Jisc case studies wiki Case studies / SICT - University of Bolton
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

SICT - University of Bolton

Drivers

We jumped straight into using the kit to help us structure our strategic approach.

 

We started using the toolkit as a guide for establishing suitable governance for developing both an IS and an IT strategy. The challenge being to produce two plans that can give meaningful support to the University as it builds scenarios around fees, costs, curriculum and positioning in response to changing Government policy. In every case we are having to think about the contribution of technology.

 

Approach

 

We have used the ideas in the toolkit to establish an overarching ICT governance group. This group is the Executive Board's Technology and Infrastructure Committee (TIC) and is comprised of senior staff. The group meets every 5-6 weeks and also acted as the project board for our SICT project.

 

The group was tasked with doing a number of things at the same time, including:

 

  • the overall governance and principles of how we manage strategy and development have been agreed and approved by the Executive
  • taking a grip on the project portfolio to ensure development priorities are aligned correctly
  • considering the scenarios and options being put forward by the strategy working groups

 

One challenge was to try to focus development priorities whilst trying not to stifle innovation across the University especially where this requires a resource from the central IT. A second challenge was to ensure that there was an appropriate separation between governance and management activity.

 

We had a number of dissemination events around the new governance arrangements - though work probably still remains to ensure that they are fully understood. Establishing governance was a primary goal, following a succession of unsatisfactory attempts in the past.

 

The survey tool from the toolkit was used with the TIC members to assess our maturity. After a good discussion, clarifications with some guidance, members of the ICT Governance Group also took away the survey tool to complete.

 

We used the toolkit not only to test out the questionnaires and assess our own strategic maturity, but to look at how the content can help us to develop an IT Strategy.

 

In recent years re-workings of the University management and committee structure had left ICT strategy out on a limb, and the attention of the SMT was on the physical campus and on sustainability.

 

The ICT governance group established within this project, made up of Deans and senior staff, are now on a learning journey. Initially shocked at the number of change projects underway and frustrated at how slow progress can be on some projects, the group was keen to have in place effective project controls, and is demanding of more information on progress and benefits realisation. This is now shaping the way we structure and organise the IS services, and whilst it initially felt somewhat uncomfortable, there are definitely signs that the institution is now heading firmly in the right direction. In particular we now seem to have some recognition of how restricted resources are impacting on delivery of key changes.

 

Findings

 

All those who responded to the survey put the University in the operational zone albeit with scores ranging from 17 to 32.

 

On the toolkit, all questionnaires returned showed that our governance group believe that we are still firmly operationally focused.

 

Needless to say, we scored low on Enterprise Architecture (although four panel members are involved in using EA methods in projects), shared services, and communication and engagement.