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- 1. IT service enhancements at the Saïd Business School Wylie Horn 3rd April 2013
- 2. The challenge • Multiple information services • Multiple mobile operating systems • Multiple desktop operating systems • The need for 24/7 support
- 3. A potential solution • Responsive Web design • Open standards based • Agile development model • Ubiquitous access to information • Investment in resilient infrastructure
- 6. E-Mail
- 8. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- SLIDE ONE (IT @ Saïd Business School): Good morning and thank you for inviting me for this interview for the Director of IT post. I read the contextual document with interest. I’m in a slightly unusual position as I have worked closely with the School on several of the projects mentioned in it but there were still aspects of the School’s plans that were new to me. Today I am planning to give a brief talk presenting my thoughts on the next steps the School should take in further enhancing its IT Services. But first I’d like to provide my own context by summarising some of the IT support challenges the School faces. NEXT SLIDE ONE (IT @ Saïd Business School): Good morning and thank you for inviting me for this interview for the Director of IT post. I read the contextual document with interest. I’m in a slightly unusual position as I have worked closely with the School on several of the projects mentioned in it but there were still aspects of the School’s plans that were new to me. Today I am planning to give a brief talk presenting my thoughts on the next steps the School should take in further enhancing its IT Services. But first I’d like to provide my own context by summarising some of the IT support challenges the School faces. NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE TWO (The challenge): The main challenge is to provide ubiquitous access to the information that students and staff require to enable them to meet the School’s strategic mission. Course and administrative information is sourced in multiple systems such as Weblearn (Sakai) & several key websites created using Drupal. It is accessed on multiple mobile and desktop operating systems at geographically dispersed sites around the world. The global nature of the School’s remit requires 24/7, 365 access to this information. NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE THREE (A potential solution): Responsive Web design based on open standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 offers a potential solution to this challenge. Furthermore a commitment to agile development where user feedback is a key component of the development cycle, enabling regular iterative improvements of services, further enhances this approach. Ubiquitous high bandwidth WiFi enables staff and students within the School to have easy access to all the information they require. NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE FOUR (Future Developments): Given the limited time available to me I won’t rehash the work that has been done since 2012. Rather I will present some preliminary steps I would take on appointment before focusing on three areas detailed in the contextual document. I will present my ideas on the best means of taking these forward. The areas I have chosen to focus on are web publishing, e-mail migration & the replacement of legacy systems. The objectives I would set myself and an implementation timetable are detailed in the handout I have given you. Web publishing appears to be key to the School’s IT strategy so I intend to give that the most attention in the next few minutes. NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE 5 (Web publishing): The preliminary steps I would take in furthering the School’s web publishing agenda are: That I would read the School’s IT strategy to get a better understanding of how open, standards based networking, web & mobile technologies underpin it and how the strategy supports the School’s overall mission. I would find out the current status of the series of web publishing streams detailed, namely: 1. Academic programmes 2. Internal communities and business processes 3. Student Communications and collaboration and 4. External visitors and alumni. Find out the future plans for use of GoTo and the metrics used/data gathered to measure its effectiveness to date. Arrange an early meeting with a representative group of Staff and Students using Weblearn to gauge progress to date, and to identify those areas where further work is required. I would then plan to meet with the head of the Weblearn team and plan an implementation schedule for any suggested improvements. Then I would aim to learn more about the project plans in place to extend the web publishing streams and build upon the existing project plans in light of subsequent developments. I would identify staff resource available to work on service enhancements. And establish what user feedback mechanisms have already been established. Throughout I would ensure that user feedback informs all incremental improvements to web publishing. Finally I would appraise any data collected to date and, in collaboration with the appropriate colleagues, start planning to implement any improvements to the various web publishing streams that don’t have major financial or systemic barriers to their implementation.NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE SIX (E-mail): E-mail migrations are always a substantial challenge. E-mail remains a mainstay of communication on the Internet and the majority of users still rely on it as their primary means of communicating. Consequently, when contemplating a major service transition it is essential to plan thoroughly, test thoroughly and have a fallback strategy. In moving this particular task forward I would: Establish the scale of the transition to another e-mail system: numbers, different clients, amount of data etc. Other considerations that would have to be taken into account are: Planning a communications plan to ensure that users are fully informed of how to use the new system. Implementing a teaching plan (as above). Directory service synchronisation. E-mail, contacts and calendar information migration. Devise a strategy for setting up mobile devices on the new e-mail system. Investigate integration with the University’s SSO solution Investigate opportunities for initial dual delivery options (if any) Plan subsequent desktop and mobile client updates Arrange an early meeting with the head of the Nexus team to learn about the Nexus team’s experiences of moving other large departments e-mail onto the Nexus Exchange-based e-mail system. (include reversion plan. See http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=180898 for good general principles) This exercise would require very careful planning and I would expect it to be a major element of my work in the coming year if I was appointed. As there is little detail in the context document about legacy systems I am going to limit myself to a few general comments about these and the identity management challenges referred to. NEXT SLIDE
- SLIDE SEVEN (Legacy Systems) Firstly I would need to learn more about the backlog of projects dealing with legacy systems. I would establish what these legacy systems are used for and assess whether they should be replaced in consultation with the colleagues dependent on them. I would research whether the University already has suitable alternatives that the School could use. If it does I would begin to project plan replacing what was in place with these systems. If not, I would seek standards based, cost-effective alternatives to the existing systems and do the planning necessary to implement these. Finally, regarding identity management, I would need to learn more about any identity management solutions already in place and assess whether they fit in with the University’s wider identity management strategy. NEXT SLIDE
- Thank you. Do you have any questions? FINISH on SLIDE 8 (Questions)