Technical Liaison Meeting  16 September 2009 Chair – Malcolm Bain, Director, IT Services

1. Introductions The chair welcomed everyone and offered a brief introduction to Tim Lee, Project Manager for student email replacement.

The minutes were accepted from the previous meeting.

2. IT Services  Email / Calendar project (Students) – Tim Lee provided an overview of the project so far. Students will start the new term using the WebMail system and offered the opportunity to ‘opt in’ to the SaintMail Google email option. This would allow for a systematic move to the new SaintMail. The student association, along with the Helpdesk are involved with the testing and it is intended to launch with email and calendaring only. All mail will arrive via the St Andrews gateway then be sent on to Google. The University will continue to monitor for spam. It is still possible to install imap / pop clients and it is the aim to have all students moved to SaintMail by Christmas 2009. SaintMail is essentially Google’s software branded for use at St Andrews and agreement on this was made in conjunction with Corporate Communications and the Students Association. BI is currently working on linking the student portal with SaintMail. The University has revised its email policy to accommodate the change to SaintMail. Issues surrounding the move include the contracts for a small percentage (estimated 5%) of postgraduate students as these state that data cannot be moved out of the UK / Europe. The Research Funding Office is currently investigating this matter further. Malcolm McCandless asked the meeting if the introduction of SaintMail was the start of a process with the intention being to introduce other services provided by Google at a later date. Tim Lee stated that prior to any additional introductions all services would go through a review in conjunction with BI. Malcolm Bain stated that there was pressure from the Students Association to make all Google Apps available now. Jackie McPherson asked the meeting if there are plans to migrate staff email to SaintMail. Malcolm Bain stated that this was currently not the intention and there was no plan to rush into a staff solution. A decision was taken in June 2009 to split the email project between staff and students.

 Staff email / calendar project – The procurement process has commenced with the development of the PQQ (Pre-qualification Questionaire) underway. This process evaluates the capability of the vendors to deliver the project. The PQQ will be followed with the ITT (Invitation to Tender). To date there have been 65 notes of interest with 18 PQQ responses. The top 6 vendors will be selected to progress to the next stage with all providing solutions to meet the business needs. User groups will be created to identify key requirements with the ITT due for release in October 2009. Tim Lee addressed the meeting in regards to the large number of active functional and secondary accounts in the system and stated that a large number of those accounts seemed now to be unmanaged. Tim asked the Computing Officers for assistance in rationalising the accounts by identifying those that are no longer

Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009 1 used. Tim also updated the meeting on the scope of the email project stating that this will also address the current Meeting Maker calendar system. Mary Woodcock-Kroble asked if the student timetable would be integrated into the calendar. Tim stated that this is being addressed in regards to the student portal and Google calendar.  Windows Services Developments – Phil Robertson updated the meeting on new developments and announced that three new members of staff had been appointed to the team. The new PC build is in place for the classrooms with the applications currently under development. A deployment plan is also being developed and it is intended that new machines will be installed in the main library and Butts Wynd Classroom. Mark Cox informed the meeting that the new classroom build machines all had Windows XP installed. He also stated that this OS would ensure better reliability and easier maintenance. The new staff build is also being developed and this is based upon the classroom build. This will initially be installed into one or two smaller departments, be more securely managed, and should reduce the number of support calls received at the Helpdesk. EndNote and QuickTime are installed on all machines as licensing issues are now resolved. Mike Arrowsmith asked the meeting if the plug-in for QuickTime was available. Mark Cox stated that it was. Mary Woodcock-Kroble asked if Clicker software could be included in the build. This was agreed if the CD was supplied.

 Information Security – Malcolm Bain stated that the ICT Strategy declares that a security policy will be approved and published and apply to all staff. There is an element of work involved with meeting the requirements of the policy which will remove instances of sending plain text passwords, and introduce better security for website access. Moving towards SSL, Secure Sockets Layer, for mail clients to ensure password encryption. Steve Smart asked the meeting what support was available to implement the changes. Birgit Plietzsch stated that instructions were available on the IT Service website. Andrew Eccles asked what policies were in place in regards to removable media. Malcolm Bain stated that there was a need to promote a solution for this. There was a broad range of solutions available for securing removable media and all areas should be investigated. Phil Robertson stated that there was also a need to investigate what data was being copied on particular media.

