Overview
Background
This project is the third phase of a larger multi-year project to deliver a new Assessment and Progression business process to the University. This multi-year project has two main strands of work:
- Implementation of the business change within the schools
- Development of the enhancement to SITS elements needed to support Assessment and Progression within EUCLID
The initial phase of work was carried out between August 2014 and April 2017 in project SAC034 and the Completion Report is available. This work is referred to here as APT1.
The second phase of work started in August 2016 in project SAC057 and was recently closed on 26 January 2018, the Completion Report is available. This work is referred to here as APT2.
The current phase of work is referred to here as APT3.
Scope
The original scope of this phase of Assessment and Progression Tool (APT) was meant to be:
- Roll out of APT to remaining schools (MVM, SPS & Informatics)
- Apply enhancements to the application
- Provide a set of SOPs, training and documentation to support use and best practices for APT
As part of the handover from APT2, it became clear that a number of outstanding technical items needed to be addressed as a priority because they detrimentally affected the use of APT. This meant additional scope to address critical fixes or to complete functionality, either not delivered in APT2 or identified through user feedback during APT2.
On the other hand, the roll-out to the last schools (Group 3) had in effect already started in APT2. While it was first thought that delaying the roll out of APT to additional schools in profit of stabilising APT would be preferable, the use of APT in these schools is already too advanced to be withdrawn. Instead, support to get them fully on board will be prioritised alongside the critical fixes.
In addition, the technical issues introduced as part of the deployment of APT2 have created a high volume of support calls and a huge burden on the Student Systems Support team which needs to be minimised.
Therefore the scope for APT3 is:
- to resolve critical and non-critical issues that will stabilise the application and address key business processes that rely on APT.
- to consolidate the use of the application across all schools, including the newly added Group 3 Schools.
- to provide training, and create quality support documentation for School Administration staff to help reduce the volume of support calls received by Student Systems.
Not in Scope
Enhancements will not be considered in this project. By enhancements, we mean change request, functionality that would be "nice" to have, or fix for issues where a practical workaround exist, specifically resits are not included. Performance enhancements are also out of scope.
Objectives (O) & Deliverables (D)
| ID | Description | Priority (MoSCoW) | Owner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| O1 | Stabilise APT | Must | SSP Development | |
| D1.1 | Consolidate all known issues in Jira. | M |
SSP Service Improvement |
|
| D1.2 | List of critical issues. Prioritise all open Jiras and identify critical issues. | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D1.3 | Release of APT free of all identified critical issues (Development Phase 1). Several versions of APT will be released throughout the project to address the critical issues. (Between 7 and 11 sprints) | M | SSP Development | |
| D1.4 | Release of APT free of all identified non critical issues (Development Phase 2). Several versions of APT will be released throughout the project to address the critical issues. (Between 13 and 19 sprints) | S | SSP Development | |
| D1.5 | Technical documentation to support the handover to production management | M | SSP Development | |
| D1.6 | Increase the number of staff with technical knowledge of APT | S | SSP Development | |
| O2 | All school fully set up and supported for APT | Must | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.1 | Update the Assessment Hub training material | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.2 | Create the Progression training material | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.3 | Create the Resit training material | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.4 | Create 5 advanced scenario based training material | S | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.5 | Final review and update all training materials | S | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.6 | Deliver general training (up to 6 sessions) | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.7 | Deliver advanced training (up to 3 sessions) | S | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.8 | Deliver bespoke training (up to 4 sessions) | S | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.9 | Deliver resit training (up to 22 sessions) | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.10 | Deliver group 3 school training (9 sessions) | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D2.11 | Deliver refresher training (up to 22 sessions) | C | SSP Service Improvement | |
| O3 | Reduce the number of calls received by Student Systems Support (SSS) | Must | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.1 | Update the Assessment Hub documentation for SSS | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.2 | Create the Progression documentation for SSS | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.3 | Update the Assessment Hub documentation available on EdWed for use by the schools | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.4 | Create the Progression documentation on EdWed for use by the schools | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.5 | Create the Resit documentation on EdWed for use by the schools | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.6 | Workshop to evaluate communication needs and preferences | M | SSP Service Improvement | |
| D3.7 | Communication Plan | M | Project Services | |
| D3.8 | Plan for BAU support (2nd & 3rd line) | S | SSP Service Improvement |
Benefits
The immediate benefits of this project are to provide a stable APT system and improve confidence in APT through extensive training and engagement with the schools.
The longer term benefits of APT are:
- The use of one single application to support assessment and progression throughout the University, thus providing a consistent experience for students across all schools.
- To reduce the time and effort required to maintain local systems and processes for assessment and progression.
- To provide students and staff with more accurate information quicker, and easier to access.
Success Criteria
The project will be deemed successful if:
- All schools are effectively using the Assessment and Progression tools to record and publish marks, grades and progression decisions by the end of academic year 2017/18.
- The number of call to Student Systems Support about APT during the results publication for academic year 2017/18 has reduced compared to academic year 2016/17.
Project Milestones
Milestones as of 1 February 2018:
Target Date |
Previous Date | Title | Stage | Complete | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-Jan-2018 | No date available | Sprint 1 release | Execute | Yes | |
| 26-Jan-2018 | 08-Dec-2017 | End of Planning | Plan | No | |
| 30-Jan-2018 | No date available | Sprint 2 release | Execute | Yes | |
| 21-Feb-2018 | No date available | Sprint 3 release | Execute | No | |
| 07-Mar-2018 | No date available | Sprint 4 release | Execute | No | |
| 21-Mar-2018 | No date available | Sprint 5 release | Execute | No | |
| 14-May-2018 | No date available | Delivery - End of Development Phase 1 (Sprint 1-6) | Deliver | No | |
| 14-May-2018 | No date available | Sprint 6 release | Execute | No | |
| 04-Jul-2018 | No date available | Sprint 7 release | Execute | No | |
| 18-Jul-2018 | No date available | Sprint 8 release | Execute | No | |
| 01-Aug-2018 | No date available | Sprint 9 release | Execute | No | |
| 29-Aug-2018 | No date available | Sprint 10 release | Execute | No | |
| 12-Sep-2018 | No date available | Sprint 11 release | Execute | No | |
| 26-Sep-2018 | No date available | Sprint 12 release | Execute | No | |
| 10-Oct-2018 | No date available | Sprint 13 release | Execute | No | |
| 24-Oct-2018 | No date available | Sprint 14 release | Execute | No | |
| 07-Nov-2018 | No date available | Delivery - End of Development Phase 2 (Sprint 7-15) | Deliver | No | |
| 07-Nov-2018 | No date available | Sprint 15 release | Execute | No | |
| 04-Jan-2019 | No date available | Closure Report | Close | No | |
| 11-Jan-2019 | No date available | Project Closure | Close | No |