Closure Report
Project Summary
In this project, EST137, the team sought to undertake investigative work to provide the necessary insights into upgrading Archibus from the current version of v23.1 to v2022.
Archibus has not been updated for circa 6 years with v23 released in 2016. The stated position was that there should be minimal future upgrades due to the costs and risks associated. Since then the vendor has released several new versions resulting in v23.1 becoming unsupported by Archibus. The software release model used by the vendor is now such that there are one major and one minor releases per year. This is typical as software moves on to a Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) model.
The University therefore must upgrade its Archibus system and this project’s scope which was to explore how we might do that, included three key aspects:
-
A report and plan highlighting the relevant detail to enable the smooth upgrade of Archibus V23.1 include timings, costs, human resources, versioning, risk profiles, required business process changes and technical considerations.
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Identification and recommendations for the various customisations including actions to remove and reduce customisations in all areas. It will identify where the necessary replacement functionality may exist in the target version of Archibus.
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An early demonstration and opportunity to test the capabilities of the target Archibus platform for Estates and ISG (Information Services Group) stakeholders.
The delivered documentation was shared with the Project Stakeholders and is in the project SharePoint folder. This document includes an Annex outlining the anticipated high level aspects of the upgrade work.
Objectives and Deliverables
|
Ref. |
Description |
Delivered? |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
|
D1 |
Upgrade Proposal from Mass |
Yes |
There is a proposed route to an upgraded Archibus. Complexity lies in options and these were explored and agreed where possible. |
| D2 | An Interim report or a summary of findings and conclusions | Partial | There was sufficient information to enable monthly reporting. |
|
D3 |
A final written report highlighting the relevant detail to enable the University to make an informed decision |
Yes |
The report is accepted by the Project Board. |
| D4 | Updated documentation on what will be the state of customization at any stages during or after the upgrade. | Partial | S Benson explored customisations at a table and field level. Due to the extents of work the field level will need to be considered as part of preparation / validation work. |
|
D5 |
A demonstration of and capability to learn about the target Archibus version, including access to a Mass hosted sandbox environment. |
Yes |
A demo was delivered on the Mass demo environment. |
|
D6 |
A sandbox environment to enable Estates to become familiar with the latest version. |
Yes |
This was delivered as the Mass demo environment. |
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 55 days
Staff Usage Actual: 72 days
Other Resource Estimate: £0
Other Resource Actual: £0
Other Resource Variance: 0%
Milestones and Related Changes
|
Milestone |
Original Date |
Current Date |
|---|---|---|
|
Initiation |
01.03.2022 |
22.02.2022 |
|
Project Planning |
17.03.2022 |
17.03.2022 |
|
Archibus Analysis & Demo(Delivery) |
10.06.2022 |
24.06.2022 |
|
Report Review and Acceptance (Acceptance) |
08.07.2022 |
19.08.2022 |
|
Closure |
22.07.2022 |
31.09.2022 |
Explanation for Variance
On several occasions there were delays to the project which impacted time estimates. These included:
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Delays in receiving the initial report from Sean Benson in June 2022.
-
Availability of UoE (University of Edinburgh) staff to arrange the relevant demos and feedback. This also meant that some staff were on leave, requiring the project to sweep up that work after the milestone was expected to be finished.
-
The report required some additional work. Due to the impacts of P&M, particularly on staff calendars, it was only possible to plan significantly further ahead to get time with the relevant stakeholders.
Outcome
The project was successful in terms of what was delivered against the objectives.
Key Learning Points
A Miro Board was used to capture Lessons Learned on Friday 23rd September, this was captured in terms of four categories; Liked, Lacked, Learned, Longed For. The key elements are repeated below:
Liked
|
1 |
It has moved the work forward, we now know a good deal about upgrading / customisation. |
|
2 |
Benson was well liked and seemed to understand Archibus and our business by the end of his time. |
Lacked
|
1 |
More joined up thinking in terms of what we need and what is possible |
|
2 |
More insights into the data migration / data aspects of the work |
|
3 |
More insights into links with P&M (may also have been too early given P&M still in-flight too) |
Learned
|
1 |
How to break the work down I.e. upgrade first, then enhance. |
|
2 |
That there will be future upgrades. |
|
3 |
That there is no silver bullet and we need to be active participants throughout |
|
4 |
That there will be a need for a formal change body for customisations (by exception, not default) during the upgrade project work |
|
5 |
Next project will need upfront change management to achieve the appropriate expectation. |
Longed For
|
1 |
For Mass to inform the narrative / direction more (as opposed to Mass asking Estates ‘how/what do you want from Archibus’) |
|
2 |
More time for the project work due to impact of P&M |
Outstanding Matters
As part of this work there are no outstanding matters per se. There remain some unanswered questions on behalf of stakeholders, these are answered below:
|
Question |
Answer |
|---|---|
|
Can we load our data into Mass environment?
|
Yes, Mass will provide access. Will have ability to upload data directly. |
|
Do we need new licences or will be under existing contractual arrangements?
|
Is under existing contractual arrangements and part of any new contract. The licence does not relate to the version, only the modules. |
|
Do we plan to decommission EBIS |
Yes, but the data within EBIS will be required for some time. A solution is required to enable limited access to this. |
|
Schedule of start Oct 2022 go-live April 2023 – still valid? |
This is the plan, clearly after P&M some aspects may be optimistic. |
|
How we protect essential customisations e.g. for P&M as part of this work
|
See the annex information for further clarification. It is acknowledged that certain custom elements are necessary. |
|
Do we regard this as a "minimum change" upgrade or whether we leave the door open for increased scope?
|
The next project focuses on ‘minimal operational’ project i.e. no new features beyond what is already possible in Archibus.
The Portfolio steering group anticipate a need to explore and as appropriate adopt further modules, functionality, and integrations |