IT Services Newsletter #40

We have dealt with the start of a new academic year with some success and a number of new and updated services have been launched which are mentioned below.  Thank you for making that happen – it is rarely anything other than a team effort.  They say that change is a constant, and with the announcement of the Vice-Chancellor’s departure I guess we can expect further turbulence ahead as the process to appoint a successor begins.  Closer to home, I am sure that you will join me in wishing Priscilla Preston well in her new role at Leeds Metropolitan.  We have had a lot of change over the Summer and it’s  good to see new folk settling in and getting a warm welcome.

Recruitment News – our team

There have been a significant number of staff changes since the last newsletter. These have been announced in separate staff announcements.  Since September, we have recruited five new people for the IT Systems Team to support investment plan projects and for the IT Support Team we have two colleagues in new roles.  We have also shortlisted external candidates for the vacant Grade 4 role in IT Support and have interview dates set for late November.

Recruitment News – project management framework

Over the last few months a cross-functional team has been working on a procurement framework for project management resource.  This process has led to a framework agreement for the next three years.  It will provide services which include management of IT projects, business process change projects, change management projects and general (non-technology) projects.  We provided a case study based on CRM (customer relationship management) to the candidates at shortlisting and the response provides a rich resource for any future activity in this area.

Launching the Annual Report 2011-12

We have completed the consultation on the content of the annual reports for last academic session.  This is now published on our usual web pages where reports for the last four years are available.  Once again, we have also provided a short student-focused summary of activity.  Please take a look a the document and at what we have achieved.  There are no plans to produce a “glossy” version for paper circulation.

IT Services web-site re-launch

This is an update on the project to migrate web content to the University content management system (CMS).  When this was first started, IT was at the “back of the queue” as our web presence was in pretty good shape and others took priority.  This Summer there was a major launch of the Library web presence which appears to have been very successful.  We are now commencing the process of auditing and moving the IT web site content to the CMS.  There is a timeline available which begins with benchmarking and gap analysis.  LSS Customer Services will be doing much of the redesign, content and training the new CMS contributors and moderators as this becomes devolved.  Obviously, throughout the whole process the team involved will be speaking to various staff in IT services. The aim is to launch by August 2013.

In Other News

·         The project to deliver on-line applications for student accommodation (e-apps) was successfully launched in late September.  New undergraduate and postgraduate students can now begin the process of applying for accommodation using the on-line service which is integrated with other University systems including SAINT and Room Service.  Congratulations to the team involved with this project.

·    The University systems were updated to deal with the fee processing for the £9k student fee from September 2012.  On the 23^rd October the annual invoice run took place creating over 10k invoice lines with a total value of £50.4 Million.  This is a significant piece of systems integration which is effectively a  once a year exercise.  In future years, we may introduce further process improvements to the data transfers.

·    Eduroam – a new wireless service - was “soft launched” in September and is working well.  It is available to students and staff and also visitors (if they have eduroam at their home institution).  Eduroam is available in the same locations as RoamNet and has a number of benefits including automated connections to avoid multiple authorisations, added security and you can use eduroam at other institutions worldwide (if those institutions provide the eduroam service). There is more information here,  and thanks to the IT Infrastructure Team for making this happen.

·    The piece of work to provide all new students with a print credit on the Pharos printing system has now completed.  Every new student received  a £1.25 credit to their online print account.  Over £5k has been credited so far.  General speaking, the investment in new MFD devices throughout the LSS estate has gone well and devices are now distributed through the buildings and appear to be working effectively.  If you are set up to use the IT Services MFD why not try printing on other student enabled devices across the campus.

·    There have been a number of service interruptions reported through IT Board.  We are continuing to write up reports which get to the “root cause” of issues.  When appropriate, these are published on the service status page so look out for a number of updates coming through after the November IT Board meeting.

·    Projects are progressing on Unified Communications for students and staff with recent workshops on Microsoft Lync and a further event covering Sharepoint.  We have obtained a full set of legal documents from JANET for the migration to Office 365 technology and technical documentation from external partner Salford Software.

·    Work has been progressing on attendance monitoring solutions and a short-term fix has been developed rapidly which has been a  team effort-  involved with the production of tender documentation and also supporting external experts on a register production and scanning system.  For a full update on all the projects we are working on take a look at the IT Services rolling plan.

IT Services Newsletter #39

It’s nearly the end of the Summer, and it feels like it has been especially busy this year. There have been building works all around us in the JBP Building, demolition works for the Kirkstone and Bradford Halls, and the development of SEC and two new sport facilities on the doorstep. The campus has changed a lot this Summer and of course, so too have some of the virtual and physical technology services. Some of these are reported below. It has also been a very challenging year for student recruitment and intake from the perspective of bringing good quality high tariff students into our courses, as well as a couple of technology challenges! My understanding is that we are still some way off the recruitment targets for some Academic Schools. This may mean some re-calibration is needed in academic delivery and related administrative/support activity. It is therefore timely that the University is also beginning a review of all its professional services following the academic school reviews last session. Let’s hope for a relatively smooth start to the new year which is always a fantastic time to see the students back on campus again.

