Completion Report
Project Summary:
Background
A previous project had created a demo SharePoint site for IS HR, however the site was considered to have some usability deficits, missing some important functionality to support IS HR working practices. IS HR had fed back a list or requirements to Service Management, however these had not been addressed by late August, mainly due to resource availability and it was felt that the best way forward was to deliver a usable system in a project and buy in the necessary resources.
This project was started to implement a document management solution for IS HR. With the majority of IS moving to Argyle House at the end of 2016, there was requirement to provide a paper free solution to storing IS HR Personal Records. By the very nature of these records, security is of the utmost importance. The project undertook Business Analysis to ensure that the feedback on the demo site was correctly documented, and up-to-date so no time was lost in the implementation.
Scope
From the project brief:
'The scope of this project is to deliver a scanned documents that are uploaded as automatically as possible into the IS HR SharePoint site. This may include making some changes to the SharePoint site as required. To ascertain any changes required for the scanned documents, business analysis will be completed. This business analysis will also look at the wider SharePoint requirements for IS HR. Where there is time available we will endeavour to make any further configuration changes as per HR's prioritisation."
In order to deliver this project in such a short time frame September to November, a SharePoint expert was brought in. This proved to be a game changer for the project. The contractor quickly identified that the demo site was not going to meet the business needs easily and that the best way forward was to implement a fresh solution, with that a new site was created. Alongside the feedback on the demo side a workshop was held with IS HR colleagues to determine that all the use cases were covered. There was some concern all round that this was achievable within the time frame that was available. However, the project team worked very well together, utilising the contractor's knowledge and guidance to create a usable site through several iterations within a few weeks.
Parallel to the development work, the project engaged with DDSR an external scanning supplier. DDSR have worked with the University for several
Objectives, Deliverables and Success Criteria
| Objective | Deliverable | Success Criteria | Priority | Outcome | |
| O1. Remove the need to transport paper personnel HR files to Argyle House | D1. To scan the backlog of paper documents held by IS HR and automatically import these into the IS HR SharePoint site. The backlog contains approximately 700 paper files. Each files contains 10 sections with varying numbers of documents up to 200 pages. | The back log of paper documents are scanned and available in SharePoint. | Must have | All paper documents were given successfully scanned and imported automatically into the redesigend SharePoint site. | |
| O2. The second objective is to deliver a SharePoint site that meets the security requirements | D2. To implement the required permissions settings to the SharePoint site. | All personnel files are secure only accessible by named members of IS HR team. | Must have | A new redesigned SharePoint site was delivered. The Apps team worked closely with colleagues in IS HR to create a user friendly site that supports their processes. The required security module was also delivered. | |
| O3 Deliver a site that can support IS HR processes going forward, thus reducing costs in both time and storage | D3. To implement as many of the change requests as possible identified during business analysis to the IS HR SharePoint site. The number of changes implemented will depend on the time available after the import processes are completed. | As many of the the additional requirements as possible are implemented according to their prioritisation during business analysis. | Should have | All the must haves and many of the should haves were delivered. | |
| D4. To provide a scanning solution, configured in Kofax, so that moving forward, after scanner purchase, there is the possibility to bulk scan using Kofax or scan individual pages through MFDs. | Kofax configuration is complete and can be easily rolled out to new scan workstations. | Should have | A scanning solution was delivered however not through Kofax. The solution scans directly into the SharePoint site. This was determined by the design of the new site. | ||
| D5. Site administration is handed over to Service Management | Service Management can manage the site going forward. | Must have | The site administration including a detailed guide on how the workflows were designed was handed over to Service Management. production were also involved in the handover. |
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 30 days
Staff Usage Actual: 40 days
Staff Usage Variance: 33%
Other Resource Estimate: SharePoint Contractor 42 days
Other Resource Actual: 45 days
Other Resource Variance: 9%
Explanation for variance:
The initial end of planning estimate was made without detailed knowledge of the new requirements. Early on in the project a workshop produced more detailed requirements and concerns that the business had about the current site. Taking advice from the SharePoint contractor, the decision was made not to make changes to old site but to create a new site from scratch. One of the technical reasons behind this was the limitation of SharePoint library's to hold more than 5k documents. The project team are confident that designing the site from bottom up did produce a much better product however this did require some additional work but had a cost in the set up and during user acceptance testing.
The 40 project days were funded by Apps, the costs for the SharePoint contractor were met by IS Corporate.
Key Learning Points:
This has been a very successful project delivering a user friendly system in a very short time frame. One of the key learning points was to ensure that colleagues from HR were consulted at a very early stage on the design of the solution and ensure that what the project delivered as tailored to the business processes. Moving from a paper based filing system to a digital solution is a huge change in working practices. In order to deliver this project successfully is was a necessity that both the business and technical team members were fully committed to the project. All of the project team bought into the objectives, this played a large part in the on time delivery.
Scanning the documents another positive lesson learnt. We chose DDSR a company that already works closely with other areas of the University. This proved to be a good choice with the end to end process of delivery of empty crates through to secure delivery the scanned images, tested early on in the project. All the paper documents were collected as agreed with delivery of the scans also completed within the agreed timescales.
Outstanding issues:
The process for dealing with leavers has been agreed and is in the final stages of testing. We are currently awaiting confirmation from the vendor who consumes the leavers data that the format is acceptable. This will then be documented then added to the help text.
Secondly, the A3 part of the procured scanner was damaged during the move to Argyle House. When this is returned/replaced ISHR will contact IS Operational Services (Bob O'Malley) to complete the set up.