 Service Desk – Kevin Donachie reported that the procurement process was going well. Five vendors had been short listed from the PQQ process with the ITT scheduled for release on 18 October. The plan was to test the software and conduct the site visits during October and November, with procurement scheduled for December. The intention was to have the new Service desk installed and in operation by August 2010.

 ITIL – Kevin Donachie reported that IT Services will adopt a standard approach to service management with the intention of using the ITIL approach for delivery. Service Level Management will be developed along with the documented Service Level Catalogue. This will be the foundation for the development of service level agreements which will in turn include guidance on contacting the Helpdesk. Incident management will be introduced and will document how the Helpdesk manages calls in regards to categories and priorities.

Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009 2 Once a framework is developed it will be taken out to schools. For now the ITIL process is concentrating on the service desk.

 Business Intelligence – Karen St Amant updated the meeting on the recent procurement of a new application called QlikView. This is a software tool used to create management reports over a web based client. Karen is currently working with technical advisors to configure and develop the application for use with the University data. Mike Arrowsmith and Jackie McPherson asked the meeting if this would be a front end for the data warehouse, if research grants would be investigated via QlikView then matched with local data, and if schools had been informed of this facility. Karen stated that at the moment these areas were in development and it was the intention to have the application configured and built prior to taking it into schools. Malcolm McCandless asked if it was possible for QlikView to create a ‘dashboard’ on various data sources, for example HR and Finance data. Karen stated that this would be possible and was seen as one of the benefits of the tool.

 Data Centre Plans - The money for the backup data centre has been secured, planning permission has been sought, and a specialist contractor engaged. Building work is due to commence in November 2009 with the aim being to make the facility available for use in mid 2010. Additional work will also be progressed on the Purdie Building in the North Haugh to allow for an increase in the power supply. IT Services continues to press for the build of a data centre at the North Haugh site.

Summary of other developments / projects underway Central File Store, the kit was installed and configured to act as a storage facility for staff.

Student portal – Business Improvements have developed a student portal that will be softly launched during reading week.

Project Board – has been set up to look at all projects undertaken by BI and ITS to ensure that they are aligned with the University strategy.

Identity Management – the project is now progressing after a short delay. Malcolm McCandless asked the meeting if the ID Management system will also identify roles. Malcolm Bain stated that it did and that he would provide a summary of progress to the Computing Officers.

AOB Phil Robertson advised the meeting that there may be a delay with deliveries as external companies are slower in responding at this time.

John Ball was retiring in September and as yet there was no agreement on a replacement for his position.

CIO – applications had been received and short listed but as yet no appointment had been made.

Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009 3 Birgit Plietzch stated that she was testing new software that would deliver wiki/blogs. All computing officers will be given access to this.

Raymoir Moir advised the meeting that all taught modules had now been entered into WebCT. This action is in preparation in the event of a Swine Flu outbreak. A template has also been developed for those courses that do not have existing shells.

Actions

Email project progress update MB ID Management MB Standard Build and DVDs PJR / MFC QuickTime PJR / MFC

Lorraine Brown ITS Patricia Heggie Maths Andy Eccles History Malcolm Bain ITS (Chairman) Phi Robertson ITS Jim Bews Chemistry Mary Woodcock-Kroble Classics/Art History Jennifer Kerr Management Bill Gudgeon Bute Medical School Steve Smart Biology / Medicine Alan Vaughan Geography Birgit Plietzsch ITS Kevin Donachie ITS Mike Arrowsmith Philosophy Brian Kirk Psychology Raymond Moir Saltire Richard Gordon Development Office Mark Cox IT Services Jackie McPherson Psychology Malcolm McCandless Psychology Karen St Amant BI Tim Lee IT Services Graham Halley IT Services Stephan Evans BI

Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009 4