Recruitment News

 

We are continuing to recruit to a number of fixed term vacancies in the IT systems team (5 posts) which mainly relate to the University investment plan. We have shortlisted candidates and are now moving to interview stage. You may not be completely surprised to hear that we failed to find a replacement for Christine Thacker despite external and targeted advertising, so some interim arrangements are now being proposed, while we take stock. There are Request for Staff Appointment (RSA) forms in the system for a replacement for Hanif Sidat, which we hope to announce in due course.

Continual Improvement Update

 

The recommendations made by this team last year, have led to the creation of a co-ordinated University enrolment helpline which was established a week ago when the pre-enrolment portal (PEP) was launched for new students. There have been a number of process improvements to the online process which have involved a number of people in IT Services, LSS Customer Services and the Hub. The PEP was launched to plan with particular thanks to Richard Davis for making that happen. Within 12 hours of launching the system to the first batch of 1500 Home students, over half of those students (760) had logged on to the PEP and one third (479) had completed the process. Since then further students have been released into the system successfully. We also took the decision to separate the PEP processes from IT account registration – new IT accounts are all automatically processed when students change status on the admissions system. As at September 5th over 3,200 new IT accounts have been automatically created since the first days of clearing and over 2,500 students have already self-registered by setting up all their password details and shared secrets etc – which is almost 80%. That is really excellent and our thanks to Steve McCain and Jacqui Cuthbert in particular, for their efforts in simplifying and streamlining the process and also the support documentation.

 

Clearing 2012

 

Following on from the recent recruitment update from the Vice Chancellor to all staff, I would like to add my own thanks and appreciation to everyone involved in making the results day, clearing and confirmation processes as relatively smooth as we could make them, in all the circumstances. We’ve obviously been dealing with a recurrent SAINT service interruption (now “fixed”) but that did not affect any business operations in a critical way. We have also been dealing with a very specific voice related issue which only affected a few extensions but they happened to be partly in the Admissions Office in Richmond Building. Typical! It is only because we have people who know what they are all doing, and know the University systems inside out, that we continue to manage this and deal with problems when they do arise in a calm and professional manner. Although I’m not sure it felt quite like that at 4pm on Bank Holiday Friday! Students are still applying and being recruited albeit in much smaller numbers now and the final numbers are hard to predict accurately – but see above for creation of 3,200 new IT accounts so far for a performance indicator!

 

Multi-Function Devices (MFD) for Printing and Copying

 

If you have wandered around the Library Building you will have noticed the arrival of lots of shiny new Hewlett Packard MFD’s for the re-launch of this important student service at the start of a new academic session. There are about 20 new devices being commissioned to replace a mixture of printers, copiers and previous generation Ricoh MFDs. All the devices that are being replaced are completely “worn out” after years of good service and were struggling to provide a great student experience towards the end. This new fleet should make a real difference to the service. You will have also noted that we are “taking our own medicine” and have launched a shared staff print service on the IT Services MFD. This uses the pharos account system to “pull” printing securely when you go and fetch your print output. All appears to be working well and thanks to Dougie McHattie for setting all that up, providing the instructions and managing the “change control” process.

 

In Other News

 

• The Key Information Sets (KIS) return was submitted to the deadline at the end of August. Most of the work has taken place around data collection and verification processes, however, it has also used a brand new module in the SAINT student system for this purpose. My thanks to those involved in putting the system “live” and putting the various upgrades to it, as we went along, and to some very tight timescales. This is now an ongoing piece of work and will be routinely submitted for comparison by students and potential students with other Institutions.

 

• For students at the start of the new term, we have moved the PC cluster from Chesham to Student Central permanently – to enable major refurbishment of Chesham for EDT and provide open access PCs in the Learning Mall. We intend to close the elderly JBP small cluster rooms on level 01 – kit will be relocated to the refurbished spaces on floors 1 and 2 of the new Library refurbished space – with light, air, and space! The flagship PC cluster room (JBP 01.53) has new paint, new flooring, (some) new chairs and also brand new state of the art computers. We have launched a brand new scanner service to replace the old facility on Floor 0.

 

• For academic staff, we have replaced and upgraded all the lecture theatre (GTA) computers to a standard high spec for Windows 7, we have set up an auto start and auto update procedure for out of hours updates to things like virus software/windows, and we have re-implemented the power saving on these computers.

