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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Executive Summary
IT Services has four principal objectives:
1. The development and support of an IT, Audio Visual and communications
infrastructure to enhance the student experience ad facilitate the modern Teaching,
Learning, Research and Administrative environments expected and required by our
students, staff and associated Businesses.
2. The development and support of the information systems needed to enable staff and
students to make evidence based decisions at the strategic, tactical and day to day
level.
3. To ensure that all our services take place in a secure, scaleable, resilient and
sustainable environment in accordance with relevant policy and legislation.
4. To facilitate other Schools and Services with responsibility for supplying IT related
services to ensure efficient and effective integration of processes, appropriate
resilience and best value.
Our major achievements and contributions over the last year have included:
• Opening of the Sir John Cass School building
• Opening of the Stratford Computing and Conference Centre
• Replaced the Wireless LAN with excellent UEL wide Coverage
• Implementation of the new Library System on Virtual Servers
• Extension of student service desk support to 24 x 7 by contracting with NorMan.
• Updated the Service Helpdesk to adopt best practice and ITIL compliance standards
• Completing the migration to the new Stratford Server Room
• Completion of UEL‟s entry into the Eduroam service
• Delivered the baseline Agresso Business World infrastructure
• Improved UEL‟s external email reputation and gained places on a number of
beneficial email “whitelists”
• Implementation of Kaspersky Anti-Virus UEL wide and supported students with the
provision of effective anti-virus protection and guidance
Our main challenges are
1. The rapid increase in student and staff dependency on the IT Infrastructure in all
aspects of their working life is being impeded by the current network design and
infrastructure.
2. Satisfying student and staff expectations in an environment that is increasingly
complex and inter-related, with a high level of service expected to be available 24*7,
365 days a year.
3. Resource limitations lead to single points of failure and individuals being over
stretched.
4. Effective organisation and management of our corporate information for decision
makers.
5. The infrastructure needs to be re-engineered to modern industry standards to
support our „transforming for excellence‟ vision and collaborative working.
6. Sustainability of the aging IT infrastructure in the current financial climate.
7. Provisioning of services based on user identity.
8. Physical & logical security of people, data and systems in an increasingly hostile
environment.
9. A number of projects continue to materialise during the year which have not been
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
identified in the planning round. These do have a significant impact on our effective
use of resources and consequently delivering our services. Our IT governance
structure needs to prioritise these ad-hoc demands.
Key strategic service priorities for action in 2010/11
Strategic Service Key Actions Link to Institutional priority
Priority
Priority 1
Development and Re-develop our infrastructure to All
support of the IT, improve capacity, performance
Audio Visual and and resilience.
Communication
infrastructure needed Develop our Desktop to improve Student satisfaction
to facilitate a modern delivery, flexibility and reduce
Teaching, Learning, environmental footprint where
Research and appropriate.
Administrative Convert six trading floor clusters to Student satisfaction
environment for our quiet computer teaching rooms at
students, staff and Docklands. Replace open access
associated round tables and chairs and
Businesses. improve power resilience for
laptops.
Address complaints from teaching Student satisfaction
staff at Stratford about lack of quiet
computer teaching facilities.
Integrate communication facilities
Student Satisfaction
with students (Text, e-mail, phone,
Web, UELDirect) and provide
additional data storage. Make
further improvements to
organisational directories.
Enhancement and update to audio All
visual services in teaching spaces
including the ability to record
lectures.
Update the assistive technology Student Satisfaction
available for students
Priority 2
Development and Implement automated attendance Student Satisfaction and
support of the recording across all learning Portfolio Development.
information systems spaces and interface with new
needed to enable timetabling system. Ensure
staff and students to compatibility with existing and
make evidence future catering and security
based decision at requirements for SMART Cards.
both the strategic
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
and day to day level. Review UEL Direct usage and Student Satisfaction
Web interface and refresh in line
with external web developments.
Review how well our core business All
processes are supported by our
student records system and make
recommendations for
improvements or replacement.
Enhance our business intelligence All
capabilities by implementing MIS
personalised dashboards for key
staff roles.
Implement Microsoft Sharepoint to All
replace our current intranet. This
will allow us to introduce a
document management and
collaborative working capability as
well as enhance our management
information capabilities.
Priority 3
Ensure all electronic Implement identity management All
interaction take place function for staff and students
in a secure and including password authentication
resilient environment to ensure improved security.
in accordance with
the relevant Provide a standard encryption All
legislation. mechanism to improve data
security on mobile devices and
removable media.
Implement a system to assist in All
the management of IT Assets and
software updates and to improve
the proactive management of our
IT infrastructure.
Provide additional network and All
security analysis tools to improve
the pro-active management of the
infrastructure 24/7 including
activity logging.
Priority 4
Facilitate other Delivering the IT infrastructure to All
Schools and meet our Estate Strategy
Services with developments – Sports centre,
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
responsibility for Stratford Library and Stratford
delivering IT related Island.
Services to ensure
maximum integration Provide increased storage capacity All
of processes, for multi-media objects.
resilience and value.
Implement Phase 2 of the new All
Finance System.
Priority 1: Development, delivery and support of the IT, Audio Visual and Communications
infrastructure needed to facilitate a modern and significantly “online” Teaching, Learning,
Research and Administrative environment for our students, staff and associated Businesses
Issues
Major causes of student/staff dissatisfaction with IT facilities are:
Student printing at assessment submission dates remain a challenge despite a number
of initiatives undertaken to improve this system.
Performance issues with UELPlus continue, trials of loaned, high specification servers
have not been conclusive and need further investigation by the supplier.
Complaints from teaching staff and students about the noise and difficulty organising a
class on the Trading Floor are also now evident from the new Stratford Computer
centre.
Across both campuses, a number of computers are not working at any point in time.
Issues with Mac support & integration into mainstream service provision continue to be
a challenge, especially for AVA students. Staff providing University Mac support,
provided by HSS, have been redeployed, which has exacerbated the already poor
situation.
Demand for increased networked access and services in teaching rooms and the Trading
Floor/Computer Centre is causing student and staff dissatisfaction. This is largely the result of
a network infrastructure that was acceptable upon design/implementation but is no longer “fit
for purpose”, resulting in a number of performance bottlenecks and impacting upon user
satisfaction.
Operation & support of an aging core systems infrastructure which is impacting upon the
delivery of email, business & teaching applications and data.
As a result of the expanding numbers of computers for student use, our servicing and repair
costs have escalated.
Meeting the servicing costs of AV equipped classrooms is exceeding the budget.
Both our increased student numbers and the exchange rate against the dollar and euro are
affecting the costs of software licences and equipment. Consequently, operational and project
costs are increasing which is challenging the budget.
Demands to meet in-force and planned environmental and carbon reduction targets.
Computer equipment disposal under the WEEE regulations and ensuing compliance with data
protection requires improved auditing facilities.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Improve Management of Changes and Communications within the delivery of IT
Services.
Users are often not aware of changes to IT, these need to be communicated and controlled.
Analysis of new action proposed for 2010/11 onwards
Student Satisfaction –
Printing - Issues with the reliability of printers and printing software coupled with the effects of
the economic downturn on preferred suppliers caused distress to students attempting to meet
their assessment submission deadlines. In response, we undertook an external review to
improve the student printing system and the following recommendations emerged:
The reinstallation or replacement of the print system software, PCounter.
The replacement of RICOH printers which were proving to be unreliable despite being
less than two years old and their consequent replacement as our supplier of choice.
The supply of additional printers from the contract supplier during assessment hand-in
periods.
The PCounter system was re-installed and a new printer contract agreed with OCE. While
initial deliveries and reliability were positive, OCE was unable to meet our demand for future
printers during the critical assessment period. We are working with the supplier to ensure
delivery of replacement printers and will keep the situation under close review through
Semester B. During this period we are reviewing Staff printing together with facilities and the
Print Centre as part of a £50K JISC Environmental IT project. Our recommendation is to
upgrade the Print System for both staff and students.
This project should be funded from student subscriptions and savings from uneconomic staff
printing, although some additional investment in the first year will be required. To gain
additional value including wireless printing which will be implemented. £25K
UELPlus – The current systems supplier, Blackboard, has recommended improved hardware
to resolve our performance and failures issues. We hired new servers to trial the solution but
continue to experience problems although less extreme than in the previous year. We will
continue to work with Blackboard on this issue in the short term, however we should consider
moving to a hosted solution by Blackboard next year where performance issues would
become their problem to resolve for the remaining life of the application. In parallel with this
investigations and development should be carried out into the next generation of UEL‟s VLE.
