Closure Report
Project Summary
The stated objective project, as per project brief approved on 30/11/2018 was to:
Bring LEARN Oracle database up to 12c software level so as to ensure compliance and Oracle support.
The project was subject to the following change controls:
Ref |
Date Identified | Type | Short Description | Governance Required | Date Completed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 08-Nov-2017 | Change | Change to Planning Review date | Yes | 10-Nov-2017 | |
| 2 | 10-Jan-2018 | Change | Change of Project Manager | No | 10-Jan-2018 | |
| 3 | 06-Feb-2018 | Change | Change to priority | Yes | 10-Feb-2018 | |
| 4 | 06-Feb-2018 | Change | Change to project milestones as per project plan v3.0 | Yes | 10-Feb-2018 | |
| 5 | 19-Feb-2018 | Change | Return of unspent budget to programme | No | 19-Feb-2018 | |
| 6 | 19-Feb-2018 | Decision | Project Withdrawal | Yes | 23-Feb-2018 |
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 59 days
Staff Usage Actual: 33 days
Staff Usage Variance: -44%
Other Resource Estimate: N/A
Other Resource Actual: N/A
Other Resource Variance: N/A
Outcome
The project was withdrawn on 19/02/2018 for the following reason:
It was established that vendor support for the currently implemented version of Blackboard (v Q4 2016) did not cover connections to containerised Oracle 12c databases.
The vendor of Blackboard currently has no date for that support to be provided.
The Learn database will remain on Oracle 11g for the rest of the 2017/18 year. Oracle support for 11g is due to finish in December 2019. Migration to Oracle 12c (or better) will therefore be replanned for 2018/19.
The circumstance and the University's response is described in the Project Change Log item #6.
Explanation for variance
The project underspent by 26 days. This was due to the withdrawal of the project without delivery. This resource has been returned to the Programme budget under change control item #5
Key Learning Points
The end of life strategy for strategic software should include a full audit of 3rd party support dependencies in order to enable optimum timing and sequencing of the work.
Outstanding Issues
The Learn database remains on Oracle 11g. The project to upgrade the database must be delivered before December 2019.