evidence so as not to delay you further.
Our first exhibit therefore is this photo of a Department meeting in those early days – a meeting held in the newly constructed amphitheatre – and depicting topless men and women in bikinis. Could we get away with that today? Surely those were more enlightened times?
Then there was the move to the JB Priestley Library and Computer Centre – with the two entrances and the clear separation of the computing and library disciplines. Halcyon days for some no doubt. This was a very controversial move – partly because the building had originally been constructed as a multi-storey staff car park but the money had run out. During the build two contractors went bust and the anticipated duck pond to rival the
So my second exhibit is this picture of Sara’s home for the last thirty years and in particular those memories of the three month Summer break when the University’s mainframe computer (it only had one computer) was transported from Richmond Building to its new home in the bowels of the building and the only thing that could be done was playing pool, drinking in the new bar and enjoying the view. How times have changed!
The third and final exhibit, is this month’s Which magazine – independent expert advice for the thrifty among us (thank you Jill, Andy and others for the copy) – and perhaps most appropriately it is an article on loyalty cards. The title is also highly appropriate “Holidays are the Best Reward” and the feature article is about a certain Sara Eyre and devoted husband Howard. The article describes a two week holiday in
Finally, Sara’s friends have put together two final pieces of advice. The first is an NVQ level one in Retirement and Incompetence from the IT training team. We would like to present this to Sara and highlight that it covers the following areas:
- Best practice for causing maximum disruption during normal activities
- Maintaining frustration levels in others
- Developing your own retirement activities and
- Enjoying a long , happy and healthy retirement
- Any optional units are left open for the individual to decide on if they can be bothered.
The second piece of advice is an end of year school report. It covers a number of areas including Art and Design, Geography, Music, Physical Education and ICT. I would like to read from the General comments section at the end:
Sara shows an excellent ability to lead and be part of a team. She is an excellent all round student who should be awarded the prize of early retirement in a year of exceptional students. It is rare that four prizes are handed out in the same year but indeed this is an exceptional cohort. Sara should be highly commended for her part in the Institution’s activities over a long and distinguished career. She will be sadly missed but everyone wishes her all the best for the future.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Ceremonies
Have taken time out to help out two ceremonies today as a platfrom marshal. This year's innovations include an online webast which means that the platform are counted down into the Hall after a short promotional video has played. A bit wierd. The other, is a student representative making a speech (student union sabattical) which I thought was a really good idea and Sophia did an excellent job. Terry Pratchett gave an interesting and slightly informal response (that's Sir Terry as he likes to be called...) and there were the usual speeches which were interesting the first time round.........tommorrow it's a promotion to mace bearing!
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Clearing Training
This afternoon attended the training session ahead of A level results in August. Volunteered to be on the helpline for the busiest day of the year when co-incidentally our eldest gets her A Level results too. We got to hear about the way clearing will operate this year including a few new processes that are being introduced, some training on "how to handle difficult calls" and then onto using the technology in our new sunray facility where the clearing helpline will be located this year. It all went pretty smoothly and I remember bits of it from last year. There are a number of students employed to assist and it was interesting to observe a very small group cause quite a bit of disruption throughout the session - dis-interested, talking and muttering - and then when we got to use the phones etc playing around incessantly while others were trying to learn the preferred method of working. I guess this is the sort of challenge facing lecturing staff. I got fed up and said something. Don't know if that was the right thing to do, but it seems disrespectful to me, when others are trying to listen and learn.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Preparing a presentation (post Robina)
As a result of last week's development course with Robina Chatham, I've been thinking about how to make a better job of presenting materials to an audience later this week. Normally, when up against deadlines, there is little time available to consider the needs of the audience and the desirable outcomes from the activity. On this occasion however, set aside an hour and asked three people (with different preferences to my own and each other) to give me some help. Wasn't sure they would turn up as everyone is busy and this wasn't mandatory! It was a really interesting session as the group came up with a number of great ideas and suggestions and also kept us on task when we drifted onto the content - inevitable to an extent. We'll see how it turns out and in particular the idea of getting the committee to do an interactive task - this might be a bit too innovative - we'll see!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
IT Services Newsletter #11
IT Services Student Survey 2009
This is now published for all students and staff to access on the IT Service web site. During July we welcome comments from readers and there is a link provided to the IT Services suggestions form. The report has also been circulated to the Information Strategy Committee in full. As before, we intend to review the conclusions, establish a series of recommendations, and publish those on the IT Services website for the start of next academic session.