The total cost for these two activities is £90K
Student Computing – We have installed campus wide wireless facilities this year after
replacing the previous system. The WLan provides excellent coverage over all our sites and
caters for the increasing numbers of students and staff using mobile devices. We have not
seen a corresponding reduction in the use of fixed computing resources and increased
student numbers continue to negatively affect our student to computer ratio. The opening of
the Computer centre at Stratford was targeted to achieve the 8:1 average for benchmark
institutions although even with the retention of Duncan House our ratio is around 9.5:1. We
should plan to look for further opportunities to provide additional student computing resources
either in dedicated Post Graduate centres and Stratford Island. It is essential to continue or
improve our current equipment replacement policy if student and staff satisfaction is to be
maintained. Within this context, its also proposed to move Student email to an externally
hosted solution, this will offer and has been proven to offer, students a far more receptive
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
experience, better aligned with their personal email, removing a number of complexities and
duplication, as well as reducing the overhead/burden on UEL for operating an infrastructure
for student email. This is a full integrated solution, so staff & students can still communicate
efficiently & effectively by email and there are significant infrastructure benefits for UEL. As
part of this move, students would also benefit from a hosted data storage facility
Replacement Costs for servers, storage and client devices £850K
The Stratford Student Computing Centre has been operational since August 2009 and we
expect student satisfaction levels to be greatly improved when this year‟s student satisfaction
report is published. The additional resources to support the Service desk at Stratford have
been deployed and anecdotal feedback is positive. Many of the new computers in both this
area and CASS have suffered a failure of their power switch, although the supplier has now
replaced all switches from this batch. This incident together with similar problems with power
supplies and hard disks on other batches of computers from different manufacturers leads us
to consider changing our strategy to purchase from a single tier one manufacturer and initiate
the move to thin client computing and client/application virtualisation over a 3 to 5 year period.
While the initial purchase may be up 20% higher, a longer life expectancy for the
infrastructure, coupled with reduced support costs and improved service will lead to improved
student satisfaction is considered to be worth the initial investment.
The behavioural problems on the Trading Floor are generally much better following the
increase in security; student and staff are reporting their experience has greatly improved
during the day, although evenings can still be challenging and must be improved. We have
introduced rolling timetable displays on each computer cluster to inform students which
computers are available and which are required for teaching. We continue to receive
complaints from teaching staff and students that the open plan environment and location of
the IT Service Desk is inappropriate and not conducive to support & learning due to noise
from adjacent clusters and the flow of students through the centre. Building work and
infrastructure costs £65K to reconfigure the IT Service Desk and improve
communications for students & staff
Similar complaints are occurring from staff using the new Stratford Computing Centre. We
recommend that four clusters at Strafford are also enclosed. Building work and
infrastructure costs £200K
The Docklands Trading Floor is 5 years old this year and while we have updated computers,
the small open access cluster furniture, helpdesk and a number of the chairs are dirty or
broken. Other furniture and AV equipment is lasting well and does not yet need replacing. We
must ensure our facilities remain in good repair to continue to aid the student experience,
while attracting new students and ensure current students are satisfied with their
environment. £50K
IT Network see Priority 3 below for details; however this development is a pre-requisite for
many of our developments and customer satisfaction and is therefore a Priority 1 issue.
We have over 160 classrooms equipped with our standard Audio Visual facilities, many of
which have been in place for over 3 years. A number of electronic white boards need to be
replaced due to wear and tear or misuse and many bulbs in projectors are failing. We need to
recognise the costs of maintaining these facilities to a satisfactory standard within the budget.
The 250 seat lecture theatre at Dockland is now 10 years old and the AV infrastructure need
to be updated to be compatible with current standards. £525K for replacement and repair of
AV equipment in 12 rooms on Docklands Campus and 27 at Stratford Campus plus the
Docklands 250 seat lecture theatre upgrade.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
We have developed an Office 2007 version of the Windows XP Desktop and are currently in
the later stages of user testing. This will be installed on staff computers over the next few
months and rolled out to all student computers over the summer. We are in the early stages
of testing Windows 7 which we will incorporate into the rollout for students if time permits. We
are redeveloping our application delivery methods that will enable us to make updates more
frequently, reduce the development time for new desktop applications and also enable us to
have systems pre-imaged by a supplier prior to delivery. This will improve the delivery times
of new and upgraded computers to the desk. £50K for consultancy and services.
While we have trained some of our technical staff to provide additional support for Mac
computers located in the Multi Media Centre and School of Architecture and Visual Arts,
overall Mac support this year has declined as a result of the redeployment of the Multi Media
Mac technician by the School. This position was originally established to provide University
wide Mac support as part of the re-organisation of IT Technical Support in 2001. We would
recommend bringing Mac support back into the IT Service remit and integrated into the
existing technical support organisation. 2 * Technicians £80K – could be redeployed from
schools - see the staffing plan for Technician costs
In previous budget round we have contained the costs of WEEE regulations and repairs
within the existing equipment budget by efficiency savings in procurements. This year repairs
costs will have to be met from the equipment replacement budget reducing the number of
replacement computer available to students and staff. Clearly if this situation is allowed to
continue, our replacement cycle will be extended placing further pressure on the repair
budget. Repairs and Disposal costs £50K increase in revenue budget
Change Control
A change control process needs to be adopted and rigorously enforced. All staff should be
required to adhere to change control processes and actions should be taken when this is not
done. Implement ITIL change control module and recruit Change Manager. £60K - see the
staffing plan for Change Manager costs.
Priority 2: Development, support and integrated access to information systems needed to
enable staff and students to make evidence based decision at both the strategic and day to
day level.
Issues
UEL has a complex IT environment with many applications and databases requiring user
identity data. Some automation of common tasks, especially for student accounts, has
already taken place mainly through scheduled scripted tasks. However, due to the nature of
the existing environment and homogenous growth, it is becoming increasingly complex for
students and other users (members of staff and sponsored accounts) to gain the access they
require in an expedient and consolidated manner.
The use of UEL Direct has continued to increase during term-time, and particularly during
enrolment with over 20,000 students using UEL Direct each month, logging-in on average 15
times. This year, further improvements have been made to the student timetables and
students in the two schools participating in the attendance recording pilots can view their
attendance record. Updating of the web interface has been delayed while we recruited an
experience web developer, but will now proceed in the spring.
Students find our communications channels confusing as there is no integration of systems,
e-mail, text, UEL Direct.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
The increasing use of e-mail as a marketing and communications tool has been impeded by
the increase in the frequency of Internet provides blocking our e-mail domain.
As identified last year, Managers find the number of often complex reports available in MIS
increasing and coupled with the number of new management users, is leading to a significant
increase in queries being requested to validate information.
CMT have agreed to replace the current timetabling system to improve the allocation of
teaching rooms and ad hoc booking of rooms by individuals. In the meantime, Corporate
Systems have delivered an interim room booking system to Timetable champions within
Schools.
The Pre-Qualification Tender for the Attendance recording system to support retention and
the UK Border Agency Points Based System was inconclusive. Ultimately, this project has
been linked with the new timetable project to ensure compatibility across both systems.
Our auditors identified there was a need to establish a Data Quality management structure to
ensure the statutory data returned to external bodies and used internally for our strategic
decision making is sound.
During the selection of our new Finance system (Aggreso), we took the opportunity to gain an
overview of the associated Student Record systems available from competing suppliers. At
this time, we are not convinced there is a suitable replacement for SITs from a single supplier
with equivalent or greater functionality.
The Trent HR systems self-service facilities are still not in general use by staff although a pilot
in IT Services and CITE is about to commence. Further issues were identified during the
previous testing phase that had to be addressed by the supplier prior to a general rollout.
Analysis of new action proposed for 2010/11 onwards
Intranet Development – SharePoint
Further development of the pilot intranet development
Production/live implementation, migrate pilot SharePoint environment to production
platform to live. Note: this excludes any hardware requirements
Integration with UKBA PBS SITs module for document integration/storage
Integration with Agresso for document management
Integration/replacement of the current SITs eVision student/staff portal “UEL Direct”
with SharePoint portal, this would involve re-branding/re-launching the portal. This
would require migration of non SITs dependant staff reporting, links/urls etc. to new
portal
The estimated funding required to deliver these initiatives is £50K including implementation
and consultancy costs.
