Project Name: Transformational Technology Roadmap Accelerator Project (TTRAP)
Lead Institution: University of Gloucestershire
Project Lead: Bill Lawrence
Transformational Technology Roadmap Accelerator Project (TTRAP)
BACKGROUND
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This JISC project provided a catalyst for the University to review its ICT Strategy 2012-15. One of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) outlined in the strategy, was to map out the current technical infrastructure and outline where the University needs to be in the next 3-5 years time based on how the University planned to deliver its service over the plan period.
For example: If the Learning & Teaching strategy suggests that more of curriculum will be delivered off-campus and online, then the ICT infrastructure needs to be able to support this change of direction and ensure that the majority of core applications are web and mobile enabled, if they are not already.
The University is currently in the process of developing its ICT Strategy 2013-16. This will align with the University’s Strategic Plan 2012-17, which was formally approved in March 2012.
The new ICT Strategy is being developed in consultation with students, staff and external stakeholders to better integrate ICT with other key University Strategies, to help deliver efficiency savings within a reducing unit of resource.
Underpinning the ICT strategy will be a transformational technology roadmap that sets out the technical direction for ICT-based systems and services in the University. With the help from JISC the project aims to support and accelerate the development of the technical infrastructure to ensure that it remains fit-for-purpose in an increasingly competitive market. TTRAP will build on the successful JISC funded project in 2011, where with the help from the JISC SICT Toolkit, it looked into possible disconnects between ICT and Learning & Teaching strategies. TTRAP will extend this work to other University strategies to help ensure that a technical infrastructure is put in place that helps facilitate change in the organisation and improve overall operational efficiencies in the University.
The University is at a key stage in the process where planning and prioritisation of technology investments will help enhance services to students and staff. ICT is viewed as a key enabler in the University’s transformational change agenda, and an agile technology roadmap will help facilitate change and enable the ICT department to:
- Fully align the Technical Roadmap to the ICT Strategy and the needs of the business;
- Have a clear direction for technology investment to drive efficiency improvements and support the University’s business needs;
- Provide a mechanism to help forecast technology developments and a framework to help plan and coordinate technology developments;
- Be more proactive and make recommendations about technological developments. Not only in the more traditional (for us) areas of business efficiency, but also in the area of educational technology;
- Improve management decision-making and provide direction to project teams;
- Enable the University to identify emerging opportunities and react to changing market conditions more quickly;
- Evaluate and help select courses of action with the highest potential return;
- Reveal gaps, challenges and weaknesses in ICT provision before they threaten;
- Build consensus and promote greater collaboration externally with the HE sector and technology partners, as well as internally across multiple business functions;
- Improve the clarity of potential future scenarios based on documented facts and clearly stated assumptions;
- Increase innovation success and return on investment, by ensuring that we are getting the best out of our existing systems;
- Exercise more control when making decisions to buy new systems.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
TTRAP aimed to provide a roadmap that took the University from where it currently was technologically, to where it needed to be in the next 3-5 years time based on the needs of the University and stakeholder requirements. The stakeholder consultation was facilitated with our external partners – Fulrum – and was undertaken with more than 40 x key academic and professional staff at all levels within the organisation
TTRAP was informed by 3 x key components:
- ‘As-Is’ review. Mapping out the technical infrastructure of the University as it was now
- ICT Strategy 2012-15. Understanding the key priorities of the institution going forward
- ‘To-Be’ state. Development of the technical infrastructure based on informed discussion with key stakeholders in the organisation
The ‘As-Is’ review mapped out and documented all the existing systems and flows of data between the various systems, and considered how the technology was (or perhaps was not) being utilised effectively to satisfy current user requirements.
The analysis considered and built on the various JISC projects and the JISC InfoKits, and also other relevant and aligned HE sector projects where Fulcrum (external partners) had had previous HE experience. This tripartite arrangement between the University, Fulcrum and JISC, proved to be very beneficial in delivering a successful project, that revolved around the key areas such as process mapping, process review and Enterprise Architecture (EA) where JISC have extensive experience.
CONTEXT
The University's ICT Strategy has been reviewed at a time when the University and the Higher Education sector face significant financial challenges. Whilst the strategy is mindful of the constraints that may be imposed by such challenges, it does, none the less, propose a long-term strategic approach to capital investment, that not only supports and maintains the existing technical infrastructure, but, enables exploration into new areas of technology to support innovative ways of delivery better levels of service to students and staff. ICT is an enabling technology which, if used effectively, can transform the way in which the University operates. The ICT strategy and TTRAP helps to set out the direction for ICT developments over the next.
3-5 years that is reviewed on an annual basis and monitored through the ICT Governance Group.
BUSINESS CASE
The business case and the reasons for doing this project were quite clear. The sector as a whole is facing increasing demands from students to offer higher levels of value for money in light of the increased tuition fees structured in 2012. To deliver this objective, the University needed to re-focus its services away from back-office administrative processes to front-facing services that add value, and provide the advice and support that is required by fee paying students.
