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
  • Various hotfixes (specifics to be confirmed in test plan) to fix bugs and errors, and provide performance improvements
  • Usability improvements
  • No loss or corruption of data as part of the Upgrade
  • No impact on the running of the overnight data feeds
  • No impact on the running of the overnight data extract to BI
  • No degradation of performance for users or duration of the overnight data feeds and overnight batch processes
   

Deliverables achieved?

Yes/No

 
                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
  • Ability to set apprenticeship levy and provide related calculations so that the new costs of the Apprenticeship levy can be costed into the research grant bids
  • Integration of apprenticeship levy
   

Deliverables achieved?

Yes/No

 
                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.  

Project Info

Project
Worktribe Upgrade v2.3 & Apprenticeship Levy
Code
RES070
Programme
Research Information Systems (RIS)
Management Office
ISG PMO
Project Manager
Ben Armstrong
Project Sponsor
Dominic Tate
Current Stage
Close
Status
Closed
Start Date
26-May-2017
Planning Date
n/a
Delivery Date
n/a
Close Date
11-Aug-2017
Overall Priority
Normal
Category
Discretionary