UELDirect
We have appointed an experienced Web developer to take forward the refresh of UELDirect
and to develop a consistent approach to our Web interface design in collaboration with the
Web team in Corporate Marketing. Consultants are developing a prototype SharePoint portal
to provide Intranet functionality for improved delivery of our management information and
workflow applications such as submission and management of course work, initiatives in this
respect include;
Migration of 3 business critical MS Access database applications for Employability and
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Student Services to MS SQL Server backend and web application front end – estimate
£45K
Mobile applications for students, initial first year product implementation and license –
including mobile computing device (iPhone) application for staff during Clearing and
Enrolment and Future mobile commerce developments using either web applications
or App style development £90K
Enhance SITs eVision portal look & feel to align with new portal look & feel £12K
Paperless Admissions, business requirement identified by Marketing. £50K
Contingency funding for new modules/upgrades to core business applications i.e.
SITs/Agresso/Occam modules relating from unscheduled projects/legislation. £50K
The total estimated funding required to deliver these initiatives is £247K including
implementation and consultancy costs
Identity Management, Organisation Directories and our email reputation.
UEL have a complex identity management solution which includes manual tasks, scheduled
scripted tasks and views and applications which have been developed in-house. Following a
review of the current environment and in response to a longstanding audit action relating to
this item, we believe that there would be substantial benefits for UEL by replacing the existing
piecemeal solution, with one based on system driven automation, initiated by the HR &
Student systems This would include improved supportability, reduced administrative costs,
quicker and more reliable account creation and modification improving security and end user
experience for both students and staff £150K covering development & implementation
services & infrastructure (hardware & software)
The increasing use of e-mail as a marketing and communications tool has been impeded by
the increase in the frequency of internet providers blocking our e-mail domain. Internet
providers take this action when they receive a number of complaints about SPAM from a
particular internet domain. We have put in place a service administrator to manage our e-mail
reputation which has dramatically improved the situation and UEL‟s external email reputation.
This is currently unfunded and need to be addressed this year. £30K for the contracted
service - see the staffing plan for administrator costs.
Timetabling, Attendance Recording and Points Based System implementation.
The Pre-Qualification Tender for the Attendance recording system was inconclusive as no
single supplier was able to demonstrate that they could fully meet our requirements. Although
the RFID data collection pilot looked promising, feedback from students and school registrars
concerning the reliability of identification and the lack of compatibility with our security
systems has resulted in a change in our specification, to a contactless proximity card
compatible with all our existing systems as well as providing the ability to add an electronic
purse at a later date. Funding will be required to fit out all learning spaces with proximity
readers this year. £240K will be required for installation in 200 Teaching & Learning
Spaces.
The cost for the timetabling system will appear in the Facilities plan however and integration
work with our SITs system and timetable displays will be required from within our own
resources. £40K
Management Information
The re-development of the Management Information System to provide managers with
individual, customisable dashboards of their data is progressing It is anticipated this
will be based on Sharepoint technology as such there is a cost estimate of £150K for
product/software and consultancy, hardware & infrastructure costs will be
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
funded from the server replacement programme detailed in Priority One .
As examples of further reports requested from Delta and MIS this year;
Interfaces for pilot UEL+ Moodle project
Method for tracking application/decision making process (to enable us to track how
long forms have been with Schools awaiting decisions (needs to be loaded from SITS
to MIS)
Automated list of Schools were application forms are outstanding and awaiting
decision
Enquiry data from Hobsons EMT to be loaded into SITS to provide conversion
information and tracking of enquiry to application
Ability to schedule interviews for applicants using SITS - and related reporting
Demographic info for applicants including postcode/gender/age etc
For UCAS applicants - their school/college information
Ability to load into MIS, bought- in data from UCAS/HESA to enable comparable
market data
Summary of qualifications on entry for enrolled students and applicants
Phone stats in MIS for clearing reports
Data Quality
The Data Quality Board was established this year and has identified a prioritised work
programme to improve our corporate data. An Information Improvement manager has been
appointed on a 0.5 basis working on improving the quality of our data as well contributing to
the redevelopment of our management information capability. A process review of the
student data validation exercise is almost complete and recommendations are emerging.
Given the current difficult external funding climate, the cap on student numbers and the
issues in data quality and governance experienced at London Metropolitan University, it is
imperative that the University adopts strategies and processes aimed at improving the
integrity of our corporate data.
This post has now been established as full time.
Priority 3: Ensure all electronic interaction take place in a secure and resilient environment in
accordance with the relevant legislation.
Issues
The current network, while fit for purpose at the point of its original design, is now no longer
so. It has not tracked the changing nature of UEL (i.e. making more services available online
or via the WWW) and is in need of both redesign and equipment upgrades to meet the
growing needs of the University. Some of the areas identified as problematic and in need of
remediation include;
Design and Availability
The lack of modular components in the current design makes it difficult to adapt the network
to changing business requirements or adopt new services and technology. The network has
homogeneously grown and has not followed best practices in a number of areas, leading to a
number of points of failure. Resiliency is not built into the current design and consequently,
equipment failures can affect service availability for large user communities.
Performance
The current network has limitations with both physical devices and design, and this is causing
sub-optimal performance. It also effects general data transfer and introduces delay when
performing tasks such as logging into workstations and transferring data to network locations.
In addition, the reliability of delay intolerant applications such as voice and video based
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
services and streaming video (CCTV, e-learning etc) will be reduced. Network performance
related delays will have a negative impact on the productivity of all network users. Instances
of degradation of the IT Network has continued to affect user satisfaction.
Logical Security
At present, some of the recommended and expected security features which are designed to
protect the UEL network and the integrity of its data are not in place. The current logical
design exasperates this problem and compounds daily operations management. Malicious
attacks on network based services continue both from internal and external sources. There
remains the need for greater awareness of the implications and possibilities of data loss due
to theft or carelessness of users.
Physical Security
Also under the security umbrella is the overall campus security requirement via CCTV, for
which the network backbone is the sole transport/mechanism. The planned expansions for
CCTV, including again the demands new buildings, 2012 Olympics along with business as
usual operations, requirements for increased vigilance and constant monitoring ability places
a heavy demand on our network infrastructure
Management
As a result of the homogenous growth, devices on the network have been allowed to move
away from required operating level and do not conform to an internal policy or template with
the consequence that risks from configuration errors are increasing and the efficiency of fault
resolution activities is reduced/hampered due to disparate configurations.
Visualisation and Reporting
A combination of inadequacies in the current network monitoring software and the inability to
identify and deliver granular statistics due to design issues prevents the required statistical
output from being generated by the network monitoring system. This makes strategic capacity
planning difficult. In addition, the lack of monitoring information forces the support department
to undertake a reactive fault resolution practice.
We remain without a resilient power supply to our Server Rooms at Dockland and Stratford
with the consequence that loss of power for more than a few minutes will result in the system
shutting down until power is re-established resulting in an probable loss of recently entered
user data.
While we will have relocated the Stratford Server room to ensure greater resilience and
improve capacity, our telecommunications at Stratford is still housed separately in University
House. This leads to additional patch and network requirements and is not as well integrated
with our data networks as our other sites. The site of the current room will impinge heavily on
any refurbishment of University House.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Analysis of new action proposed for 20010/11 onwards
IT Network
It is proposed to initiate the implementation of an IT network infrastructure and management
solution aimed at supporting the growth of UEL and the next generation of learning
technologies. In addition, it will provide a reliable platform for the requirements for new estate
developments, the 2012 Olympics and operational changes (e.g. IT Infrastructure
virtualisation), with benefits and deliverables as follows.
Virtualisation
Our ability to rationalise and consolidate the IT Infrastructure to rapidly deliver and support
“on demand/virtual” IT services and to deliver more engaging content to both on-campus and
remote students.
Unified Communications
Delivery of a secure communications platform, which allows the deployment of advanced web
collaboration, instant messaging and video conferencing. The platform uses the existing
network infrastructure and consequently, reduces cost, maintenance and the impact on the
environment.
Mobility
A unified wireless network delivers mobile network access for students and staff members as
well as enabling asset tracking and enhancing campus network security.
