Overview

Background

The Development and Alumni and Careers business areas jointly decided that a Student Alumni Platform is needed to connect students, alumni and others within an exclusive online community, providing a secure space for careers advice, mentoring, networking and communication.

This project is the follow-on to USG005, which evaluated and procured a solution for the Student Alumni Community Networking Platform. With the selection/procurement complete, and the purchase and proposed adoption of a networking platform finalised, this project will oversee all the elements of the deployment of the chosen product into Live and cover the variety of management perspectives that are interested in the deployment of the platform and its gradual adoption by the variety of audiences that it is designed for.

 

Scope

There are two main elements to the scope of this project – the implementation of the product that was procured under USG005 and the work to roll out the new platform and engage with its intended audiences.

The first part will include establishing our site requirements with the vendor; finalising the initial configuration for the UoE site; agreeing our site design specifications with the vendor; reaching an agreement on data feeds (source, content and mechanism); setting up a beta/test site and reviewing and testing this initial build of the UoE site, and refining the configuration of our beta site after testing.

Next, work will include testing of the data transfer and import procedures; finalisation of the Live site and any associated documentation; final pre-launch checking of the Live site, and then the deployment/launch of the Live site to selected audiences.

Work on the preparations for the required launch messages and lists will be carried out alongside the preparatory tasks listed above; the project team (particularly in Careers and Development & Alumni) will also continue their groundwork on getting promotional/introductory material ready  and identifying the various audiences for the platform and a schedule of communications for the timeline along which the different groups will gradually join the online community that the new platform will cultivate.

Once the platform has been launched, the project team will be involved in the monitoring of the launch and managing feedback from audiences/users. It is also planned that the benefits expected will be measured as part of the ongoing management of the platform, and while this will be beyond the time limits of this project, planning for the identification and management of benefits will be included in the current scope.

 

Objectives & Deliverables

ID Description Priority (MoSCoW) Owner
O1

Establish deployment requirements & site customisation requests

Must Have Project team
D1 Documentation covering site requirements and design Must Have Project team
O2

Implement and make available Beta site for testing

Must have Vendor
D2 Beta site based on UoE design and requirements Must have Vendor
D3 Testing results and feedback from Beta site Must have Project team
O3 Implement and make available (for checking/testing) Live site ahead of Go Live Must have Project team/Vendor
D4 Confirmation that Single Sign-On (SSO) functionality is working as expected Must have Project team
D5 Feed of relevant and approved user data from UoE to vendor Must have Project team
D6 Live site based on UoE design and requirements Must have Project team/Vendor
O4

Deploy UoE site to Live

Must have Project team/Vendor
D7 Live site available to selected UoE audience Must have Project team/Vendor
D8 Communications to invited audience of users Must have Project team
O5

Monitor deployment and initial usage of platform

Should have  Project team
D9 Report covering  deployment of platform and recommendations for future management Should have  Project team
O6 Plan the identification of likely benefits and map how these will be managed Should have Project team
D10 Documentation covering the benefits to be identified and tracked Should have Project team

 

Benefits

The principal benefit to be gained through the launch of the new platform is that students and alumni will be able to connect through an online community. In turn, this is expected to engender the following:

  • Enable students to be connected with alumni who have undertaken a similar course, to be able to ask them questions and understand the opportunities available to them, thus increasing the employability of students and increasing student satisfaction
  • Enable alumni to give a valued contribution of supporting students through discussion and advice
  • Support the strategic plan target of increasing income through better engagement with alumni

The measurable benefits are to be identified and recorded by the project team ahead of the platform launch as part of this project, and more detail on this will be made available shortly.

 

Success Criteria

The achievement of the main objectives will determine the success, or otherwise, of the technical element of this project. Success, in the longer term, will be ascertained by the realisation of the benefits that are identified, and the achievement of any targets that are established by our business partners.

Project Milestones

Target Datesort descending Title Stage
23-Feb-2018 TEST site ready Build
16-Mar-2018 Planning Sign-Off Plan
30-Mar-2018 Acceptance sign-off Accept
11-Apr-2018 Push to Live [Vendor] Deliver
16-Apr-2018 Launch of website (Provisional) Deliver
17-May-2018 Delivery sign-off (Provisional) Close
25-May-2018

Project closure (Provisional)

Deliver

Project Info

Project
Careers - Student Alumni Community Networking Platform
Code
STU258
Programme
Student Services (STU)
Management Office
ISG PMO
Project Manager
Richard Bailey
Project Sponsor
Shelagh Green
Current Stage
Close
Status
Closed
Project Classification
Grow
Start Date
09-Jan-2018
Planning Date
16-Mar-2018
Delivery Date
18-Jun-2018
Close Date
30-Nov-2018
Overall Priority
Normal
Category
Discretionary

Documentation

Plan