 

• We held a second “IT and Estates Working Together Event” last Friday. It was a half day event covering a wide agenda from wiring closets, new builds, managing contractors through potential for shared servicedesk systems/operations. The event also included a presentation by Margaret Ekpo who has been working in Estates as graduate intern on reducing business travel with a particular focus on evaluating and making recommendations on “virtual meetings”. This was really helpful, including a set of specific recommendation and was followed up with a presentation to all interested University staff at a lunchtime briefing today. We will discuss the recommendations at the September IT Board.

 

• We are preparing for the BASE conference which happens on Tuesday September 11th. As it is a one-day event there is a lot less involvement than with the British Science Festival, however we are making various support arrangements including supporting the exhibition to be held in the Richmond Atrium, and also the provision of wi-fi for up to 600 campus visitors. The event has been advertised on the University home page where you may have spotted Ken Livingstone, who is one of the keynote speakers.

 

• The professional service reviews are beginning. IT Services has been invited to participate as a panel member for each of the reviews that are planned over the next 6 months. The panel will also include external membership. We look forward to making a constructive contribution to these activities, with a particular interest in technology and how we future proof the University in respect of its current and future requirements.

This is just a quick snapshot of some of the projects and activity that are crossing my desk and which might be of interest. There is, as always, lots of other activity happening, so apologies if your work wasn’t included – please let me know for a future newsletter. 

Bearing the Mace

Bradford College management seem to have blundered into a Public Relations disaster with the decision to invest many thousands in a ceremonial mace.  As a seasoned and veteran mace bearer having had the priviledge of carrying the university mace at least once at almost every degree ceremony since starting at the university I am reminded of a few things which may be state secrets:
(1) The University Mace fell off the podium (before my time) and had to be "fixed" in the engineering workshop labs between degree ceremonies.  It still has a distinct "wobble"
(2) The City Mace (and mayoral chain) are solid gold and their value is significant (priceless?).  The chain is so heavy because each mill owner who took the chain of office wanted to provide an even bigger and better contribution to the chain.
(3) The only time that the Mace should officially be used is to protect the Chancellor I think.  On the one occasion that someone approached the stage (wearing a rucksack) and in the middle of an acceptance speech, everyone, inlcuding the macebearer stood and stared and sat transfixed.  It was in fact the photographer's assistant providing some gear to the photographer on stage..
(4) When the chancellor (Imran Khan) was presiding a student produced a cricket bat and marker pen with a flourish from under his gown for autographing.  The Mace was not deployed!

The S-Lab Conference (York)

Visit to the University of York with a few hours of general discussion about shared interests e.g. service performance and monitoring, student systems, timetabling, research MIS and the migration to Google Apps for staff and students which is going very well.  We also talked about some of the shared applications like Blackboard and e-learning generally.  We then went on a visit to a newly refurbished space adjoining the Library which has been made available for a wide variety of group and individual learning, teaching and research activity - I haven't heard the term "research hotel" before. The furniture and use of light (atrium and wells) was very impressive:

It was good to see the University of Bradford was leading the 2012 S-Lab conference taking place in the National Science Learning Centre.  I attended an hour's pre-conference session by Iceotope (one of the corporate sponsors and nice to see a new British company with innovative engineering coming out of Sheffield).  The following sessions were mainly focused on high performance computing and the potential for various different approaches to deliver performance and energy efficiency - great examples from Leeds and Leicester among others from the audience.  Plenty of big brains in the room today (and mine wasn't one of them).

Research articles on disruptive innovation

Been collecting articles about "disruption" in various industries including education and perhaps there is nothing particularly "new" about what any of them are saying, but worthy of consideration.  This is the Educause article on innovating the 21st century university and this is a link to Clayton Christenson's research on disrupting college.  Worth putting these into your e-Library.

Beacon Walk for the Queen's Jubilee

Amongst the various things that we have done over the last long Jubilee weekend a small party from three directions walked to Churn Milk Joan on the top of Midgley Moor to witness the beacons being lit on Scout Road and Stoodley Pike.  About 30 of us were all gathered.  There was little to see from such a distance but it was an atmospheric night improved by a nip of rum.  And yes, we did put a coin in the hollow.  Ted Hughes' poem is below:

"A lonely stone
Afloat in the stone heavings of emptiness
Keeps telling her tale. Foxes killed her.

You take the coins out of the hollow in the top of it.
Put your own in. Foxes killed her here.
Why just here? Why not five yards that way?
A squared column, planted by careful labour.

Sun cannot ease it, though the moors grow warm.

Foxes killed her, and her milk spilled.

Or they did not. And it did not. Maybe

Farmers brought their milk this far, and cottegers
From the top of Luddenden valley left cash
In the stones crown, probably in vinegar,
And the farmers left their change. Relic of The Plague.