Swine Flu Update
The Swine Flu outbreak has moved into a new phase of treatment versus containment. The University anticipates a signficant potential impact in the Autumn - perhaps at our busiest time when our students return or commence studies. We are making contingency plans across the University - the welfare of staff and students is a top priority. As a service area, we have the potential impact of the virus on our own staff, as well as the potential imapact on the services we provide to others. A couple of things have taken place this week worth reporting - we have updated every Student PC desktop image so that it emphasises the "catch it, bin it, kill it" message with links to University information. We have also confirmed the cleaning of all shared PC equipment which normally happens at this time of year as part of "business as usual". The LSS Board has also met to review line manager's views on how we might operate services and present a consolidated response to the emergency planning team. The main message at the moment is that we continue to operate in a "business as usual" manner.
University of Derby
A number of us hosted visitors from the University of Derby on Monday June 29th. They came to find out about the work we have been doing on Sunray and on e-assessment. The visit included tours of the Hub, Atrium, F42 sunray cluster and the Learn Higher Facility. We are seen as leading the developments in some aspect of thin client technology. We also talked about the plans that Derby have for outsourcing student email to Microsoft Live@Edu this September. This is another subject that is on the agenda for this week's ISC - papers are on the planning website (password protected) if you are following this project.
IT Services Draft Annual Report 2008/09
This annual report has also been prepared for ISC. It highlights some of our contributions and activity to the life of the University during the last twelve months. In this first draft, it is in a chronological format. It will be presented in a more digestible and accessible form for staff and students as part of the Annual Reporting process within Learner Support Services and will be ready for ISC1 at the start of the next academic session. There are a significant number of activities, many of them "business as usual" which do not appear in the report, but are no less important to the success of the University.
A New System to support Unique Fitness and Lifestyle
There are a number of us who have been involved in preparing for the launch of the refurbished sports facilities which are due to open on 16 July. We are now working to some very tight timescales as the project only selected an IT support system within the last week. A small team has had to re-prioritise work to get this up and running in time and it looks like it might be possible as a result of a "can do" approach despite the limited planning. Thanks to those who are contributing to this effort.
Change Management Project - Inspirational Leadership Course
Feedback on the first two days of the course have been positive. There has been a feedback mechanism for those who took part in the course. Some of the comments include:
Any Other Business
As usual, this newsletter can only provide a limited and personal selection in terms of the many changes taking place within the service. Here are just a few more examples:
This is now published for all students and staff to access on the IT Service web site. During July we welcome comments from readers and there is a link provided to the IT Services suggestions form. The report has also been circulated to the Information Strategy Committee in full. As before, we intend to review the conclusions, establish a series of recommendations, and publish those on the IT Services website for the start of next academic session.
Swine Flu Update
The Swine Flu outbreak has moved into a new phase of treatment versus containment. The University anticipates a signficant potential impact in the Autumn - perhaps at our busiest time when our students return or commence studies. We are making contingency plans across the University - the welfare of staff and students is a top priority. As a service area, we have the potential impact of the virus on our own staff, as well as the potential imapact on the services we provide to others. A couple of things have taken place this week worth reporting - we have updated every Student PC desktop image so that it emphasises the "catch it, bin it, kill it" message with links to University information. We have also confirmed the cleaning of all shared PC equipment which normally happens at this time of year as part of "business as usual". The LSS Board has also met to review line manager's views on how we might operate services and present a consolidated response to the emergency planning team. The main message at the moment is that we continue to operate in a "business as usual" manner.
University of Derby
A number of us hosted visitors from the University of Derby on Monday June 29th. They came to find out about the work we have been doing on Sunray and on e-assessment. The visit included tours of the Hub, Atrium, F42 sunray cluster and the Learn Higher Facility. We are seen as leading the developments in some aspect of thin client technology. We also talked about the plans that Derby have for outsourcing student email to Microsoft Live@Edu this September. This is another subject that is on the agenda for this week's ISC - papers are on the planning website (password protected) if you are following this project.
IT Services Draft Annual Report 2008/09
This annual report has also been prepared for ISC. It highlights some of our contributions and activity to the life of the University during the last twelve months. In this first draft, it is in a chronological format. It will be presented in a more digestible and accessible form for staff and students as part of the Annual Reporting process within Learner Support Services and will be ready for ISC1 at the start of the next academic session. There are a significant number of activities, many of them "business as usual" which do not appear in the report, but are no less important to the success of the University.
