Projects
IT Related Projects September 2011
Automated Number Plate Recognition / Car Parking, Campus Access Cards and Security Control Room Systems
Campus Access Cards
The physical installation of the new door access system was completed in July as per the programme of works. Since completion of the installation G4S have been working on the O&M manuals and drawings, the first draft of the manuals have been received and are being reviewed but we have yet to receive any drawings. Internally we have been working on tidying up the database and reviewing procedures for card issuing with a view to improving the integrity and robustness of the data held. This will culminate with the close down of the PAT system and should be complete by the end of October.
Further training and roll out of the software to security is planned and will also be complete by the end of October.
Security Control Room Systems
The project has been re-titled:
Security Systems Virtualisation
The stage 1 application for the Security Systems Virtualisation project was approved by Chair's action on behalf of Operations Committee, at a cost of £170.5k (including VAT) on the 18th August.
This project was released on the understanding that the on-going maintenance and renewal of the IT Security Systems should be brought into the FM budget on an annual basis.
| Move to Stage 2 (Minor Works): | Approved |
| Feasibility Funding: | £96k |
| Project Sponsor: | Andrew Burgess |
| Forecast Capital Cost: | £170.5k |
| Forecast Revenue costs: | £20k |
Discussions with Tim Burton from procurement advised that the Director of Finance would not approve a single tender approach with Cisco and hence we have started a competitive dialogue with a number of suppliers. The tender documentation for this has been completed and posted onto InTend.
An outline timetable for the dialogue, selection, and implementation is as follows:
| September - October 2011 | Dialogue Process |
| November - December 2011 | Formal tender and contract award |
| January - March 2012 | Implementation of the first system virtualization |
Automated Number Plate Recognition / Car Parking
Testing of the ANPR equipment has commenced. The start of the test was slightly delayed but ANPR equipment testing is due to be completed w/c 19th September. The final testing of the ParkIT software has been completed and is now live. Work is underway on the integration of ParkIT and ANPR with meetings held in early September.
Student applications using the new systems started on 5th September. Student applications have been working well so online applications for staff / tenants went live on 3rd October.
The disclaimer has been approved by Data Protection Officer and loaded onto ParkIT software. The project has completed an Equality Impact Assessment and communication action plan which has now been passed to Andrew Burgess & Caroline Walker.
Work is underway on mapping details of car parks by user types. Details of the enforcement signage should be ready to pass to the Landscape Master Plan team shortly with the signage enforcement note having been completed by Colin Buchanan.
iTrent/Web Recruitment
iTrent went live in June as planned. There are currently nearly 200 users. The training sessions and documentation have been well received, with users generally liking the new iTrent web interface and the new single sign-on.
The University reorganisation has been implemented on iTrent though work on this is still on-going. Initial management information has been provided to the Operations Managers (e.g. reports on sickness absence triggers, general staff information, vacancies etc.) and feedback is now awaited on specific requirements so that appropriate reports can be scheduled.
There have been some performance issues, particularly in payroll. A number of contributory causes have been identified and urgent technical work is in hand to remedy this. In addition, time has been spent with payroll staff examining their working practices and making recommendations as to business process improvements and efficiencies.
A paper was presented to Ops Committee in June requesting an extension of the tenure of those staff on fixed term contracts, to include extra time to carry out university restructure, make additional business process improvements identified in the consultancy sessions with Midland, and to remove the need to go back for authorisation of Phase 2 later this year.
Prioritisation and planning of the remaining Phase 1, Phase 2 (not yet resourced) and newly identified work packages needs to be undertaken. These include employee self-service, manager self-service, online holiday requests, improved sickness absence recording, automation of processes and reports, learning events, health and safety, online staff expenditure approval forms, online probation and PDRs, rostering and staff expense claims.
Web Recruitment
Work on web recruitment is progressing, but there is some concern that the planned December go-live may prove difficult to achieve because of resourcing difficulties, a key member of the recruitment project team having recently left. Approval has been sought and is awaited for an additional intern, dedicated to Web Recruitment.