Digital Media System
Digital Signage replaces static message boards with digital signs to allow easy
communication of information such as classroom changes, events, general announcements
and emergency messages.
Desktop video enables anytime, anywhere learning by delivering live and pre-recorded
lectures directly to student‟s desktops.
Enterprise TV delivers campus-produced and commercial video on demand to large displays
in dorm lounges and classrooms. Students select and control content with a remote control
The system can deliver media in the right format for any device, ranging from mobile phones
to large displays.
Network Requirements
All of the above solutions, in addition to our business as usual, security and changing network
demands require a modern network capable of delivering differential services to applications
based on their requirements in an “anytime, anywhere” context. The services, requirements
and applications used in the “Next Generation” Teaching and Learning technologies are
generally less forgiving than traditional network applications and, in most cases will not work
on networks that have grown organically rather than being specifically designed to
accommodate them. When these requirements are aligned with the increased growth of data
and associated access requirements, the network must be able to guarantee the applications
end-to-end bandwidth to meet their needs.
In addition to funds made available in 2009/2010, our pre-tender cost estimate for
2010/2011 is £250K, to fully fund the project which will be delivered in a phased
approach but must be delivered by the end of 2011
Stratford Telephony Relocation
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
In support of Estates plans for University House, if funded, relocating the telecoms equipment
at Stratford will cost an additional £200K. The enabling work has been carried out as part of
the new Server room implementation at Stratford.
Power Management & Environmental Efficiencies
We remain without an effective resilient power supply to our Server Room at Docklands with
the consequence that loss of power for more than a few minutes will result in the system
shutting down until power is re-established resulting in loss of student and staff IT services,
including email & file storage and potential corruption to recently entered user data.
This item has been a recurring theme in recent KPMG audits of IT Services, as such in
partnership with Facilities, changes are proposed to the power management of the Docklands
computer suite via the implementation of an all encompassing uninterruptible power supply
(UPS), making provision for the connection of an independent generator driven power supply.
The costs for the acquisition & installation of an environmentally efficient and appropriately
configured UPS and associated electrical works is estimated at £80k
Disaster Recover/Business Continuity - Data Security/Management (backup, restore &
archive)
Building from the purchase of the Commvault Data Management solution, it‟s proposed to
complete the enterprise deployment of data management processes, which will lead to
significant reductions in manpower and physical resources needed to secure UEL data
infrastructure. Benefits will include the de-duplication of saved date. archiving & encryption
where we need it, primary copy and/or secondary copy encryption which are essential for the
data held in UEL‟s core business systems. As a consequence, we will be able to store more
backup sets with less data loss between each backup set whilst reducing the storage required
to retain this data resulting in longer retention cycles on disk. Most importantly, recovery will
be greatly improved. Infrastructure investment required £55K
Network Access Control, Security Analyser and Scanner - The ability to manage network
access and quickly discover which PCs and devices may be non-compliant, infected with
malware, analyse network utilization and provide meaningful reporting on the performance of
the network and applications. The system should provide the end user with an ability to
become clean/compliant but also be able to ensure network policies are being adhered to and
provide reporting on breaches.
Asset Management - A solution is required for both hardware and software enabling IT
services to manage both the hardware estate and software estate accurately. Management of
this estate could provide lower cost savings in hardware and the unnecessary duplication of
software licences. It will also provide a better overview of our security exposure.
Server Anti-Virus - A more effective solution is required in terms of the control of virus
management for the server infrastructure.
Patch Management - A more effective solution is required in terms of the control of software
updates for all operating system and applications regardless of vendor.
The total for all of the above Network Access Management and Security initiatives is £118K
Priority 4: Facilitate other Schools and Services with responsibility for delivering IT related
Services to ensure maximum integration of processes, resilience and value.
Issues
The completion of phase 1 of the new Finance system provides the core Finance Accounting
system and reports, plus the initial rollout of procurement. Further work will be required to
Confidential Page 13 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
implement the full procurement system, asset management and improved reporting function.
Our email infrastructure is now 2 generations behind and issues are beginning to occur in its
operation and continued operation in the virtualised infrastructure we are planning. In
addition, there are increasing demands for increased mail storage, more user friendly web
access and reduction in operational overheads
The new Library System is implemented and is our first major system to be implemented on
Virtual Servers, thereby substantially reducing the number of servers required to support it.
However, there is a requirement to provide a resilient service and this necessitates
developing a second virtual server configuration at Stratford.
Provide technical assistance and advice for a range of assistive technologies to help students
and staff working in collaboration with Student Services and Library and Learning Services.
During the planning period, there will be a requirement to design and possibly begin, the
implementation of the IT infrastructure to support our approved Estates projects.
The outcome of the Research Review is likely to identify additional infrastructure and/or
software requirements to support Research staff and students. A provision should be
considered for this activity.
Support for the Olympics may require improved infrastructure within the student residences.
Analysis of new action proposed for 20010/11 onwards
New Finance System Implementation
On completion of the first phase of the project, Corporate Systems will need to support an
increasing range of on-line finance systems and interfaces e.g. Student Accounting Module
(SAM), Library and Residential Systems. Consideration will be given to migrating the student
finance data from SITs to Agresso, with the objective of improving our reporting facilities for
financial information and the implementation of an on-line payment system.
Email Migration
In line with the above comments about moving to Office 2007 and the proposed move of
student email to a hosted solution, its also proposed to migrate staff email to the latest version
of Microsoft Exchange (Exchange 2010). The version offers UEL a number of operational and
infrastructure benefits. A pilot activity is underway and the infrastructure needed is in place
and a proposal will be made to CMT by Summer 2010 to confirm the complete migration in
readiness for the new academic year in September.
Library System Resilience
Installation of resilient hardware at Stratford to ensure the Library Service/System remains
available if a failure occurs at Docklands. Application and Data Server £50K
Intranet replacement with Enterprise portal.
While a full implementation is likely to exceed £300K over time, savings will be made by not
replacing existing storage space. An initial investment of £60K has been made to provide
servers and software to pilot an application in CITE and ESDS. If successful, further
developments will require prioritisation with an additional £100K required this year to progress
the project.
Estate Infrastructure and Olympic Support
Following the design of our new estate developments, we will need to order fibre network
Confidential Page 14 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
installations for the Sports centre development and Strafford East due to the lead in time
required by BT. The replacement of the Core Switch with higher capacity devices is likely to
be required at Docklands. This can only be implemented with network downtime and
therefore requires careful planning. The network connections will be funded as part of building
projects, although a Core Switch replacement will cost approximately £120K There is very
likely to be a need to improve the residences infrastructure to support our commitments
around the Olympics. This will need implementing during this planning year.
Research infrastructure
Specialist software and relationships with corporate partners to support Research can often
be shared across subject areas. A sponsored budget to provide these services would reduce
overall institutional costs.
Efficiency Savings Scenario Option:
What measures would be taken to reduce costs in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13?
Rationalisation of Software Licences £50K
Renegotiation of telecommunication maintenance and cost £70K
Reduction in computer replacement costs and reduced power consumption from
Green IT initiatives £70K
Infrastructure consolidation and Virtualisation £150k reduction from licensing and
maintenance changes.
Entry into partnerships with technology organisations facilitating shared risk &
reward for UEL operations, research, teaching and enhancing student employability
Transition to “thin client/network” computing will significantly reduce our required
spend on new/replacement “thin client” PC‟s. Savings estimates are in excess of
£350K over a 3-4 year deployment programme but will require an initial
investment (as referenced in the above 2010/2011 plan)
What measures would be taken to seek alternative revenue sources over the same
period;
Charge for Student Internet Connection £100K
Facilitation of shared services/space £50K (discussions initiated with Birkbeck
College over providing computer room space pre Stratford Island) but other shared
service opportunities may exist and need investigation
Charge for “persistent” password resets by students
Charge for support of non-UEL equipments (i.e. student laptops)
Sale of IT hardware & software direct by UEL (as opposed to John Smiths)
Which aspects of your planned activity in 2010-11 would be affected, and how?
Possible data quality and loss of productivity.
What additional risk exposure might result from these reduced costs or increased
activities?
