Applications Division PROJECT NAME
Project Proposal 2009-10
Pre-live Database Environment
BIAS IT Services (ITS) Programme Corporate Infrastructure Project Sponsor Simon Marsden Author ( Business ) N/A Author ( IS ) Iain Fiddes / Neil Grant Date 20/01/2009 Authors (both Business and IS) should use the guidance document when completing this form
Section One – PROJECT DETAILS
1.1 Executive Summary
Pre-live Database Environment The corporate infrastructure production environment runs the major applications for most the university administration, including finance, human resources, estates & buildings, the registry and student services. Downtime in the production environment should be reduced wherever possible. However change and enhancement is also sometimes necessary. Extended downtime incurred due to unforeseen differences in the production environments from the test environment can be significantly reduced by executing implementation plans in an environment created from a clone of the production service. This project will implement a copy of the live database environment that can be automatically recreated afresh each day. This will be used as a final test environment before releasing applications into the live environment, created from clones or copies of the actual live data. Unlike the test environment, only one application will be tested in this environment at a time. This will catch several classes of problems that occur with our current process, identifying code issues and allowing us to isolate the application for testing without being clouded by other conflicting work in the test environment. This will result in reducing the number of incidents reported and improving user experience. This project addresses the IS target of improved resilience. This is a highly desirable capability reducing the risk of failed live deployment and the inevitable costs in undoing work, resolving problems and lengthy unplanned downtime in the production environments. This project will tie in with the Software Productivity Improvements project.
1.2 Business Objectives
Number 1 2 3 Objective Description
Reduction of service outage caused by failed production implementation Minimal effort required to implement the pre-production environment. The service will make use of the currently lightly utilised Appleton Tower infrastructure, minimising the impact on the primary Kings Buildings site.
Deliverable (and description of any limits to the scope)
1.3 Project Deliverables (including any scope limits)
Number 1 2 3 Milestone Date
Clone of current production database services on an on demand basis Pre Live database environment independent of the current productions service Pre Live testing procedures and documentation
Reason for Milestone Date being Hard
1.4 Project Timescales - Hard Milestones and Multi Year Projects
Financial Year 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Stakeholder Major business areas
Breakdown of Project Stages/Deliverables by Year
1.5 Project Stakeholder(s)
Description of stakeholder and role in project
The major business areas will need to be kept informed of progress.
1.6 Project Risks
Number Description
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Applications Division
1
Project Proposal 2009-10
Additional storage will be required for database environments, which will require funding
1.7 Other Relevant Information about the Project (including disability accessibility requirements and any dependencies)
Section Two – PROJECT CATEGORY and JUSTIFICATION
2.1 Project Category
Category
Essential (External) Essential (Internal) Funded Very Important Strategic Goal, Enabler or Theme Quality Services Quality Infrastructure Exceed user expectations
Reason for selecting category
This project will deliver cost savings from time spent fixing problems and from user disruption.
Description of how project meets the Strategic Goal, Enabler or Theme
2.2 Project Justification
Reduction in user disruption will increase the quality of our services and therefore better support the implementation of the university strategy. This infrastructure project will yield better services and make better use of available resources. By reducing user disruption, this project will support the IS goal of exceeding user expectations.
Other Justification Cost reduction
Description
Problems found when deploying systems into production are not only the most disruptive, they are the most costly to fix. This project will ensure that users will have less time wasted and IS staff will spend less time fixing problems.
Section Three – PROJECT BENEFITS, COSTS AND PROCUREMENT
3.1 Benefits (over 5 years)
Tangible - Description and Value Assumptions
For every instance of a problem being determined in the pre production environment this will result is a significant reduction in end user disruption. Where this is an application that is used by many users, for example the MyEd portal, the impact would be very significant should a live implementation result in a service interruption. Predicted annual saving of 30k.
Assuming that 1 day’s downtime could be avoided by catching a problematic implementation in the prelive environment for a service like MyEd this would prevent impacting in excess of 30k users over the 24hr period. For an application like efinancials the financial impact to the business might be considerable. Assuming that a days downtime could cost the University 10k pounds in terms of lost revenue and lost reputation, catching 3 events of this type would result in a financial saving of 30k. Over 5 years the savings would be 150k
Intangible – Description
User confidence in delivery into production will be enhanced Page 2 of 4
Applications Division
with fewer extended implementations into production.
Project Proposal 2009-10
Description of success criteria and monitoring required to ensure benefits are realised
Occurrences of problems found in the pre live environment should be recorded and estimates of time saved calculated based on the number of users potentially impacted.
3.2 Benefits and Costs Summary (over 5 years)
5 Year Summary Benefits Costs IT Services Support Groups Colleges Total
50,000 29645
50,000
50,000
Benefit/Cost Ratio =
150,000 29645 5.06
3.3 Additional Funding / Resource Requirements
Secured? Yes/No Description of Requirement
no
Storage requirement of 1-2 TB SATA storage (4k-5k)
3.4 Procurement Requirements
Total Cost of goods &services over 4 yrs > £25k > £100k Description of Goods and Services Required to be Procured Procurement Office Informed? Yes/No
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Applications Division 3.5 Detailed Benefits and Costs Worksheet
5 Year Summary IT Services Benefits Costs £50,000 £29,645 Cost/Benefit Ratio BENEFITS IT Services Support Groups Colleges Total COSTS IT Services IS Apps Total IS Apps Project Services IS Apps Development Team IS Apps Development Technology IS Apps Production Management IS Apps Service Management Other IS External Consultancy Hardware Software Support Groups Colleges Year 1: Detailed Resource Estimate by Stage (in DAYS) Days 83 14 6 59 2 2 10 Year 1 £10,000 £10,000 £10,000 £30,000 Year 1 Cost £21,995 £3,710 £1,590 £15,635 £530 £530 £2,650 £5,000 Days Year 2 £10,000 £10,000 £10,000 £30,000 Year 3 £10,000 £10,000 £10,000 £30,000 Support Groups £50,000 Colleges £50,000
Project Proposal 2009-10
Total IS Apps day rate £150,000 £29,645 5.06 Year 4 £10,000 £10,000 £10,000 £30,000 Year 5 £10,000 £10,000 £10,000 £30,000 Year 3 Cost Days Cost Days Total £50,000 £50,000 £50,000 £150,000 Year 4 Cost Days Year 5 Cost External day rate Other IS day rate Business Area day rate £265 £1,000 £265 £265
Year 2
IT Services Project Services Dev Team Dev Tech 4 3 3 10 5 4 25 5 59 Prod Man 1 1 Services Man 1 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 10 External Consult.
Support Groups Business Partner Other (incl. Procurement)
Colleges All
Other IS
Planning 1 1 Business Analysis 1 2 System Analysis & Design 2 2 Build / Configure 2 Integration 1 Acceptance 1 1 Deployment 4 Closure 2 Total Resource 14 6 Area below here can be used for any detailed benefits costings
2
2
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