A New System to support Unique Fitness and Lifestyle
There are a number of us who have been involved in preparing for the launch of the refurbished sports facilities which are due to open on 16 July. We are now working to some very tight timescales as the project only selected an IT support system within the last week. A small team has had to re-prioritise work to get this up and running in time and it looks like it might be possible as a result of a "can do" approach despite the limited planning. Thanks to those who are contributing to this effort.
Change Management Project - Inspirational Leadership Course
Feedback on the first two days of the course have been positive. There has been a feedback mechanism for those who took part in the course. Some of the comments include:
- I found it an insight into the workings of my colleagues and myself, it gave me a alternate perspective on the ways we all interact. Left me with much to ponder.
- Really enjoyed the sessions and focus on IT
- Helped me to recognise ways of interacting more effectively with colleagues.
- Use other people's preferences to the advantage of the team
- I've already done a presentation where I tried to cater to the different types and received positive feedback straight after from a number of people who hadn't been on the course.
- I found it very enjoyable and positive experience
- The hot topic the course produced was the comment about not having SLAs.
- However most of the group have completed the ITIL course which has a strong emphasis on SLAs!
- Good to have informal interactions with other IT Services members
- Pay closer attention to others preferred types and be more conscious of that in my dealings both professionally and personally
- Having preferences doesn't mean your any good at it!
Any Other Business
As usual, this newsletter can only provide a limited and personal selection in terms of the many changes taking place within the service. Here are just a few more examples:
- There has been an account management review with Blackboard. We anticipate a number of improvements with our relationship as a result of the actions agreed at this meeting.
- New signage has gone up in JBP Building level 01 in time for last Saturday's Open Day: welcoming visitors to IT Services.
- We are preparing an update on the contributions that IT Services has made to the "Ecoversity" agenda in the last year. This is a positive news story.
- New PCs have been installed in the JBP 01.58 cluster room and are super fast (give them a go!)
- Preparations are well underway for the Clearing process - training starts this week - so phones and other set up work has already been taking place.
Quality of Working Life Survey
Hundreds of staff took the time to complete a recent "quality of working life" survey. I think it may be referred to by most people by the old fashioned phrase - staff satisfaction survey. Preliminary information is going to be reported soon and there is a very detailed analysis at some point which I guess will be made public (I haven't seen it just a short extract of the summary). The point I was goint to raise relates to additional questions that were inserted on email. This was as a result of staff feedback in a couple of forums about email overload. Anyway, 10 questions were asked about email. It's clear that email is important to the organisation - over 60% agreed. However, many feel overwhelmed when they return to work (from absence or vacation perhaps), that its cuts into tome for other tasks, it is too often used in place of other forms of communication and over 50% said there are too mane irrelevant emails. Far fewer people felt that the "tone of emails" was a problem. Therefore the survey concludes the key issue appears to be email overload. Comments?
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Citroen diesel cheap runabout
So in the space of about four months we are now selling another car - our little citroen. Someone may get it for a pound as it's on ebay. We just bought its replacement from ebay and collected it from a lovely family in Alfreston on Saturday. Let's hope this car finds a good home. No pipe and slippers this time but maybe a hint of garlic?
So here's the new one, and here's the old one
So here's the new one, and here's the old one
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
IT services newsletter #10
IT Services Student Survey 2009
During May, The Oxford Research Agency (TORA) conducted an online survey sent to a random selection of 1,000 students. It was designed to cover a number of performance indicators to be used as the basis for tracking research - this survey providing a baseline. The same survey has been employed for a few years at another University enabling comparator analysis. The full survey will shortly be made available on the IT Services website for comments and feedback. I’d like to thank the students who responded to the survey (14%) for providing us with valuable and constructive feedback. Some key conclusions from those who responded to the survey are:
- Usage of University IT facilities is high (9 in 10 students use PC clusters at least occasionally and 8 in 10 claim general use).
- 97% of students use their University email accounts, with 70% on a daily basis
Usage is more frequent among younger students (aged 25 and under), and males more frequently than females. - Four in five are satisfied with opening hours and availability of facilities. However, in three of the eight rated aspects our students are significantly less satisfied than students at comparator University (opening hours, reliability of systems and prepay printing service).
- A quarter of students are concerned about reliability of systems.
- Key improvements identified were increasing the number of PCs, increasing the number of printers, improving the quality of computer rooms, and increasing silent study spaces.
Three quarters of students agree that IT resources and services are good enough for their needs and less than one in ten disagree.