Projects delayed or cancelled
Student and Staff dissatisfaction
Infrastructure failure and increased maintenance costs, impacting service delivery
Confidential Page 15 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Risk Guidance
Impact (Rated 1-5) Likelihood (Rated 1-5)
5: Catastrophic: 5. Almost certain
• University forced to cease business or loss of >80%
a substantial part of the University [net > 20%
turnover]
• Multiple major injuries or deaths
4: Major 4. Very Likely
• Financial net impact of >6% of turnover 51%-80%
Substantial regulatory consequences
• Major negative sanction by Hefce
• Major international adverse publicity
• Death of an individual or several major
injuries
3: Serious 3. Likely
• Financial net impact of 3-5% of turnover 21%-50%
• Addressable regulatory consequences
• Adverse publicity in national papers
• Major injury
2: Moderate 2. Possible
• Financial net impact of 1-2% of turnover 6%-20%
• No regulatory consequences Adverse
publicity locally or in THES
• Minor injury
1: Minor 1. Rare
• Financial net impact of less than 1% of <5%
turnover
• No other significant impacts
Control Score Description
1 Above average – controls are considered to be adequate and highly
effective in mitigating the identified risk
2 Average – controls are considered to be adequate to mitigate the
identified risk, but could be further enhanced
3 Below average – controls are considered to be inadequate to
mitigating the identified risk and could be further strengthened.
Confidential Page 16 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Risk Register
Inherent Risk Residual Risk
Likelihood (1-5)
Likelihood (1-5)
Tolerable (Y/N)
‘Inherent’ Risk
Residual Risk
Impact (1-5)
Impact (1-5)
Controls
already in Risk Planned
Category Risk place Owner Action Dependencies
Compliance/Reputation/ Staff or students 3 4 12 Standardised 2 4 8 N CMT, Automatic, Budget availability
Financial install unlicensed builds, manual Director of system
software, audit and system IT controls and Staff / Student's
Undertaking illegal controls and Services, vulnerability acceptance of
activity. software. Network reporting. controls and
Campus licence Manager enforcement of
Agreements and policies
Computer Use
Policy
Operational/Reputation Increasing hostile 4 3 12 Manual review 3 2 6 N Director of Increased Budget availability
internet antivirus and IT automation,
environment will security logs. Services, and user self
result in, an Firewalls, Access Network service.
increasing attempt controls. User Manager, Improved
of user access communication Corporate security and
denied and data and training. Systems vulnerability
and identity theft. Manager reporting.
Financial Investment in IT 3 4 12 Cross training of 3 3 9 Y Director of Improvements Budget availability
infrastructure and staff. Project Finance, to project
human resources prioritisation, Director of management CMT agreement
not sufficient to planning, and IT,CMT procedures.
successfully management of Information
complete all expectations. ITIL Systems
projects and meet processes and committee to
expectations of procedures priorities
support and projects.
operations.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Inherent Risk Residual Risk
Likelihood (1-5)
Likelihood (1-5)
Tolerable (Y/N)
‘Inherent’ Risk
Residual Risk
Impact (1-5)
Impact (1-5)
Controls
already in Risk Planned
Category Risk place Owner Action Dependencies
Financial World Financial 3 4 12 Necessity of 2 2 4 Y CMT, Review Budget availability
volatility increases resource Director of contracts
the costs of reviewed IT annually for
maintenance annually, Services, best value.
contracts which contract Network
often go up by negotiations. Manager Continual
more than our Peer and technical
budget increase. technical review review of
of products and products and
investment. investment.
Operational Unable to deliver 3 3 9 Project planning 2 2 4 Y Director of Continuation of
projects due to and monitoring. IT Services ITIL process
software or Review of and staff
hardware not projects at SMT; awareness
performing as Planning training
expected. meetings.
Purchases based
on technical
decisions.
ITIL & Prince II
processes and
procedures
followed.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Inherent Risk Residual Risk
Likelihood (1-5)
Likelihood (1-5)
Tolerable (Y/N)
‘Inherent’ Risk
Residual Risk
Impact (1-5)
Impact (1-5)
Controls
already in Risk Planned
Category Risk place Owner Action Dependencies
Operational/Compliance Loss of data through 4 3 16 Disaster 2 2 4 Y Director of Standby Budget availability
breakdown, virus, recovery Finance, generator for
theft, user error, planning, IT Director of power supply. CMT agreement
disaster or loss of security IT,CMT Automatic,
power. measures, system
physical security controls and
measures. event
reporting. New
DR Provisions.
Strategic Managers do not use 3 3 9 Review interface 2 2 4 Y Director of CMT Training Corporate System
MIS and Delta and complexity IT Services day Resource
information in and improve Rollout of
making decisions. staff upgraded MIS
development. Additional
resource to
assist
managers
Operational Failure of systems at 3 3 9 Inter-school / 2 3 6 Y Director of Inter-school /
critical junctures services co- IT Services, services co-
cause institutional ordination and Director of ordination and
problems. planning. DR Facilities, IT planning.
plan, resilience Managers/
in systems and Supervisors Improved
resources, recovery
equipment across site.
replacement
Confidential Page 19 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
cycle.
Inherent Risk Residual Risk
Likelihood (1-5)
Likelihood (1-5)
Tolerable (Y/N)
‘Inherent’ Risk
Residual Risk
Impact (1-5)
Impact (1-5)
Controls
already in Risk Planned
Category Risk place Owner Action Dependencies
Reputational/ Compliance Staff working alone 3 2 6 Working alone 2 2 4 Y Director of
/ Financial may be injured or procedures, IT
may result in loss of security, remote Services,
resource. working / design Network
of workplace. Manager,
Corporate
Systems
Manager
Operational Specialist staff 2 3 6 Market value 2 2 4 Y Director of Review market
turnover not supplement Personnel, value regularly.
controlled. scheme, staff Director of Cross training.
reviews, Hera. IT Services
Confidential Page 20 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
In support of the overall plan, the following table contains the key action plan based on the approval of the requested funding.
Priority One –
Activity Target Target Date Lead Dependencies External Link to Institutional
Responsibility Funding Priority
Redesign the UEL Plus Maintain improved October Infrastructure Financial approval in time No Student Satisfaction
application server infrastructure performance of 2010 Services Manager to enable procurement and
UELPlus for installation before students
additional courses return. Only required if do
and students not outsource.
Convert six trading clusters to To improve the September IT Technical Financial approval in time No Student Satisfaction
quiet computer teaching rooms learning 2010 Support Manager to enable procurement and
environment and installation before students
improve student return
and staff
satisfaction
Provide a refreshed Desktop Ensue Office 2007 September IT Transformation Server and PC refresh No All
environment. desktop meets 2010 Programme approved.
student Delivery
expectations and is
resilient to viruses
Enhancement of audio visual Maintain learning July 2011 IT Technical Availability of classrooms No Student Satisfaction
services in teaching spaces. environment to a Support Manager for upgrade. Estates
satisfactory resources to install
standard electrical infrastructure.
Implement proposal to increase Improve Oct 2010 IT IT Resource No Student Satisfaction
satisfaction by providing better communications Communications
information to students about the with students by
availability of services. development of
UELDirect
application for
iPhone/Blackberry
and integration of
text messaging
Confidential Page 21 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
service.
Update of assistive software Maintain support for Sept 2010 IT Technical IT Resources No Student Satisfaction
available and ensure all front line students who Support Manager
staff are able to assist students require assistive
and staff in making best use of technology to aid
the available technology. their studies
Improve quality of data relating to Improved July 2010 Director of IT HR availability and IT No All
the organisation directories. communications Resource
Priority Two –
Activity Target Target Date Lead Dependencies External Link to Institutional
Responsibility Funding Priority
Implement automatic attendance Improve student September Corporate Tender for new timetabling No Student Satisfaction and
recording across all learning retention and 2011 Systems Manger system will need to ensure Portfolio Development.
spaces. classroom compatibility with
availability. Provide attendance monitoring
data to facilitate requirements.
Points Based
System
requirement
Review UEL Direct usage and Refresh UELDirect Jan 2011 Director of IT Availability of Technology No Student Satisfaction
Web interface and refresh in line to maintain student and resource
with external web best practice satisfaction and
bring up to external
Web standards.
Implement MIS personalised Improve ease of Feb 2011 Corporate Availability of Technology No All
Dashboards for key staff roles use by Managers Systems Manger and resource
following pilot and enhance our for strategic
reporting capabilities decision making.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Provide addition
support for school
and service
Managers
Keep under review the feasibility Understand September Director of IT No All
of replacing the student record improvements to 2010
system business processes
and satisfaction
that could be
attained with a new
system
Priority Three –
Activity Target Target Date Lead Dependencies External Link to Institutional
Responsibility Funding Priority
Review identity management Replace existing IT October Corporate Availability of technology at No All
capabilities to include password password facility 2010 Systems Manger affordable price
authentication with appropriate
technology to
ensure improved
security.
