Closure Report
Project Summary
This project followed on from the successful conclusion of MVM121 (Reporting of assessment outcomes to external bodies) which delivered an approved recommendation paper identifying an option that all contributors approved.
MBChB currently run a series of manual activities across a number of spreadsheets to rank all MBChB students. Both timely and containing risk of human error, this project set out to create new BI-Suite reports which MBChB can execute whenever they need to. The intention was for them to be easy to use but containing options (adjust weightings, select years etc), fully supported and to be ready for summer 2019 use.
As is explained in more detail below, the project has delivered but it is almost a year later than planned.
Scope as defined in the Brief:
The scope of this project has been delivered however:
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Objectives And Deliverables as defined in the Brief:
Ongoing support for report amendments has been agreed as being via standard mechanism of raising Unidesk calls to the Student Data and Reporting team. Within the MBChB programme, there is an agreed lead owner of the reports with support from another named colleague. Both these users have completed training in how to use the report. The project delivered one report and following the training, the business lead has been able to create two other reports.. |
Benefits as defined in the Brief:
The benefits of this project have been delivered. This has improved efficiency for the team producing the report and removed the risk of human error, which will enable the ranking for the General Medical Council to be accurately achieved in a reduced timeframe in future. |
Success Criteria as defined in the Brief:
The success criteria has been partially met: the student ranking with quality data and improved best practice was delivered. This was achieved after the summer of 2019; it was delayed in agreement with the business area due to their local priorities. |
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 42 days
Staff Usage Actual: 26 days (12 days in 18/19 and 14 days in 19/20)
Other Resource Estimate: N/A
Other Resource Actual: N/A
Other Resource Variance: N/A
Explanation for Variance
- Although it would appear from the figures that this project has delivered under budget, this project has expended Project Management effort securing resources and maintaining the project record over a prolonged period.
- The project has delivered almost a year late and this has been due to the reliance on a few key people in the University to be able to do the work. The Business Lead in MBChB is a critical resource for CMVM and is required for high priority business as usual work, alongside delivering project work. Securing time with the MBChB lead was the main challenge from November 2019 to March 2020. Initial delays were due to dependency on the key Business Analyst resource in SSP. Changes controls 3, 4, 5 and 6 all note the impact from these resource conflicts during this project.
- The Covid-19 outbreak exacerbated the challenge with securing time with the MBChB lead and re-work that was required due to the changes in how students were being assessed and therefore this has caused additional delay from April 2020 to delivery at the start of July 2020. Change control 8 reflects the delay impact due to Covid-19.
Outcome
This project has delivered a workable and sustainable solution in fewer days effort than had originally been expected. This has been a successful partnership between the Business, SSP, and IS Application and has built on the worthwhile analysis that was completed in the previous project.
Key Learning Points
| Ref | Date | Title | Impact | Theme | Stage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17-Jul-2020 | Availability of critical business resources needs to be considered in initial planning; for example, during exam board time, these resources should not be considered available for project time | Was detrimental | Resourcing | Accept | |
| 2 | 17-Jul-2020 | Decision grid for BI reports' location and access | Was beneficial | Management of a Project | Design |
Outstanding Issues
None