Universities can no longer be the bastions of knowledge, and libraries no longer the keepers of information. In an operating environment where information continues to be ‘King’, and an online society that expects information and service to be at the end of a key stroke, ICT has an instrumental role to provide in delivering this service. The HE sector is becoming increasingly competitive, and it could be argued that service delivery in the HE sector in the future will be no different to shopping and comparing products online, e.g. Moneysupermarket.Com environment, with value-for-money and customer service is paramount in the decision making process. In order to remain competitive in this increasingly competitive market, the University believes that it needs to re-engineer its portfolio of services around the emerging technologies and customer service. The JISC funded TTRAP project provides the catalyst to set out where the University is now, and where it needs to be in 3-5 years to help ensure it retains market share.
KEY DRIVERS
The key drivers for the project were:
- Changing HE environment. The HE sector is becoming an increasingly competitive marketplace, where customer service and value-for-money will play an important role in the decision making process.
- Student Feedback. Students find it difficult to navigate around University systems to find the information that is relevant to their course. Information that can be personalized to the needs of the individual would held address this issue by ‘pushing’ information out to the students rather than the student having to ‘pull’ information from a variety of different resources.
- Staff/Key Stakeholders. Having consulted with over 40 x staff and stakeholders in the institution ranging from DVC/Deans/HoS/HoD/Course Leaders, etc., the top priority to help deliver a better student experience was to develop a portal that is accessible both on and off campus that contains information personalized to the needs of the individual.
JISC RESOURCES/TECHNOLOGY USED
The project was supported and informed by a variety resources that include:
OUTCOMES
The main outcome of TTRAP was to help ensure that the University develops and builds an appropriate technical infrastructure to deliver the business needs of the institution over the next 3-5 years. To achieve this aim TTRAP will build on the work of previous JISC projects that have explored this area of activity, work collaboratively with key stakeholders in the institution, and work in partnership with external technology suppliers to advise on new areas of technology to help improve operational efficiencies and enhance the student experience.
Other outcomes include:
- Better strategic alignment
- Targeted investment
- A re-engineering of business processes
- Efficiency improvements
- Enhanced student and staff satisfaction through the effective use of new technologies
ACHIEVEMENTS
So far the achievements of this project have been:
- The setting out and documenting of, the existing technical infrastructure
- Wide ranging consultation with over 50 academic and professional staff at all levels in the organisation to establish what the key service delivery priorities are in the University
- The agreement of the Executive to create a Business Process Review (BPR) Manager to lead BPR's in the institution
- The setting out of a 'TO-BE- technical infrastructure based on key stakeholders in the University, that helps to remove duplication of effort and improve business efficiencies through the effective use of ICT
- Raising awareness amongst the University Executive of:
- the importance of technology in delivering a modern day effective service to students
- the benefits of ‘Portal’ technologies in delivering a personalising service to students that can be accessed through a variety of web based and mobile devices
- closer collaboration between academic staff and technologists information portals that can be personalised to the needs of the individual
- The project has acted as a springboard to develop a tripartite partnership with LIS and the Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI) in developing a range of student-centric services
BENEFITS
The benefit so far on this project has been the recognition by both the University Executive and academic staff how important ICT is in the delivery of services to students and staff, and how the University needs to undertake transformational change to remain competitive in rapidly changing environment.
Another benefit, (probably for the first time) was being able to sit down with an external partner and actually map out with a degree of accuracy, what the current ICT technical infrastructure consists of, and what it could look like, having removed unnecessary duplication through an infrastructure that has been developed over the years through default rather than by design.
DRAWBACKS
The main setback from the whole project was not being able to convince the University Executive to fund the development of a personalized information portal, that emerged as the top priority through a wide ranging consultation with key stakeholders in the institution. Unfortunately, this was not deemed a high enough priority in the context of other funding priorities in the institution. This was a major disappointment considering the recommendation to developed a personalised portal was arrived at through a structured and consultative process that involved over 50 x staff in the University, and linked with priorities in both the University’s Strategic Plan and the Learning & Teaching Strategy.
KEY LESSONS
An important lesson I personally learnt from the project, was to get Executive/Senior Management buy-in and commitment to the project right from the outset. Without this, whilst the project has been very successful in raising the profile of information portals and working in partnership and collaboration with staff, students and external partners, the project has not been brought to a successful conclusion yet.
LOOKING AHEAD
Gain funding to complete the project next year. However, in the interim survey the sector and gain benchmarking data to help provide more of a compelling case to gain University Executive/Senior Management approval for similarly related ICT projects.
SUSTAINABILITY
- This project has served as a springboard for better communication both internally and with our external partners outside of the institution
- The ‘AS-IS’ process mapping exercise was the first real time the University’s technical infrastructure has been documented with a degree of accuracy. This will be sustained now through a process of continuous improvement monitored through the ICT Governance Group
- The project has also initiated a business process review team (3 x staff), that not only will review key business processes in the University, but will also align reviews with the effective use of ICT and new technologies
- TTRAP has also spawned a new and closer working relationship between ICT, Library & Information Services and Teaching & Learning Innovation, in the development of student-centric services that are driven by learning and teaching agenda