Review back-up and archive Reduction in time to Sept 2010 Corporate Availability of technology at No All
processes restore services Systems Manger affordable price
while maintaining
resilience
Relocate Stratford telecoms Rationalise Contingent Network Manager Finance and available No All
equipment infrastructure into on the space in server room
new server room to redevelopm
improve resilience ent of UH,
and enable Estates Stratford
refurbishment of
UH
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Priority Four –
Activity Target Target Date Lead Dependencies External Link to Institutional
Responsibility Funding Priority
Replace and implement new Improve financial Phase 1 Director of Availability of technology at No All
Finance System and integrate processing and August Finance affordable price. IT
with UEL Direct. reporting for 2010 Resources
Schools and
Services Phase 2
August
2011
Intranet replacement including Enhance team Phase to Corporate Availability of technology at No All
document management system working and reduce Sept 2011 Systems Manger affordable price and
and enhanced data reporting errors due to allocation of.IT Resources
function multiple copies of
documents in use.
Delivering the IT infrastructure to Ensure new estate Contingent IT Transformation Estates project No All
meet our Estate Strategy meets expectations on the Programme management
developments of modern learning further Delivery
Sports Centre environment. developme
Stratford Island nt our
Stratford Library estate
strategy
Providing increased storage Reduce multiple Sept 2010 Infrastructure Budget and server room No All
capacity for multi-media objects copies of same Services Manager space
object in use.
Confidential Page 24 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Outcomes from February 2010 Independent Review of UEL IT Services
In addition to the above Action Plan, the following table outlines the recommended actions from the IT Review commissioned by The Vice
Chancellor. The elements of these recommendations that require either funding or resource have been incorporated into the 2010/2011 IT
Services Plan & associated HR/Staffing Plan but the entire recommendation set is included here for clarity..
Action Finding Recommendation Priorit Overall 2010-2011 Cost Impacts/Estimates Justification/Com
Reference y Remediation Cost ments
Estimate/Comme
nt
Capital Expense Additional Additional
Resource Resource
Cost Count
Technology - The strategy of PC UEL needs a single PC 1 £2.5 million to £625,000 £0 £0 Ongoing
1 client and software supply with a single high replace entire investment
installation is performance PC client UEL PC estate and required in
inadequate. There are and up to date software. initiate/continue/ subsequent years
too many hardware The IT team needs to be enforce 4 year - PC's will be
types deployed, supported in declining replacement acquired under
evidenced by the to host old software, the cycle, plus framework
requirement to have use of which is in any associated costs agreement and
too many versions of case likely to undermine for PC deployed to desk
the client image in employability of cradles/furniture by partner (as will
place. There is too students. An explicit become the UEL
much legacy software policy to remove legacy norm) and 4 year
being supported, teaching software needs replacement
evidenced by the developing and cycle will
inability of all the deploying immediately. commence, so
Confidential Page 25 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
clients to support all investment is
the software and annually ongoing
insufficient antivirus
and security
procedures evidenced
by the number of
antivirus incidents
that have occurred.
Technology - The PC desktop is not Secure the desktop in 1 As per 2010/2011 £100,000 £10,000 £0 Design new
2 adequately secured or line with best practices, Estimate desktop and
tied down. The (focus first on student implement
network is therefore desktop) management/dep
insecure, this is loyment products
evidenced by the in line with best
local disruption practice/industry
caused by malware standard -
and virus issues resource costs
are 3rd party to
support design
and delivery of
the solution
Technology-3 Profiles that are to Deploy limitations to 1 As per 2010/2011 £0 £0 £0 Resolved by
large are allowed and profile size. Estimate activity under
are having a negative action item
impact at log in. This Technology 5
is evidenced by slow
log in and network
congestion at busy
times.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Process-1 No effective A Panel of senior 1 £0 £0 £0
corporate governance business stakeholders,
procedures exist that chaired by a customer
establish IT priorities from the VCG should be
for UEL and monitor established.
their delivery.
Evidenced by the
absence of a
documented process
Process-2 There is no A governance 1 Initial investment of £20,000 to £20,000 £60,000 1 Recruitment of a
Infrastructure programme should be engage 3rd party architect to interim Senior
Architecture group deployed for all key IT initiate processes, supported by Solutions
inside the IT team and architectural decisions permanent recruit at the Architect to
so infrastructure earliest opportunity initiate &
design lack permanent
appropriate recruitment to
governance and lead Architecture
scrutiny Evidenced by Steering Group
the absence of a and aid
documented process infrastructure
design and
compliance/adhe
rence to best
practice/industry
standards
Process-3 The strategy for PC UEL needs to select a 1 £0 £0 £0 See action item
purchase is deficient. single strategic supplier Technology 1
Purchasing the PC of PC services and to
with the cheapest stay with that supplier
ticket price is a false for an extended contact
Confidential Page 27 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
economy and is period (4 years). This
creating many other will allow more effective
costs inside the client image delivery.
business. These costs
have both financial
and service
consequences. The
student desktop
service is significantly
damaged by the
current strategy.
Evidenced by the
incompatibility of
current practice with
best practice as
recommended by
Microsoft and HP
Process-4 The management of Processes should be 1 £0 £0 £0 Responsibility
PC stock is very poor established for regular incorporated into
indeed, leading to pro active, eyes on, Campus
extended fault recorded stock checking Manager/Campus
discovery and repair with immediate PC swap Supervisor Roles,
times, up to 5 days out for repair. The coupled with
from discovery. This is current KPI of 5 days to enhanced stock
damaging the student repair should be management
experience. reduced (4 hours from under PC
Evidenced by PC fix fault report to repair is framework
times that in some more the norm). agreement
cases are often up to
five days and on one
Confidential Page 28 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
occasion reported to
be nine months
Process-5 The approach to Whilst this has been 1 As per 2010/2011 £5,000 £25,000 Dedicated
server management is recognised by the IT Estimate infrastructure and
insecure, evidenced team and it is external support
by the absence of a understood that to implement
full server patching remedial action is industry
policy planned, it is mentioned standard/best
in the review as it is practice patch
critical that full patching management
processes are deployed. solution. Ongoing
management will
be assigned to
infrastructure
team.
People-1 Not all people in the The decision making 1 See action ID's £0 £0 £0 See action ID's
team abide by process should be clear Process 6, 11 & Process 6, 11 &
decisions made in the and once the process 13 13
business. Evidenced has been followed all
by management staff should be required
feedback and lack of to follow decisions
change control made
adherence observed
when looking at
documentation
People-2 Areas of technician Contact processes 1
support are not should be put in place
operating effectively, that allow academic
Confidential Page 29 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
with technicians in staff to get hold of
particular areas being technicians, especially at
“curiously difficult to the Stratford site. Action
locate”. Evidenced by to address this issue is
direct management part of the current IT
comment and the reorganisation which is
inability of staff to in progress.
locate technicians
Technology-4 There is only one Different antivirus 2 Recurring cost for £0 £7,500 £0 Procurment
antivirus engine in engines should be licence renewal under Chest
widespread use, best deployed on the servers agreement of
practice would be to and the clients to alternate AV
have two different maximise protection product for server
engines, 1 server and infrastructure
1 client.
Technology-5 The IT network is The network needs 2 Estimated at £450,000 £50,000 £60,000 1 Investment cost is
barely able to support reengineering to £560,000 based estimate based
current requirements modern standards to on HE discounts on preliminary
at UEL. The current enhance resilience, and tender scope of
network design is improve performance process for investigative
such that single and improve monitoring physical/logical works and will be
equipment failure or capability. This should infrastructure, confirmed by
piece of malware not be done in the plus additional network tender.
would have extensive current big bang time headcount for IT Additional
ramifications. Security frame of the current Services. Ongoing resource costs
is compromised by proposal but should be investment relate to the
the open (flat) nature phased over a longer needed for new recruiment of an
of the design. It will period to minimise risk. buildings/initiativ internal network
not support future es, incremental resource as per
requirements. This is costs will be 2010/2011 plan
Confidential Page 30 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
evidenced by included in submission
comparing the design initiative plans
to industry standard accordingly - also
recommendations see action
reference
Technology 8
Technology-6 Printing services for Printing must be 2 As per 2010/2011 £20,000 £5,000 £0 Implementation
students are unable redesigned, perhaps Estimate of resiliency in
to meet demand. This based on examples of student pront
is evidenced by the working services at system and
queues at printing other Universities. external
and the complaints by investigation of
students best proactice
Process-6 Insufficient notice of A process should be 2 £15,000 Development of
engineering works are agreed with customers Intranet/Visual
common evidenced that provides adequate Display
by disruption for notice for all non urgent Communications
customers without maintenance works. An platform &
sufficient notice emergency allocation &
communication process training of IT
should also be agreed Communications
that ensure all Manager from
customers are made existing staff base
aware of emergency
engineering works.
