Wolverhampton weekly newsletter #19

This is a shorter than usual weekly update as I was very fortunate to spend a long weekend away in the French Alps trying to ski.

The week started with pulling together a short report from the UCISA17 Conference which I also circulated later in the week to team leaders at the fortnightly "scrum".  There are a couple of follow-up meetings now beginning to appear in diaries with suppliers that we met.  I also prepared a short paper for circulation ahead of the next DAS leadership team meeting on the partnership analysis which we have agreed to facilitate.  This will be coming for a short discussion at next Tuesday's meeting.  In preparation I have created a "starter for ten".  This is ahead of a meeting next Wednesday with Purchasing to cover areas they might be able to help with.

I spent some time on the "top 5" requests for the next phase of the ServiceNow implementation alongside the strand of work on the software request process.  With CAST team assistance we have honed in on guest Wi-Fi accounts, IT account extensions, mobile phone administration (new, change, leave, billing) and IT equipment purchasing (printers, laptops, tablets etc).  I have kept in touch with the project in my role as QA - the first stage of the project is still progressing well and on schedule - the only glitch is the self-service portal and this is not part of initial launch.  HR are also progressing really well and on schedule.

I have obtained confirmation from McCann that they will host the June Digital Advisory Board (Technology Suppliers). Early next week I will circulate members for the two proposed dates (June 20th and 28th reserved in your calendars) and a request for topic(s).

We have also confirmed the date for Wolverhampton to host the next JISC Digital Strategy Forum which is Friday April 28th.  I am hoping to return and attend the event as a member of the forum and happy to assist with any logistics on the day.  The leader of that group is currently circulating members for the agenda and potential speakers.

The Head of IT at Wolverhampton City Council has confirmed a follow-up meeting next week to include a tour of the new call centre and the computer server room.  Should be interesting.

With two more weeks until the end of March there are two more newsletters to go before my contract finishes here at Wolverhampton.