JISC Project Plan. Project Information. Project Title Project Hashtag. Bringing Corporate Data to Life

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1 JISC Project Plan Before completing this template please note: This template is for completion by JISC funded projects Text in blue italics is explanatory and should be deleted in completed documents. The Project Management Guidelines ( explain the purpose of Project Plans. Please remember to fill in the information on the header - i.e. doc version, contact and date) Project Identifier Project Title Project Hashtag Project Information To be completed by JISC Bringing Corporate Data to Life Start Date March 1 st 2011 End Date Lead Institution Project Director Project Manager Contact Partner Institutions Project Webpage URL Programme Name Programme Manager University of East London Gary Tindell g.c.tindell@uel.ac.uk None TBC Business Intelligence Myles Danson Document Information Author(s) Gary Tindell Project Role(s) Project Manager Date April 27 th 2011 Filename UEL Project Plan April 2011 URL To be added to website Access This report is for general dissemination Document History Version Date Comments Page 1 of 17 Last updated: Feb 2011 v2.0

2 Table of Contents NB : This table of contents auto-populates - to update the table of contents place cursor in the table of contents, right-click your mouse, click update field, select appropriate option 1. Project Overview Project Summary Objectives Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes Overall Approach Anticipated Impact Stakeholder Analysis Related Projects Constraints Assumptions Risk Analysis Technical Development Standards Intellectual Property Rights Project Resources Project Partners Project Management Project Roles Programme Support Detailed Project Planning Evaluation Plan Quality Assurance Dissemination Plan Exit and Embedding Plans Sustainability Plans Appendices Appendix A. Project Budget Appendix B. Workpackages Page 2 of 17

3 1. Project Overview 1.1 Project Summary The aim of the project is to significantly upgrade the business intelligence capacity of the University of East London and to provide evidence of good practice in the rapid development of a Business Intelligence system within the HE sector. It is intended to provide managers with access to a much broader range of information than has previously been available with our existing management information system and consequently, allow us to enhance our strategic planning processes and meet the implementation of the new corporate strategy. The project will develop three business intelligence applications (Student Lifecycle, Corporate Performance and Benchmarking) making use of the significant advances in software tools that utilise in-memory technologies. Information in each application will be presented using a range of fully interactive dashboards, scorecards and charts with filtering, search and drill-down and drill-up capabilities. To assist managers in selecting, extracting and interpreting data views, metadata will be provided that informs user of the purpose of the data, its source and how often it is updated. In addition, we will develop a forecasting capacity by creating a 'what...if' scenario testing model to test a range of planning assumptions. The three applications will rolled-out to senior staff and managers over the length of the project. The applications will be delivered via the intranet and using mobile platforms. Outputs will include case studies on seven JISC InfoNet BI Resource data subject categories (Student Data, Performance Measurement and Management, Finance and Costing, Strategic Planning, Staff Data, Benchmarking and Marketing) as well as a final project report with accompanying video. 1.2 Objectives The objectives of the project are: 1) Demonstrate the effectiveness of software tools that utilize in-memory technologies by significantly reducing the time taken to develop business intelligence applications; 2) Develop and implement three Business Intelligence applications using QlikView: a. Student Lifecycle b. Corporate Performance c. Benchmarking 3) Information in each application to be presented in interactive dashboards, scorecards and charts with filtering and drill-down capabilities; Page 3 of 17

4 4) Engage managers throughout the project in terms of how information is presented, the design of dashboards, scorecards and reports and the identification of additional sources of data; 5) Evaluate the results of the project with emphasis on the degree to which the business intelligence applications facilitate improvements in strategic planning processes. 1.3 Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes Output / Outcome Type (e.g. report, publication, software, knowledge built) Student Lifecycle BI Benchmarking BI Corporate Performance BI Case studies on JISC InfoNet BI Resource Data categories Blog Final report with video Knowledge and experience gained Brief Description Integrated application providing current data on student applications, enrolments, profile characteristics, student retention, module performance, awards and graduate employment. Intended to compare and benchmark institutional performance against competitors on a wide range of measures. Will be used to contextualise data providing the monitoring of institutional KPIs and those that emerge from the programme boards responsible for delivering the new corporate plan, staffing and programme costs and the development of a tool for evaluating a range of what if scenarios. Case studies to include Student Data, Performance Measurement & Management, Finance & Costing, Strategic Planning, Staff Data, Benchmarking and Marketing. Report on progress including screenshots, identifying issues and challenges and providing evidence of good practice in overcoming difficulties. Provides the opportunity for others to comment on the approach, design and architecture of applications and to contribute constructive feedback. Will consist of case study with supporting video clips outlining the processes undertaken in delivering the project, highlight difficulties in completing objectives and make recommendations in terms of emerging good practice. Although the project team have previous experience of implementing a BI solution, the approach taken in this project is significantly different especially in terms of application design, architecture and integration. This knowledge and experience will be used to develop operational applications outside the remit of this project. 1.4 Overall Approach The project is made up of 6 workplans, the three most significant of which relate to the development of the Student Lifecycle, Corporate Performance and Benchmarking applications. Page 4 of 17 The three remaining work packages relate to the project management and communication, testing and evaluation and production of the final report. The project will be managed by a project team and governance of the project will be undertaken by a steering group consisting of a group of selected managers and chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or nominee.