We intend to review the conclusions, establish a series of recommendations, and publish those on the IT Services website in a format which is responsive to student feedback i.e. “you told us this…….we did that”. Hopefully we can have all that in place for the start of next academic session.
Change Management Project – Inspirational Leadership Course
A number of staff in the IT Services team have received a personal invitation to attend two, two-day events which will be led by Robina Chatham. Robina has already been introduced to those of us that are members of the LSS Board as she has conducted two events this year in January and in June. Line managers have already been asked to discuss within their teams and make nominations for this. There will be a report on the events in future newsletters. The first two day event on June 23 and 24th has the following outline agenda.
Political & influencing skills
Organisational politics – putting organisational politics into context; what is it and why we need to be good at it. The importance of trust and collaborative behaviour in achieving long term political success
Personality types – understanding your own personality type and how it differs from that of others. Valuing and appreciating difference and how to communicate with and be sensitive to the needs of others
Influencing styles – learning how to tailor your communication to the receiver using their preferred “language”. How to engage and build rapport with your audience
Recognising type in others – practical experience in “reading” other people. How to identify their personality type through a short everyday discussion
Reputations & relationships 360°
Leadership and motivation – the characteristic leadership strengths and potential weaknesses of each of the types; how to maximise your own potential, develop your own unique leadership style and motivate the different types
Understanding your customers – what is really important to them, how they measure and judge you and what you would need to do in order to truly delight them
Stereotypes and reputation – why first impressions are so important, how this affects our reputation and what we can do to influence it for the better
Team dynamics – understanding team dynamics, the potential synergies and clashes within a team and how to get people with dissimilar thinking styles to work together positively and constructively.
Change Management Project – IT Strategy Framework Document
A third draft on renewing the IT strategy was circulated and discussed at last week’s IT Board meeting. As you know, the University in now in the process of developing its new corporate plan. There remains an open invitation to provide your feedback on this process and the latest version of the strategy which is available on the shared drive. The next circulation date is July 2nd for presentation to the University’s Information Strategy Committee on July 9th.
Review meetings with School s and Corporate Services
The review meetings have been completed and the feedback has been documented in the updated trackers. I have also arranged a follow up meeting with all of the School Administrators on June 19th, and I had the opportunity to meet the six new student sabatticals last Thursday. This type of ongoing communication is going to be part of the emerging “account management” activity and has served a useful purpose in raising the profile of IT Services and providing an opportunity to present the many positive aspects of our service.
Announcing a new Finance Business Support System
There are a number of us who have been involved in different ways with the procurement phase of this project. Last week, the Project Board met to receive the final recommendations and analysis of the project team, and a decision was taken on the preferred bidder, subject to final contract negotiations. This procurement process has been extremely comprehensive and has fully tested the potential market, resulting in COA as the successful partner. I would like to thank all those colleagues that have given their time to making this a fully-informed decision especially Connie Jackson, Peter Jones, Philip Briggs, Geoff Bell, Mark Jones and in particular our project manager for this phase Russell Allen.
Celebrating Silver Anniversaries, Babies and Marriages
For those who may not be aware (and I may not be thanked for this!) Congratulations to all those who attended the celebration event. And while we are celebrating, congratulations to our colleague on becoming a grandma (if you need to know the weight and time of birth then you know who to ask!), and many congratulations to colleagues on the nuptuals this weekend – best wishes to you both.
Any Other Business
As usual, this newsletter can only provide a limited and personal selection in terms of the many changes taking place within the service. Here are just a few more examples:
- There have been over 280 purchases of Microsoft Office on the “Ultimate Steal” promotion – thanks to Sara for setting this up and promoting it to our students.
- Room 01.57 in JBP Building is now available and bookable in Meeting Maker as a resource. A number of people now have proxy access to see bookings – if anyone else would like access please let me know.
- The last paper payslips have been issued as we move to on-line services.
- A business process review has been initiated for the complex enrolment and registration of new students onto the IT and Library services.
- We are in the process of reviewing our expenditure over the next two years and seeking ways to reduce operating costs. A group of us are investigating alternative options.
- Roger Goodair and John Fairhall are leading on a market testing process for the corporate mobile phone contract. This will take place over the Summer and could include provision for students as a potential option.
- It has been agreed to invest in replacement new PCs at the front of GTA lecture theatres that currently have PC equipment which is reaching end of life. This will be happening over the Summer co-incident with GTA refurbishments that were highlighted in the last newsletter.
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