Closure Report
Project Summary
this project identified a gap in managing events in EdWeb. This functionality is of particular importance to CHASS. The delivery of this project significantly reduced the manual effort required when managing multiple events in EdWeb by delivering a new content type, an Events Overview. The new content type will also be able to handle feeds from outside EdWeb, this is in preparation for future work.
Manually handling events adds a layer of complexity to the overall process and is this inefficient process is not best use of staff resources.
This project has delivered two key benefits, the first being the reduction in effort needed to manage events. The second is to provide a central system within the central CMS to manage and promote both EdWeb internal and external events. This project has also created an API for future use in EdWeb and Events Booking System.
The is no direct integration between the events booking channel and EdWeb, however, with the introduction of an overview page, events from outside EdWeb can also use the new content type to create an overview of events as required.
The project originally planned two iterations, however, the complexity, combined with bringing an additional developer on board an additional development iteration was added. The initial plan was funded by ring-fenced days from CAHSS.
A number of factors made this a project a great success:
- The project delivered additional, time-saving functionality to EdWeb
- The project embedded a developer from UWP into the development team in Apps
- Another developed from Dev Services was also involved in an EdWeb project
Background
The event content type is used extensively in EdWeb. However, using the event content type without some sort of dynamic mechanism to display events creates a large manual overhead. Events also need to be archived manually which is time-consuming and can result in out of date information being displayed on the website.
Events often need to be entered in to more than one system e.g. entered into EdWeb to advertise the event and then the same information being added to the event booking system to allow people to book on to the event. This duplication is obviously time consuming.
There are 2 main areas that could be enhanced that would have a big impact on event management:
- A way of dynamically displaying events
- Being able to consume and display a feed of events from other systems.
This was an in-year project with 50 ring fenced days being supplied by CAHSS. In total 70 days were spent on this project with the extra 20 days being used from contingency.
SCOPE
The scope of this project is to implement the Request for Change (c1709-149_event_enhancements_-_design_evaluation.docx) approved by the EdWeb CAB. The user stories will be prepared by UWP and CAHSS and estimated.
The deliverables were prioritised using the MoSCoW prioritisation method:
Objectives, Deliverables, Success Criteria and Priority
| Nr. | Objective/Deliverable | Success Criteria | Delivered | Priority |
| O1 | The objective is to meet the business expectation that we should be able to promote events to support all potential audiences. University events will be promoted better and reach more channels used by our target audiences. | This functionality will improve our content leading to a more current, accurate and relevant website. | Must have | |
| D1 | Automatically display a group of events based on defined criteria. | New content type is available to group events. | Yes | Must have |
| D2 | Be able to display groups of merged events that have been entered in EdWeb or from a feed from external systems. (University Event Booking system and the Talks seminar system as well other external products). | External events can be consumed in EdWeb, showing a defined list of fields. | Yes | Must have |
| D3 | Events to be grouped by methods such as child pages of a particular page but also by other tagging methods (such as Groups Audience, University hierarchy, (keyword tagging-should have)) to allow other events to be displayed. | Events can be selected from one or more groups audience. | Yes | Must have |
| D4 | Events to be displayed in either a calendar view or in a list/summary format. These would have links through to the full event detail or to the external system. | Events that have been added to EdWeb can be dynamically displayed a calendar view or list view. | Yes | Must have |
| D5 | Call to actions would lead to the standalone event pages or to specific actions, e.g. "Book Now", "More information". These could also be to external systems (could have). | CTA functionality can be added when creating events. | Yes | Must have |
| D6 | Events can be presented as single events or as part of a larger programme | Events can be flagged as stand alone or as part of a larger group of events. | Yes | Must have |
| D7 | Only active or live events need be displayed unless part of a larger programme. | Flexibility to display events in according to their status and programme affiliation/membership. | Yes | Must have |
| D8 | A facility to view previous events. | Archived EdWeb events are available for browsing and sharing through a calendar or list view. | Yes | Should have |
Benefits
- The enhancements reduce effort and avoid duplication. For example, events would be displayed dynamically rather than manually creating lists of events and old events would be archived automatically.
- Easier for event organisers to be able to draw attention to upcoming events for promotion purposes.
- Current staff/students/visitors able to see what's coming up soon within their area of interest.
- All site users are able to see an archive of past events.
- Prospective staff/students able to use events as a way of assessing how active Edinburgh is within their field of interest.
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 50 days (from CAHSS ring fenced budget plus 20 days contingency)
Staff Usage Actual: 70 days
Staff Usage Variance: 140%
Outcome
Explanation for variance
- As noted earlier in the report a third iteration was added to the project.
- Milestone delays are due to industrial action (the second deployment was slightly delayed)
Key Learning Points
- The Agile Team worked very well together, the balance between the business (CAHSS), the University Website team and colleagues from Apps built on the successful project delivered over the
- Billy Wardrop provided UWP Development, worked closely with Miari Fraser, Adrian Richardson and Martin Jones
- After much consideration of the alternatives, the aggregator was deployed to CHOST and this did come at a cost in terms of effort and time. A solution was put in place to minimise manual steps. However, it should be noted that this is a long-term workaround rather than an ideal solution. For similar deployments in the future, it is an important learning point that we should opt to avoid that approach in future & use infrastructure that supports our deployment requirements.
Outstanding Issues
There are no outstanding issues.