- New finance rules came into effect this week for certain orders requiring relevant member of VCAG to sign off.
- Weekend confirmed for pre-clearing telephone system upgrade (July 14th)
- Various 1-2-1's with direct reports this week - continued 1-2-1 meetings with rest of team
- ServiceNow Project Board met as planned - notes to be written up
- Met with External Relations aand sent round action notes as usual.
- Kick-Off meeting took place with Modern.Gov with a good set of documentation and agreed as UoW Project Manager.
- Supported further reviews of CRIS contract paperwork - been very challenging to get over the line. Also met with Purchasing for quarterly review of purchasing activity (covered this).
- Scrum meeting notes from this week's meeting:
- The AV summer program got under way this week - so far, so good - 2 rooms city, 1 at Walsall now under way
- We have a representatve attending ProcessFix training event this week Thursday.
- Testing of GDPR incident reporting via ServiceNow (portal) later this week - need to report within 72 hours target if necessary.
- Modern.Gov kick off meeting has taken place - detailed documentation and requirements from various people.
- Alerted to potential website redesign - copy of report subsequently sent on in pdf format.
- 2nd July start date for DC comms and engagement officer.
- Trying to get contact name from Council for Verto PM tool they use.
- A number of tentative and nil responses for SUMO event - need to know for catering numbers - managers asked to chase up
- Interviewing for BA roles next week
- Interviewing candidates for IT Support Role
- Project resource issues going to Digital Strategy Committee - not just DC but IT generally.
- Business case for job share for Project Support is in progress.
- Phishing prevention better than cure. Some good ideas around targeted and general comms, new package available for LearnUpon (needs customising - propose getting a price), student welcome/induction process, possibility of managed attack with follow-ups.
- Dealt with queries about ServiceNow licensing and on the agenda for next week's project board meeting (checking licence number and budget transfers etc)
- Software2 package training is now scheduled for 30th July - involving Faculty technical staff in training program (with commitment to help with packaging over Summer).
- Scrum meeting notes from this week's meeting:
- Agresso leave module now demo'd to User Group. Positive feedback - system on track to be available from August 1st.
- Next steps are building dashboard for absence reporting in system, setting system data up so line managers can sign off and approve, and checking individual staff work schedules.
- Policy will probably change ref leave carry forward rules in 18/19 to allow transition to the new system - proposal is 6 months (versus 2 months).
- Personal webspace (perswww) is going to be retired from end of month - everyone has a default "mywebs" folder which will be withdrawn - no data will be lost. Potential for DP breaches is key driver - lots of out of date infomration some of it potentially personal.
- Digital Capabilities survey extended to 31/7 - recommended that we all participate if we haven't already and cascade within teams.
- Data Centre access policy is now drafted - ready to circulate for comments as may impact others eg estates and facilities
- Shadow IT workshops are ongoing to end July
- Changes will be happening to the sign on process to enable automated password re-set using a mobile phone number (opt in approach). Will also deliver an upgrade to security (upgrading FIM) and better ability to manage password changing including out of hours.
- Usual 1-2-1s this week. Resolved procurement for Modern.Gov and Tableau through software licences budget.
- Held second IT Health and Safety Committee to review the action plan - a number of actions have taken place to reduce perceived risk.
- Chaired first IT leadership team meeting - there will be all staff briefing process put in place.
- Handover meetings arranged with AV supplier and plan in place over next three weeks during staff annual leave. Work starts Monday in Walsall (one room) and City (two rooms).
Good News
- Positive meeting with Strategic Planning - they are currently happy with our progress.
- Positive meetings with new IT Director.
- No P1's this week.
- Prepared interim report on shadow IT workshops for end of week.
- SOABE/Springfield project Board preparation and meeting on Monday ref IT and AV. Project Board established working group to work through options and make recommendations.
- Continued with series of "all staff" 1-2-1 meetings during the week.
- Arranged meeting with Apprenticeship Hub ref process reviews.
- Attended Deans Advisory Group at Walsall (Arts) and presented proposal for benchmarking exercise which was agreed. Took away actions regarding ArtsFest, school visits and AV for MK045 (all progressed and reported back).
- Monthly Trade Union meeting this week - no IT issues to report.
- Scrum meeting notes from this week's meeting:
- Interim PA Duties organised.
- Setting up IT leadership team meetings - 90 mins every 2 weeks. First meeting will be setting up membership and ToR etc
- Noted that standard PCs will be shipping with SSDs - Agreed to organise positive staff comms about this (investing a bit more in faster and reliable kit).
- Noted issues about legacy IT web presence - is there an option to bring in a grad intern to help with this?
- Demo of Agresso solution for planned/unplanned absence to the user reps.
- Working on annual Faculty software renewals - 2 completed, 2 to go
- Working on DPA breach process using servicenow to manage the 72 hour time limit for reporting
- KPMG audit - may also pick up closure of staff accounts (flagged up in GDPR action plan) - work now under way to mitigate
- Picking up issue of microsites (relates to Greenwich experience).
- Job advert for replacement Timetabling Project Manager has been advertised.
- Interviewing Friday for DC Marketing and Comms post
- Taking a University approach to procuring a project/program support tool (SPG, E&F etc) - need to make sure it can deal with resourcing and modelling requirements
- CMIS Go infrastructure and application has been installed on schedule (timetabling)
- Concerns about capacity to deliver Finance interfaces to DLP - escalated to Finance and with project sponsor
- DLP testing is well under way using a new automated tool.
- Event on Friday July 6th (SUMO) hold the date
- Noted upgrades to everyone's email capacity - action to organise positive staff comms (comment that we don't do enough of this when there are major service improvements)
- Telephone upgrade (ahead of clearing) scheduled for weekend of July 14th
- Request for Minecraft for SciFest in progress
- Self-service password reset ready to be launched from June 18th - comms going out this week/next week to different customers affected. Major service improvement - over 4k servicedesk requests in last year relating to password resets.
- Finally, BA post has been shortlisted with date to be set early July for interview process. There has been an excellent response to the support analyst role now being shortlisted.
- Usual 1-2-1s this week with direct reports.
- Organised a couple of meetings on "non-standard" software purchase process and dealing with staff IT account closure. Actions agreed and circulated. Circulated CAB meeting notes to attendees prior to wider circulation.
- Completed JISC Digital Capabilities survey - useful instrument encouraging others to participate.
Good News
- The six connected screens in MC building entrance were connected to new digital signage solution and launched with Faculty of Arts content in time for ArtsFest and Degree Shows.
- Successfully completed all staff mandatory training course - attempted to print certificates (some were blank - reported back to OD).
- No P1's this week.