Midland HR have recently demonstrated the Health and Safety module to members of FM, iMAGO, Health & Safety and Occupational Health, who are very keen for this area to be progressed asap within phase 2.
Publications Management System - LUPIN
The LUPIN test system has been set up. Legacy data from the Publications database has been imported and work has begun to "harvest" data from relevant journals. Data is being carefully checked, and a number of minor issues have been identified and are under investigation by Symplectic. The facility to automatically send e-mail alerts to academics and administrators has been set up and tested. Work on the research student data feed is outstanding, but this is not a high priority at the moment. A group of academics are being recruited to help with system testing. They will be asked to test drive the system and feed comments back. This will include checking their "approved" and "pending" publications, entering a manual publication and using reporting tools.
The live system has been installed and configuration is underway. Work is progressing on an interface that will allow us to link LUPIN to the new on-line PRP and to publications web pages. Symplectic have recently been on site to give admin user training.
Library staff have been working on the implementation of the Repository Tools software, used to link LUPIN to the Institutional Repository. This has been subject to several weeks' delay whilst waiting for a new version to be supplied by the vendors.
A Project Management Board meeting was held in early September. It was reported that work on the project is progressing well, though frustrations had been experienced in getting timely responses to issues from Symplectic over the summer period. This had been highlighted on the initial risk register, and the Board considered that the mitigating actions (including the phased payment plan and building contingency into the project schedule) had been put in place to good effect.
It is planned that LUPIN will be rolled out school by school. The rollout schedule starts in November and runs through to February 2012, with the rollout being scheduled for each school approximately 2 months ahead of their annual PRP exercise.
Gladstone
The Gladstone system is instrumental to a large proportion of the work undertaken in the Sports Development Centre. As a result of very little investment in the last 10 years, it has been necessary to undertake a complete rebuild of the system and develop the way in which it works. Consequently, we have been rebuilding and improving the Gladstone System for the last year.
So far the system has been rebuilt from scratch learning from our experiences over the last ten years to ensure that the information it contains is accurate and is capable of being utilised for all management information. In addition, we have worked hard to ensure that as many as possible of the current manual procedures can be automated. This has been a complex process, one that has taken considerable time and effort.
On the 1st August 2011, we launched the first phase of the new system within the sports facilities and transferred over all the relevant bookings from the old system. All the team went through a basic training session to ensure they understood the differences between the two systems and were able to make bookings in the correct format.
There are a number of actions that are still outstanding to ensure that the system is utilised to its full capacity and in order for it to become as fully automated as possible. This will reduce the time spent on manual processes and the current duplication of effort.
Martin Palmer, SDC IT Support Officer, is key to the delivery of the Gladstone rebuild. Martin leads on all technical aspects of the project and is responsible for developing solutions and writing the reports and programmes required.
As a result of the specialised work that is still outstanding, we do not believe SDC will be in a position to transfer Martin's services to the central IT services team until at least the beginning of March 2012. We would also request some flexibility within this timescale, due to the potential unknowns we may encounter in trying to interface a number of existing systems whilst at the same time also ensuring the system remains operational and functional.
Central Timetabling
Since the last report in June 2011, the room allocation process for Semester 1 has been run successfully. There are a few requests which have not yet been roomed, but these are awaiting confirmation that the Design School rooms will be available for the start of term. All departments have engaged well with the new system, and are using it for departmental rooms as well as pool rooms. The room allocation has been a good team effort with problems being resolved easily and earlier than previously possible. The system has facilitated changes to rooms or the addition of groups where actual numbers are different from those expected.
The output of timetables has been a major issue with the facilities provided by the core CMIS product and the online options not meeting our requirements. Consequently, we have developed an online facility in-house and a meeting with Serco has been arranged to discuss this.