Process-7 The current UEL The UEL planning 2
planning process does process requires
not provide the IT extensive change if IT
service with services is to develop
intelligence on which programmes that
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
to base its plans, nor support key corporate
does it provide the objectives. This is not
rest of the business anticipated to be
with the opportunity marginal change but a
to input to IT planning fundamental change to
or understand the entire planning
approved plans. approach.
Evidenced by the fact
that only critical
friends inside the
process review and
understand the IT
plans and the fact
that IT see few of the
other business areas
emerging plans as
they emerge
People-3 Weekend and evening The current on call 2 £2k per person
coverage for IT process is under for on-call pa
infrastructure repair resourced; in many
is operated on call, cases only one specialist
the duty IT manager is employed and is
deciding when to call therefore usually only
on limited resources. called in an emergency.
During critical operation
periods, Clearing,
Enrolment, Assessment,
International student
arrivals, IT Service staff
work additional hours to
Confidential Page 32 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
ensure on site cover.
People-4 The staffing resources A fundamental review is 2
within the IT service required that identifies
are not sufficient to what staffing model is
deliver a high quality required to support the
service. The lack of ambitions of the
resources is business, this staffing
responsible for some model should then be
deficiencies in service considered for
delivery. Evidenced by resourcing, within the
the recent Tribal other priorities of the
benchmarking business.
People-5 There are a number As the new staffing 2
of staff who appear to profile is established,
be making a key ensure key staff are UEL
contribution but are staff
external contractors –
Evidenced by staffing
records
People-6 Individuals are Undertake less activity 2 £160,000 4 Incremental staff
overstretched into but undertake it to a for Telpehone
too many directions higher quality. Split Helpdesk and
at present whilst fire Maintenance and Student Support
fighting and development resources
developing new so that performance can
product - Evidenced be measured. Assess
by the very high entire work plan and
Confidential Page 33 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
percentage of time park activities that are
spent fire fighting and less important or are
the inability to create not going to deliver to a
key products due to satisfactory quality
resource constraints,
for example a tied
down corporate client
Technology-7 Too much activity is Review log in process 3 Estimated at £0 £0 £0 Resolved by
undertaken by the for the next client build ongoing £50,000 activity under
desktop at log in, this and shift CPU and investment per action item
is poor design and is network heavy demands annum Technology 2
contributing to slow to the point at which
log ins. This is they are needed by the
evidenced by desktop.
reviewing the desktop
log in process and
observing log in times
that reach 8 minutes
at busy periods.
Technology-8 Network equipment is Networking equipment 3 Estimated at £0 £0 £0 Resolved by
ageing and lacks should be replaced ongoing £100,000 activity under
resilience, this is during the redesign investment per action item
evidenced by annum Technology 5
comparing the design
to best practice
recommendations
Technology-9 There is one flat The AD design should be 3 £50,000 to cover £30,000 £20,000 £60,000 1 Redesign of
Activity Directory reviewed and revised in new hardware Active Directory
infrastructure (the line with best practice. and external based on industry
team are aware of expertise for standard/best
Confidential Page 34 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
this issue) that does design & proctice and
not comply with implementation, procurement of
standard designs plus recruitment necessary
of incremental AD management
expertise tools. Extra
resource cost is
recruitment of AD
expertise as part
of the redesign
process.
Technology- There are not enough The current short term 3 £0 £0 £0 Will be addressed
10 PCs available for loan of laptops to when due for
students, evidenced students (in the library) replacement in
by student feedback should be extended as 2011/2012
and physical resources permit. A
observations on PC suitable security process
availability should be designed to
enable wired access in
addition to the WiFi
already available. The
practice of UEL business
led functions that
denying PC access to
students in open access
areas during induction
and teaching times,
most notably Enrolment
and Telethon should be
reviewed.
Process-8 There is no corporate Corporate level KPI 3
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
record of IT should be established to
achievement or measure service
performance. – performance, this
Evidenced by the should be augmented by
absence of qualitative data.
documentation
Process-9 There is no UEL A technical roadmap 3 See action item Process 2 See action item,
technical roadmap for should be developed by Process 2
products and IT the new IT Architectural
services Evidenced by Governance Group
the lack of
documentation
Process-10 Over 40% of calls to If possible, servicing 3 £150000 for £25,000 £125,000 Completion of
the support desk are these by support staff infrastructure and Identity
password resets. This should be declined and external Management
is absorbing capacity all of these requests consultancy to Project to support
and preventing other should be routed to implement associated
calls being resolved. effective self service technology process changes
Evidenced by the help procedures for solutions
desk support records password reset.
Process-11 Change control A change control 3 £15,000 £45,000 1 External
processes inside the process needs to be consultancy to
network and server adopted and rigorously activate change
teams are not enforced. All staff manmagement
sufficient, and what is should be required to module in ITSM
in place is not adhere to change product
adhered to by some control processes and supported by the
staff. Many action should be taken recruitment of
disruptive faults when this is not done. Change Manager
appear after changes
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
have taken place. –
Evidenced on
studying the change
control process and
the change control
forms completed by
different staff doing
the same type of
work
Process-12 Business A process map should 3
requirements for the be developed that
IT team to deliver ensure customers create
arise in an unplanned requirements in good
way. Project start ups time. This should be
are damaged as a enforced and supported
result. Evidenced by by senior management.
the absence of an
agreed medium term
delivery plan of
business deliverables
People-7 The work tracking Improved processes for 3
process for technician work
Technicians is not allocation, task
sufficient. Evidenced management and
by the absence of a tracking, and technician
documented process contact need to be
and performance deployed. Technician
measures work tracking uses the
documented Incident
management process.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Workflow is monitored.
Escalation management
not currently effective.
People-8 Due to resource As new resources come 3
limitations there are in, a programme of cross
many single points of training should be
failure (people) undertaken to increase
elevating risk to an depth of cover in key
unacceptable level areas.
(the team are aware
of this and are doing
what they can with
current resources)
Evidenced by the fact
a member of staff was
recently flown back
from holiday abroad
to resolve a problem
Technology- The approach to A long term plan for 4 £50,000 for £50,000 £30,000 £0 Funding may be
11 power management power management procurement of available from
of servers is should be developed UPS and Carbon Trust
unreliable, without and a review of cooling completion of based on
effective UPS or undertaken at associated environmental
generator services. Docklands. The new electrical works at savings - work
Air cooling is suspect. Stratford Server room, Docklands should be aligned
Evidenced by the use which was not visited, is Campus. £30,000 with refurb of
of a single UPS for served by industry for computer Docklands Server
every server, the lack standard UPS and room fit out Room and
of generator facilities cooling. There is a provision of
and the lack of longstanding request compliant air
Confidential Page 38 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
computer room class from the IT service for management &
cooling. generator backup for racking
both server rooms, this
should be implemented
as resources permit.
Technology- There is no Web A review of web services 4 £0 £0 £0 Cost estimates to
12 Content Management is advised to optimise be confirmed be
system in place or an the web footprint. It is confirmed but
explicit web strategy. understood that a Web any chnages
Below the front page content management should
(which is good) the system has been incorporate the
web is not optimised procured and installed. integration of
This is evidenced by The web team is collaboration
the technology that is working to implement. tools (e.g. MS
in place for web Shrepoint)
services
Technology- The management of Identify a single named 4 £0 £0 £0
12 the server rooms person responsible for
does not have clear all computer room
responsibility lines. environs and hold them
They are untidy, with accountable for their
much cardboard condition
creating unnecessary
fire risk. The utilities
provision is poor and
appears unmanaged.