5 We will be taking a modular approach to organising tasks within each workpackage. Each task will be clearly defined with responsibility assigned to a member of the project team and milestones delivered within an achievable timescale. Each output will be subject to testing initially by the project team and subsequently by operational managers who will be expected to liaise with colleagues in their respective teams. Feedback and improvements from evaluation will be implemented by the project team in a cycle of evaluation and implementation. Deployment of the application will take place after testing and training will be delivered on a one-to-basis or small group sessions. We would expect feedback from users once the applications are in use, particularly in terms of additional content and improvements to functionality. These enhancements will be implemented throughout the life of the project. s will be delivered to the UEL community through a web browser and access will be controlled via the QlikView Enterprise server. Senior managers have previously expressed the wish to be able to access management information through mobile platforms. As a consequence, designing the elements of an application need to take into account the limited functionality and space available on mobile platforms, particularly phone based applications as well as security issues. Early demonstrations of a prototype model to university managers provided an indication of additional functionality they wished to add to the overall UEL BI project. Some of the additions are outside the scope of the JISC project (for example, research reporting, budget monitoring) and balancing the internal demands for management information and the requirements of this project will be achieved by strictly demarcating time for the JISC project. The critical success factors of this project are: 1) Delivering the Student Lifecycle, Benchmarking and Corporate Performance applications on time and meeting the needs of the user community; 2) Significant reduction in the time taken to develop business intelligence applications; 3) Has integrating BI applications led to improvements in strategic planning and has the institution become more responsive to changes in the external environment. 1.5 Anticipated Impact Impact Area Improved institutional decision making Anticipated Impact Description Delivering an enhanced business intelligence capability will enable the University to respond quicker to changes in external environment. Strategic decisions can be based on reliable and Page 5 of 17

6 Model for designing BI applications current evidence. Provide a model of good practice in the integration of content and presentation of complex data, particularly in the design of dashboards for HEIs. Impact Areas : maintain research excellence; maintain teaching & learning excellence; be more effective/save money; have a positive impact on wider society; be ready for technology needs in the future. 1.6 Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder Interest / stake Importance (H/M/L) UEL Vice-Chancellors Group Corporate level dashboards and monitoring progress in meeting the objectives of the new corporate plan. High Deans of School and Directors of Service at UEL School and Service level derived KPI dashboards and scorecards. IT Services, UEL Responsible for running QlikView and developing dashboards and scorecards. For use in the monitoring of IT operational services. JISC, UCISA CISG, QlikView HE user group and the wider business intelligence community Research and partner organisations including local authorities, community and school/college outreach activities. Interest in good practice in the rapid development of a business intelligence system. Benchmarking application will contain a wide range of data useful for contextual research into Higher Education, particularly HE participation. High Medium High Medium 1.7 Related Projects None. 1.8 Constraints Balancing the requirements of the JISC project with internal demands for corporate data is a potential constraint. Although there is a clear overlap between the two, recent demonstrations of QlikView to University managers has resulted in the identification of additional applications they would like to see developed. To overcome this potential conflict, the Project Manager has clearly set out the tasks in the workpackages with clearly defined roles and milestones and time spent on the JISC project is clearly demarcated in the calendars of the project team. Page 6 of 17