The next phase of the project will include:
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further rollout of student allocation to groups for laboratories, studio sessions and tutorials which will enable the production of full individual student timetables
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a decision on whether to use CMIS for exam scheduling for semester 1 exams,
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development of additional reporting facilities
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integration with other University systems including Outlook, Google Calendar, Kx Events and the Equipment Booking System.
Project Sponsor's Comment – Jennifer Nutkins:
The first phase of implementation, to replace the use of distributed departmental systems with an effective corporate information system, has been very successfully achieved. Excellent output facilities have been developed in house in a very short period of time. This has required a huge amount of very hard work by staff in Facilities Management (in particular the Timetabling Manager, Mike Earl), in IT Services and in academic schools. The latter will begin to see real benefits in 2011/12 following the steep learning curve for staff in 2010/11.
Now the initial core implementation has been achieved, at its next meeting, the Project Management Board will be undertaking a structured review of what has been delivered against the original objectives, and what remains to be delivered, both in relation to the objectives initially identified for the project and opportunities which have come to light as the project has progressed to date. This process will enable detailed arrangements to be agreed to ensure the sustainability of the system and prioritisation of potential further enhancements. These arrangements will need to take into account that the contract of the IT Services staff member appointed to support the implementation will end on 31 March 2011.
Identity Management
The project team finalised the system requirements in July, and the tender was issued in August. There were two responses, which are being evaluated. Supplier presentations are being arranged. The team aims to make a recommendation in early October.
Web Content Management System
WCMS adoption is progressing largely on schedule but some projects have been delayed slightly due to internal capacity issues. Despite this, a number of WCMS-powered sites have been launched recently including "Working with Business" and Imago Services. A number of WCMS sites are due to be launched in the next few months including Materials, the Library and the latest Postgraduate Prospectus.
The University maintains a good relationship with the vendor with upgrades carried out promptly and support requests dealt with within acceptable timescales. WCMS training for staff has been piloted in a number of departments and feedback is helping to develop a formal training package that will be used throughout the University. Marketing and Communications continue to receive good support from colleagues in IT Services.
2012 IT infrastructure Project
Data Centre
The UK and Ireland CEO of Cisco visited the University on 15th September including a visit to the Holywell Park mini-pod. This was a significant step in strengthening the profile of the engagement with Cisco.
July saw the successful test move of a live web site and systems server from the Loughborough University Data Centre to the Logicalis Data Centre in Slough and back again. Each move took just five minutes in each direction and marked a major milestone in the project, by proving the hybrid cloud design works over JANET. There are a few smaller i2012 jobs continuing through the start of term readiness period; however the majority of the programme will commence again following the start of the autumn term towards the end of October.
The latest release of the 100 page reference architecture document to detail an architectural overview of the solution has been received by the University and is under review. This document is designed to encompass both the high-level and low-level solution design. Discussions with Logicalis have taken place to finalise the extensive acceptance document and begin acceptance testing process. The acceptance tests are designed to test real-world scenarios that Loughborough University have experienced as well as many theoretical ones. It covers all aspects of the Data Centre solution including those delivered primarily by IT Services such as integration into the existing backup system.
The move to Exchange 2010 is currently being planned as part of i2012. The project will build the new Exchange 2010 e-mail and groupware capacity straight on to the new hardware. This will deliver enhanced functionality particularly for those using desktops and platforms other than Windows XP/7. The migration of individual users from current to new system will be automated and seamless – no workstation visits or other manual intervention will be needed.
Work is underway on the physical to virtual (p2v) server migration. The project has approached departmental server managers to request that they begin the process of planning their migration into the new Data Centre. The server managers have been asked to provide detailed technical information to ensure the migration proceeds with minimal disruption. The project is intending to migrate IT Services servers first to ensure the migration process is as smooth as possible for departments.
Network migration and cable infrastructure
On 6th September, Loughborough University connected to the JANET academic network at 10Gb on a new resilient fibre link, an upgrade of five times the previous 2Gb link. This brings us into line with other research intensive Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Manchester, etc.