Churn-milk jamb. And Joan did not come trudging
Through the long swoon of moorland
With her sodden feet, nipped face.
Neither snow nor foxes made her lie down
While they did whatever they wanted.

The negative of the skylines is blank.

Only a word wrenched. Then the pain came,
And her mouth opened.

And now all of us,
Even this stone, have to be memorials
Of her futile stumblings and screams
And awful death".

Churn-Milk Joan
By Ted Hughes

For the uninitiated, Churn Milk Joan is a boundary stone above Mytholmroyd in the Calder Valley, close to Crow Hill.

IT Services Newsletter #37

A busy month with lots of things going on – and some nice sunny weather in amongst. For those who follow league tables the University had a disappointing result in the Guardian League Table for 2012 last week, dropping 5 places to 86. However, we got a First Class Honours award from the People and Planet Green League. Today it has been announced that we are in the top 20 of Universities under 50 in the Times Higher League Table.  One thing’s for sure: there are lies, damn lies and statistics.

This first item is an invitation:

IT Services invites you to an event which will be held on:

Wednesday 20th June 2012 from 11:30-1:30 pm including lunch (location TBD dependent on numbers)

IT Services is hosting an event which will showcase some of the innovation and research-related activities that we have recently been involved with. The aim is to provide a number of short presentations on relevant topics followed by an informal networking session with invited colleagues across the University. So far, we plan to present updates on:

(1) The YHMAN Shared Virtual Data Centre concept – session led by Ed Carter, University of Leeds
(2) Business Travel and technology alternatives – session led by Ben Tongue, Estates and Facilities
(3) Green IT on the desktop: launch of the Nightwatchman service – session led by Dave Ewen, IT Services
(4) New authentication services for staff and students (Athens) – session led by the Library Systems Team
(5) What’s been happening this year with student email (Outlook Live) and plans for Microsoft Office365
(6) Plus other topics to follow (if you have one please let me know)

All welcome, please confirm your attendance so we know the numbers for catering by emailing.

One Click to Key Information
During the one-to-one meetings I took an action to try and find an easy “one click” way of updating our team with key documents and information. A new web page has been set up here, which is linked from our IT Services home page under Staff and IT Board Documents. Each month after the IT Board meeting I will provide the latest update to our working documents which include account management and the IT Services rolling plan.
Updates from the IT Systems Team – XCRI in the spotlight
There are a number of major projects that are in progress which many of us are involved with. A group of these projects are being co-ordinated by a Student Overview Group. It is a fairly complex set of projects which are inter-related and it is useful that these are being brought together round the table to ensure that they are joined up. This is an externally funded project by the JISC and regular update reports are sent to keep them informed of progress. I am attaching to this newsletter a document which explains what it is, and a document that summarises the range of student projects that we are also involved with.

Microsoft IT Academy
During the last week we have approved our membership of the Microsoft IT Academy Program. This Program provides our staff, students and IT experts with essential and advanced level e-learning resources, through to exams, across the wide range of Microsoft products. The Program is being led from our LSS Customer Services team, and there will be further news and information about this over the coming months. In the meantime, if you want to start accessing resources on Word, Excel through Sharepoint, Exchange and Dynamics then this is all available.

Degree Congregation Volunteering
If you have already done this in the past, you will know that it is wonderful to be part of the annual celebrations as students attend their graduation ceremonies. I have gotten so old that I will be attending our daughter’s graduation on Thursday July 19th at Sheffield University. Volunteers are always needed and I have put my name down for one of the evening ceremonies. Please take this as an invitation to put your name down for one of the ceremonies this year by contacting the lovely people in the Hub.

Award Submission – Innovation Nation
Geoff Bell has been heavily involved as our YHMAN Director in a pathfinder project which is receiving national attention. The YHMAN’s Shared Virtual Data Centre initiative has been shortlisted in the Collaboration category of this year’s Innovation Nation Awards, in conjunction with The Guardian. The closing date was 30th May so we await the outcome. At the very least we can claim to be runners up as there were two shortlisted projects in this category. Further details here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/innovation-nation-awards/innovation-nation-shortlist-collaboration

Floor 01 Refurbishments
The Glee project is continuing to make real progress. Our colleagues in Estates are very keen to make further progress on completing our building including the refurbishment of level 01 (our floor). A bid is being prepared for a £1.5-2 Million investment via a TSB funding source. It is outline at the moment. I would encourage any of you who have not done so, to take a trip to either floor 1 or floor 2 and take a look at what the space looks like when you strip everything out. Imagine what an open plan space approximately half the size of either of those floors would look like as a working environment.

Reminder: IT “At Risk” – dates for your diary
The “at risk” dates were approved at ISC4 on May 17th and are published here.

Reminder: Data Protection Act – compulsory training
This is the link to the module.