7 1.9 Assumptions The overall scope of the project and consequent outputs is a challenging one. We are reliant on the rapid development and deployment capabilities of QlikView in order to deliver the project successfully. Our initial development of a prototype application indicates this will be achievable. The project and technical managers will spend one and a half days per week on the project with project and technical support provided by the other team members. Additional staff will be seconded into the project if slippage occurs. Operational testing will be carried out by managers with specific responsibility for the JISC InfoNet BI subject categories. We have already purchased a QlikView Enterprise Server and software licences for deployment to senior and operational managers. As part of the testing and evaluation, we will procure additional licences for deployment. In order to grow the user base and extend deployment, we will need to procure additional licences through the University project bidding process Risk Analysis Risk Description Staff recruitment and retention The project cannot be fully delivered within the project time-scale Managers do not fully engage with the project Probability (P) 1 5 (1 = low 5 = high) Severity (S) 1 5 (1 = low 5 = high) Risk Score (PxS) Detail of action to be taken (mitigation / reduction / transfer / acceptance) The project will employ existing staff with significant experience of delivering BI projects. Cross-training provided to 6 additional IT staff experienced in developing applications Early indications of failure to complete the project on time would be identified in the evaluation of the timebound outputs specified in the 6 work packages. Additional support from members of the 6 staff trained in QlikView development would be seconded into the project team on a short-term basis to ensure project delivery Support from senior managers and the introduction of new strategic planning processes will necessitate managers to Page 7 of 17

8 Balance between delivering the demands of the JISC BI project and internal demands for corporate data. be cognisant of the information contained in the BI applications Time allocated to delivering the JISC BI project strictly demarcated. Technical challenges Procure consultancy support from software providers, particularly in terms of developing scenario modelling capacity Technical Development As the project is largely using proprietary software for development, the level of technical detail is relatively limited and consequently, we will build upon what has already been developed. The University first established a data warehouse in 2001, initially making use of OLAP technology to build a series of cubes (3 dimensional models) for specific applications such as admissions and enrolment data extracted from the SITS student record system. Over the following decade, the data warehouse has grown significantly as we have collected a wide range of student data on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. In addition, we have a wide range of data held in operational reporting systems, databases and excel spreadsheet that we propose to integrate within the BI applications. For developing the Student Lifecycle application, we propose to make use of the existing data warehouse and extract data directly into QlikView. SQL scripts run overnight extracting data from the SITS student record system and subsequently storing the results in the data warehouse. The data is time-stamped and in many cases, data is de-normalised in order to facilitate data retrieval and report construction. Importing data directly into QlikView is achieved using SQL script via an ODBC link to the data warehouse. As QlikView utilises in-memory tools, the design and development of dashboards and reports is relatively quick. Given the size of the Student Lifecycle application, data is stored in a QVD file which compresses data at a ratio of 10:1. Development of the Benchmarking and Corporate Performance applications follow similar lines, although the data sources will be more varied. For the benchmarking application, much of the data will be extracted from external sources, formatted and loaded into QlikView via Excel spreadsheet. The Corporate Performance application will make use of data from a wider range of sources including the data warehouse, Excel spreadsheets and other reporting systems such as Agresso. Page 8 of 17

9 For testing purposes, we are currently running the existing MIS in parallel and compare the two BI sytems using a standard series of reports. Exceptions are clearly highlighted and investigated. A continual process of testing and evaluating of the content and design of each application will be undertaken by the project team. Once the project team feel the application is ready for additional testing, access is given to staff with appropriate operational responsibilities and knowledge of the data for feedback before full deployment Standards Name of standard or Version Notes specification Oracle SQL 10 (Enterprise Store data extracts in data warehouse edition) Oracle PL/SQL - Programming and data extraction QlikView Ajax zero footprint client 9 Used as publishing format for web-based delivery, provided as part of QlikView server Qlikview server 9 Storage, distribution and access of QlikView applications Qlikview named user CAL (developer client) 10 Import data into applications, design dashboards and reports Intellectual Property Rights All elements relating to the design of the applications, the look and feel of the dashboards, the selection of data elements and the design elements in developing an application for mobile delivery will be freely available. The software used for importing data and developing dashboards is a commercially licensed product but one which is freely available for download from the QlikView website for personal use. Colleagues in other institutions can recreate what we ve designed using their own student data. 2 Project Resources 2.1 Project Partners No formal project partners. 2.2 Project Management We have established a dedicated project team co-ordinated by a project manager. The project team meet monthly to review progress against the activities outlined in the workpackage, identify potential Page 9 of 17