Since the last update more academic buildings have been upgraded to the i2012 model ahead of the new academic year. Effort has since focused on commissioning the Design School, cascading networking switches into HallNet to support a larger trade-in package, upgrading the wireless network for increased capacity and increased coverage and preparing for the 10Gb upgrades.
The issue of demolition of Admin 1 interfering with central park cabling has been raised at East Park Space Reallocation PMB, and the DVC has also been briefed by ITS and FM colleagues. It has been suggested that capital funding for demolition might be available to support essential cabling works associated with any demolition, and a paper should be submitted to Ops in the autumn commissioning a feasibility study for central park cabling.
Voice migration
i2012 voice project initiation meetings have taken place, and a rollout schedule has been agreed with Logicalis as above. Disruption for current VoIP users (e.g. Hazlerigg) will be negligible, as a transparent migration process is being employed. For current analogue users, a floor-by-floor approach will be worked out with local IT staff – we expect just minimal disruption here. Introduction of the new Cisco Unity voicemail (plus extras) service is being coupled with the migration to Exchange 2010 e-mail and groupware – users will be able to access their voicemail via their Inbox when this is complete. Functionality to deliver incoming FAX straight to the users Inbox will also be available at this point.
Corporate desktop
We had previously aimed to have a pilot service in place for 10-20 staff moving into the refurbished Rutland Building in November however there is now a risk of failure to deliver this strand of the project to that deadline. Staff to be involved in this work are also involved either in the Windows 7 project, or the staff and student printing service. As it stands we are confident of initiating this project fully in December, around 3 months later than originally scoped.
eMarketPlace
The E-marketplace system went live on 18th July 2011 with 3 suppliers being set up for the initial trial period. The suppliers being used are Insight Direct, Supplies Team and Whittaker Office Supplies. Once the system launched staff were asked to stop using their payment cards to buy goods from these suppliers and to use the Agresso system for ordering instead. Initially this created some unease as the E-marketplace system was never going to be quicker than purchasing card and it also required a number of users to familiarise themselves with a new system. However, as it is now several months since the system went live the number of queries relating to its use have reduced significantly as users become more familiar with it.
In the coming weeks we will be encouraging people to fill in and return their questionnaires about the system so we can gauge opinion more accurately. We are also meeting with EGS at the end of September to consider next steps; EGS supply the third party element of the e-marketplace system, in order to discuss any changes and improvements we would like to make. In the longer term we may also look to add more suppliers to the system with Hewlett Packard a possible option to be set up next. Additionally, we are part way through a review to see throughput of activity, transaction numbers and spend contrasted with purchasing cards over the same period.
Labs 2011
The project has completed following the successful upgrade of all labs to Windows 7 over the summer. A final "closing&rquot; project meeting has been scheduled to discuss "lessons learnt". Expected closure date 2 November 2011.
Windows 7 Upgrade
The project continues to review the XP to Windows 7 migration procedure in order to speed up the process and reduce IT staff support time required. Once this has been tested and implemented within Support Services, the process will be shared with all IT Staff. So far nearly 50% of all PCs on the ITS managed Services have been migrated to Windows 7. Expected closure date March 2012.
Implementation of the LU Student Financial Support
The project is in the early stages with the project teams being defined. Jennifer Nutkins is the project sponsor; Mark Hollingsworth is the Project Manager with Tricia Breen leading for IT Services.
Work has started on the project and discussion have taken place on defining the requirements for the student financial support arrangements from 2012 and these will be documented. There are some policy decisions required concerning adjustments such as withdrawals, leave of absence or students moving into or out of hall mid-year.
Key Information Sets (KIS)
An initial meeting has been held to discuss the requirements for the Key Information Sets, with a further meeting arranged for October after the release of the technical specification on 30th September. Jennifer Nutkins will be sponsoring the project, though other project roles are not yet defined.