Overview

Background

Objective 1

Due to its sensitive nature, there is a need to move the following defined list of “reportable characteristics,” data items to a new, more secured place (MCI) on the SITS database as the golden copy, so that EUCLID remains supported.

MCI is also used as a data source for HESA Statutory Returns.

Some processes such as online registration have already been updated to store this data on MCI, but other processes (like admissions, reporting etc.) that are still reading data from the STU table need to be reviewed. Historic student data also needs to be migrated, including the GDPR review of data “not needed.”

Current students will have data written to MCI as they complete online registration, but if all of the “reads” are moved to look at MCI rather than STU it will mean that any student data not on MCI will drop from reports and retrieval screens etc. There is therefore need to agree whether this migration should be performed for all historic students or if there's a cut-off period and, if the latter, how historic data is reported on/retrieved. This is not likely to be required for historic data but a discussion with GaSP/Planning will follow.

A benefit of moving to MCI is that there will be no need to manage dual maintenance of storing/updating data on both Student and MCI tables. This will also allow the use of Tribal recommended processes. At an as-yet unconfirmed date, Tribal will stop supporting the use of STU (student) tables for the storage of reportable characteristic data. Not doing so will leave us open to potential reporting errors. This will also impact the current Admissions process and BI reporting. 

Objective 2

We also need to address the SITS database performance issues that occur on large tables so that EUCLID downtime is prevented as the increased number of users, processes and therefore data being stored on the SITS database is causing performance issues and impacting users (staff and students). This will involve identifying data for deletion. Previous analysis work done on the Assessment APT tool showed that low level components assessments could be deleted and the performance would be boosted by 30%.

This occurred recently with the Engagement tables growing at a rate of 2 million a year. New processes were also added during the Covid period to record students' LEARN logins as required for Immigration Tier 4 students and is still being used by CAHSS. This was implemented without a data retention policy and therefore, the creation of a new data retention policy is required.

Scope

1. Move a defined list of data items from STU to more secured place (MCI) on the SITS database, categorised as ‘reportable characteristics,’ so that EUCLID remains supported.
2. Address SITS database issues that occur on large tables so that EUCLID downtime is prevented.

Out of scope

1. Migration of Online Registration data to MCI as this has already been completed (see below).
2. Migration of data outside the agreed upon population.

Objectives and Deliverables

Project Milestones

The following milestones take into account the increased budget and duration of the project.

There are four strands of work in Objective 1:

• Student characteristic data migration. There is a hard deadline of 28 June 2024 for this work as it must be completed prior to the HESA Returns in July.

The following three strands need to be tested, trained and deployed to LIVE concurrently:

• EUCLID Reads moving from STU to MCI tables
• EUGEX Reads moving from STU to MCI tables
• BI Universes moving from STU to MCI tables

The work required for Objective 2; the agreement of the data deletion policy as well as the deletions themselves, has resulted in the longer duration of the project.

The scope of this project has been increased to include:

3. Remaining Vue Upgrade / Update of Components under Continuous Service Improvement (CSI).