10 issues and challenges, provide feedback to the technical and project manager, manage communications across the institution and with JISC and ensure the project is run in accordance with JISC project management guidelines. The project team reports directly to a steering group consisting of a group of selected managers and chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or nominee. The remit of the steering group is to guide the project, review progress in meeting objectives, provide advice and feedback to the project team, identify risks in delivering the project, explore potential solutions to problems and to provide guidance and assistance in integrating the project across the University. 2.3 Project Roles Team Member Name Gary Tindell Role Contact Details Days per week to be spent on the project Project Manager. Preparation of project plan, project coordination and monitoring of progress, internal and external communications, risk management, report writing and development of benchmarking application. Information Improvement Manager, IT Services, University of East London, Docklands Campus London E16 2RD Tel: g.c.tindell@uel.ac.uk 1.5 days Simon Gill David Shelley Technical Manager. Responsible for developing Student Lifecycle and Corporate Performance applications, maintenance of data warehouse, QlikView server and delivery of applications to stakeholders. Technical Support. Responsible for coordinating the implementation of QlikView with other corporate systems across the University. Page 10 of 17 Senior Analyst Programmer, IT Services, University of East London, Docklands Campus London E16 2RD Tel: s.gill@uel.ac.uk Corporate Information Systems Manager, IT Services, University of East London, Docklands Campus London E16 2RD Tel: days 2 hours

11 Pervin Hussain Project Support. Responsible for project support, organising meetings, roll-out and training schedules. IT Project Manager IT Services, University of East London, Docklands Campus London E16 2RD 2 hours Tel: Pervin@uel.ac.ul Dr Andrew Fisher Co-ordination with planning. Responsible for providing input and advice into the content and design of each application and how best to integrate the BI applications into strategic planning processes. Head of Strategic Planning, Strategic Planning, University of East London, Docklands Campus London E16 2RD Tel: a.fisher@uel.ac.uk 2 hours 2.4 Programme Support Provision of a suitably qualified critical friend and clarification of the role. Support for presentation at UCISA CISG conference. 3 Detailed Project Planning 3.1 Evaluation Plan Timing Factor to Evaluate Questions to Address Method(s) Measure of Success End of project Sept 2011 Time taken to develop each BI application; Page 11 of 17 Has developing BI applications using QlikView produced a significant time-saving benefit Completed Student Does the application: Lifecycle application a) a) Meet JISC outputs as set out in the project plan; b) b) Satisfy the user needs of key Measure progress in delivering milestones in workpackages and compare to logs of previous development of MIS. 1) Evaluate application against outputs specified in the JISC workpackage.. 2) Conduct handson testing sessions with Development time reduced by half and this saving of resource results in an enhanced BI capacity. All JISC outputs are met in the workpackage and completed on schedule. Achieve a 80% satisfaction rating in

12 stakeholders in terms of content and design; c) c) Comprehensive in its coverage d) d) Easy to use e) e) Require additional development operational managers using a structured question format. 3) User Questionnaires 4) Peer review via QlikView HE User Group terms of: Content Design Coverage Ease of Use Improvement over existing MIS Completed Benchmarking Does the application: f) a) Meet JISC outputs as set out in the project plan; g) b) Satisfy the user needs of key stakeholders in terms of content and design; h) c) Comprehensive in its coverage i) d) Complement the Student Lifecycle and 1) Evaluate application against outputs specified in the JISC workpackage. 2) Conduct handson testing sessions with operational managers using a structured question format. 3) User Questionnaires 4) Peer review via QlikView HE User Group All JISC outputs are met in the workpackage and completed on schedule. Achieve a 80% satisfaction rating in terms of: Content Design Coverage Ease of Use Improvement over existing MIS Corporate Performance applications j) e) Easy to use k) f) Require additional development Completed Corporate Performance Does the application: l) a) Meet JISC outputs as set out in the project plan; m) b) Satisfy the user needs of key stakeholders in terms of content and design; n) c) Comprehensive in its coverage o) e) Easy to use p) f) Require additional 1) Evaluate application against outputs specified in the JISC workpackage 2) Conduct handson testing sessions with operational managers using a structured question format. 3) User Questionnaires 4) Peer review via QlikView HE User Group All JISC outputs are met in the workpackage and completed on schedule. Achieve a 80% satisfaction rating in terms of: Content Design Coverage Ease of Use Improvement over existing MIS development Page 12 of 17

