Closure Report
Project Summary
The Worktribe Research Management solution was rolled out across the University of Edinburgh from April 2016, to manage the pre-award costing and approvals of research grants and the post-award management of live grants. This project has been initiated to upgrade Worktribe to version 2.3. In addition to bringing in development builds and fixes, the upgrade to this version is required to accommodate the Apprenticeship Levy, a levy on UK employers to fund new apprenticeships. The levy, set at 0.5% of total paybill, started in April 2017 and will be absorbed by the University until August 2017 when the levy will be passed onto schools.
Scope
Upgrade work in scope: Upgrade Worktribe from v2.2 to v2.3 (DEV, TEST and LIVE environments) incorporating the Apprenticeship Levy
Testing in scope:
- Functional user acceptance testing
- Integration testing (data feeds)
Fixes in scope:
- Essential fixes requiring UoE implementation
- Essential fixes requiring supplier implementation
Data feeds in scope:
- UoE to Worktribe staff feed
- UoE to Worktribe finance feed
- UoE to Worktribe Organisational Hierarchy feed
- Worktribe to UoE awards feed
- Worktribe to UoE BI Extract
Out of scope:
- Building the interface between the UoE DEV environment and the new Worktribe DEV environment
- No changes required to feeds to accommodate Apprenticeship Levy
Objectives and Deliverables
Number | Description | Benefits | Success Criteria |
O1 | To upgrade the Worktribe solution to v2.3 in its DEV, TEST and LIVE environments |
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Deliverables achieved? Yes/No |
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D1 | Deploy v2.3 changes to DEV environment | Yes | |
D2 | Update funder templates and apprenticeship levy for sample of schemes; check reporting extract and undertake sample of tests on data feeds and functionality in DEV | Yes | |
D3 | Deploy v2.3 changes to TEST environment | Yes | |
D4 | Complete user acceptance testing on existing business processes which use Worktribe | Yes | |
D5 | Complete integration testing, incorporating the data feeds between Worktribe and UoE systems, and with the external reporting solution | Yes | |
D6 | Deliver fixes to external reporting (where identified and required) | N/A - no fixes required | |
D7 | Deliver fixes to interfaces (where identified and required) | N/A - no fixes required | |
D8 | Capture and communicate issues (arising from testing) to the UoE user community | Yes - via Business Lead, business as usual | |
D9 | Implement fixes or resolve issues in accordance with priority levels | Yes - all captured and resolved in JIRA | |
D10 | Schedule upgrade of LIVE to v2.3 | Yes | |
D11 | Agree implementation plan with service owner and supplier | Yes | |
D12 | Deploy upgrade to LIVE of v2.3 | Yes | |
O2 | To incorporate the Apprenticeship Levy into the upgrade |
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Deliverables achieved? Yes/No |
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D1 | Deliver changes to Finance feed (where identified and required) to allow for the Apprenticeship Levy value | N/A - not required | |
D2 | Complete acceptance testing on the calculation and operation of the Apprenticeship Levy | Yes |
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 50 days
Staff Usage Actual: 12 days
Staff Usage Variance: (-76%)
Other Resource Estimate: £0
Other Resource Actual: £0
Other Resource Variance: 0%
Outcome
Explanation for variance
- Original approved budget = 50 days
- Actual budget spend = 12 days
- Remaining budget returned = 38 days
As this was only 2nd full upgrade of the Worktribe the project were not sure how much effort may be required especially with Apprenticeship Levy being included - only Project Management and Application Management resource were required on the project from IS Applications perspective therefore limited days charged.
Majority of effort was aligned to Research Information System team, RSO, RGS and Finance teams together with supplier
Key Learning Points
- Reiterate to supplier that change log should only contain changes relevant to UoE, not all their clients
- DEV and TEST versions were slightly different – emphasise to supplier that versions must remain the same through DEV, TEST and LIVE
Outstanding Issues
- From a business area perspective : A number of queries are with FIS for resolution and the template edits and additions work is not completed, though an approach has been agreed.