Evidenced by lack of
documentation and
by comparing
provision to industry
Confidential Page 39 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
standard
recommendations
Technology- There are no network Appropriate network 4 £0 £0 £0 Resolved by
13 management tools management tools activity under
appropriate for this should be deployed action item
size of network. during the redesign, this Technology 5
Evidenced by the use has been identified in
of NAGIOS, which is the IT service plan.
minimal functionality
monitoring product
Technology- There are “issues” Develop a competent 4 Estimated at £30,000 £25,000 Additional costs
14 around backup, entire backup strategy and test £55,000 to for hardware
backup sets are not the strategy regularly. A complete replacement as
tested. There is a risk replacement industry implementation per 2010/2011
of failure to recover standard backup and of enterprise data plan submission,
from incidents. archiving system has management expense costs are
Evidenced by the been procured recently for external
absence of restore compliance with the consultancy and
testing and the fact backup strategy is staff
that back up logs essential to assure training/accredita
identify skipped files recovery from incidents. tion
without resolution
Process-13 Project Management Project Management 4 £225,000 4 Initiation of
practices exists to a practices should be formal prject
limited degree extended to all major governance
(limited by resources) project activities. This processes,
inside the service. will have explicit supported by
Where they exist they resource implications recruitment of
are professional and but these are less Programme/Proje
effective, improving significant than the ct Delivery
Confidential Page 40 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
service delivery. hidden resource costs of structure/PMO
Evidenced by the ineffective delivery. (including
limited project conversion of
management existing post)
resource and
documentation
Process-14 The customer support An effective corporate 4
process is not process should be
operating effectively, developed and adhered
leading to poor to. Its effectiveness
services for the should be measured
majority. Customers through regular
who have friends in IT customer feedback. It is
use “back door” recognised that IT
support routes, by service has embarked on
passing the correct implementing industry
channels. Evidenced standard ITIL support
by the extended wait processes. These will
times on help desks only improve the
queues customer experience if
resourced effectively
and receive top level
support during the
change process.
Process-15 Mail users are Define staff and student 4 As per 2010/2011 £25,000 £10,000 £45,000 1 Complere
spammed internally communication rules, Estimate seperation of
by other users – communicate them and staff/student
Evidenced by enforce them mails systems and
observing mail itself recruit full time
and the absence of email email
Confidential Page 41 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
control process and administration
procedure (incorporate bulk
email
administration)
Process-16 There is no current IT An IT strategy should be 4 £35,000 Consultation with
strategy (there has developed and business analysts
been no UEL resources provided to
corporate strategy for deliver it once the
sometime) Evidenced corporate strategy has
by absence of been agreed.
documentation
People-9 The web team and There should be a 4
the staff printing review of process and or
team are in different structure that results in
services than IT. The the web and printing
teams do not have teams working much
shared planning or more closely with the IT
share resources. team.
Evidenced by the
absence of a
documented process
for shared service
approach
People-10 Operational and A communications 4
strategic process should be
communications with agreed with customers
customers are poor. that allow two way
Evidenced by the communications to take
absence of a place at an operational
documented process and strategic level.
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
People-11 The hours technicians Technician working 4
are available are not patterns need to be
appropriate for synchronised with
teaching coverage teaching requirements.
Evidenced by the fact AV technician start
that Technicians start times at 08:00 and
work at the same 08:30. To ensure
time as classes begin support for teaching. No
rather than before technician cover after
17:00 except where
overtime is requested
by the school.
People-12 Due to the problems Review all technology 4
with central services, support teams
local teams have placement to ensure
developed to support best value for money for
IT. Evidenced by the UEL as a whole
existence of many
local teams and local
products
People-13 Turnover of IT staff is Existing staff need to be 4 £20,000 Attendance at
very low and whilst exposed to more sector and
this maintains local external influences industry events
knowledge it means through networking in
that the status quo is the industry.
maintained long
beyond its natural life
Evidenced by low
staff turnover and
lack of current
Confidential Page 43 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
industry standard
approaches
Technology- Due to problems with Review local provision 5 Will require
15 central delivery local with a view to improving implementation
“closed” IT labs have corporate and shared PC of management
been developed availability. software as
resulting in described in
fragmented action item
investment. Technology 2 if
Evidenced by the resources are to
existence of local labs be made more
widely available
Confidential Page 44 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Capital Bids
A B C D E F G H
Priority Description of item Cost Justification for item Life (years) Category Consequent Depreciation
£ recurrent =C/E
annual cost /
R U N CS income
£
Upgrade to student
1 Student Printing Services 25,000 printing environment, to +5,000
include wireless printing
Enhancements to current
system and investigation /
1 UEL Plus 90,000 R
development of next
generation VLE.
3 year replacement cycle
to maintain resilience and
1 File Server Replacement 225,000 improve network 3 R 75,000
performance plus
UELPlus servers
4 year replacement cycle
1 Desktop computer replacement 625,000 4 R U 156,250
including PC's and Macs
Improving
Enhance Student & Staff
1 15,000 communications to 5,000
Communications
students and staff.
Improvements to IT
Business School Trading Floor
Service Desk and open
modifications to improve student 50,000
1 access environment to U
support and teaching
enhance student
experience and reduce
Confidential Page 45 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
queuing.
Complaints from teaching
staff and students that the
open plan environment is
Reconfiguration of Teaching &
not conducive to learning
1 Learning spaces at Stratford 200,000 6 R 33,333
due to noise from
Computer & Conference Centre
adjacent clusters and the
flow of students through
the centre
Replacement of furniture
Replacement furniture within that is 5/6 years old in
1 50,000 6 8,333
Docklands Trading Floor small open access
learning areas
6 year replacement cycle
Replacement/Upgrade to Audio
to maintain AV in learning
1 Visual facilities in teaching and 525,000 6 R 87,500
spaces and upgrade to
learning spaces
250 seat lecture theatre
Pre-requisite for upgrade
Development work for the
of PC desktop to
automated delivery of teaching,
1 50,000 Windows 7 as part of
learning & administrative
enhancing the student
applications to PC desktops
experience
2 Redevelopment of UEL intranet 50,000 Migration of pilot
and adoption of MS Sharepoint Sharepoint infrastructure
to production status and
Rejuvenation of UEL
intranet based on MS
Sharepoint
2 UEL Direct Developments 247,000 Staffing and consultancy
to maintain & Enhance
UEL Direct (see detail in
body of this plan for
specific projects)
Confidential Page 46 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Implementation of
automated identity
Identity management and management and re-
2 150,000 5 30,000
organisation directories organisation of staff ,
email and telephone
directories
Implementation of
attendance recording in
2 Attendance Recording 280,000 200 classrooms and 5 N 56,000
integration with SITS and
timetabling
The re-development of
the Management
Information System to
provide managers with
Redevelopment of UEL MIS and
2 150,000 individual, customisable 5 30,000
adoption of MS Sharepoint
dashboards of their data
and its migration &
conversion to MS
Sharepoint
3 Network Update 250,000 Enhance capacity and 5 R 50,000
Network Routers and Firewalls performance of core
network hardware to
enhance the student
experience and support
increased capacity
requirements and
network expansion for
new buildings.
Relocate Stratford Rationalise infrastructure
3 200,000 U
telecommunication equipment into new server room to
Confidential Page 47 07/03/2011
IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
to new server room improve resilience and
enable Estates
refurbishment of UH
Provision of resilient &
environmentally efficient
Resilient power supply for
3 80,000 power supply (UPS) to 6 N 13,333
Docklands server room
protect Docklands server
room
Completion of the
deployment of the
Disaster Recover/Business enterprise data
3 55,000 5 R 11,000
Continuity management solution for
data backup, recover 7
archiving
To ensure that all our
services take place in a
secure, scaleable,
Enhancements to network resilient and sustainable
3 security and overall security 118,000 environment in 5 N 23,600
management accordance with relevant
policy and legislation.
4 Library System Stratford 50,000 Consultancy and 3 N 17,000
Servers for Resilience additional servers to
provide resilience
System Interface and
Estimate 10-20%
Pilot Intranet replacement with Web interface
4 100000 5 N annual license
Enterprise portal management to continue
charge
ongoing development
4 Proposed new estate 120,000 Replacement of core 6 N
developments network switch
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IT Services 2010-11 Annual Plan
Confidential Page 49 07/03/2011