13 Facilitate improvement in corporate planning processes Has integrating BI applications led to improvements in strategic planning and has the institution become more responsive to changes in the external environment. usage logs Structured Interview with managers Demands for additional development Increase in usage amongst staff Positive feedback from managers in terms of faster decision making 3.2 Quality Assurance Output / Outcome Name When will QA be carried out? After testing and evaluation and before full deployment After deployment, continous process Student Lifecycle / Is the application fit for purpose? Specifically, does it enable managers to make more informed decisions? Who will carry out the QA What QA methods / measures will be used? work? Program Manager to coordinate with significant input from Strategic Planning, operational managers in Admissions, Student Records, School Registrars and senior academic staff User community Questionnaires and feedback from focus groups and one-to-one interviews Feedback via , user groups, Information Stakeholders Group, Strategic Planning Output / Outcome Name When will QA be carried out? After testing and evaluation and before full deployment Benchmarking / Is the application fit for purpose? Does the information place UEL in context and foster a greater understanding of our standing in the HE community? Who will carry out the QA What QA methods / measures will be used? work? Program Manager to coordinate with significant input from Corporate Marketing, Strategic Planning, Schools liaison, operational managers in Admissions, and senior academic staff Questionnaires and feedback from focus groups and one-to-one interviews Output / Outcome Name When will QA be carried out? Page 13 of 17 Corporate Performance / Is the application fit for purpose? Specifically, does it enable managers to assess current levels of corporate performance against strategic objectives? Who will carry out the QA What QA methods / measures will be used? work?

14 After testing and evaluation and before full deployment After deployment, continous process Program Manager to coordinate with significant input from senior managers, Strategic Planning, Deans of School and Directors of Services User community Questionnaires and feedback from focus groups and one-to-one interviews Feedback via , members of Vice- Chancellors Groups, members of University Management Team, Strategic Planning. Output / Outcome Name When will QA be carried out? After production of case studies and before final report Output / Outcome Name When will QA be carried out? After production of final report before submission to JISC Case Studies on JISC InfoNet BI Resource Data categories/ Do the case studies provide current best practice in developing BI applications? Who will carry out the QA What QA methods / measures will be used? work? Program Manager to coordinate external peer review process with colleagues from QlikView HE user community and from our cluster group Oral and written feedback from user group meetings, Final report Does the final project report fully capture the processes undertaken, lessons learned, the difficulties in completing objectives and recommendations of good practice Who will carry out the QA What QA methods / measures will be used? work? Program Manager to coordinate with project team, steering group Feedback from project team and steering group members 3.3 Dissemination Plan Timing Dissemination Activity Audience Purpose Key Message Demonstration Members of Vice- Inform VCG Project underway Chancellors members of Group project Feb Mar-Apr 2011 Mar-Apr Mar 2011 Demonstration Workshops Page 14 of 17 School & selected Service Management Teams Deans of School & School Registrars Inform SMT & show initial pilot Early hands-on session JISC BI Programme JISC BI Projects Project Management and clustering of projects Monthly Update project wiki JISC BI projects Provide progress reports on the project Introduction to project and initial opportunity to provide general feedback Opportunity to identify specific improvements A range of different ways to approach business intelligence Project is on schedule and identification of issues and

15 Monthly Update project website HE and BI communities 20 May June 2011 Demonstration Cluster Meeting 1 Page 15 of 17 QlikView HE User Group Durham University & University of Sheffield July 2011 Demonstration University Management Team July-Sept 2011 Workshops Deans of School, appropriate Directors of Service, designated managers in Schools and Services Blog indicating progress and repository of documentation Progress to date on developing the Student Lifecycle application Project updates, sharing of good practice and provision of constructive feedback Completed Student Lifecycle Training Sept 2011 Institution newsletter University staff Student Lifecycle complete and in use. Nov 2011 Demonstration QlikView HE User Group Nov 2011 Dec/Jan 20 Conference Presentation at UCISA CISG Demonstration UCISA members mostly comprising BI specialists from the HE sector University Management Team Jan 2012 Workshops Deans of School, appropriate Directors of Service, designated managers in Schools and Services Progress to date on developing the Benchmarking application Demonstrate Student Lifecycle application as a way of presenting student data Completed Benchmarking Training challenges Inform HEcommunity of our approach to BI Obtain feedback on design and content and publicise JISC BI project. Projects are working collaboratively to address common issues Update managers of project progress Use Student Lifecycle application Advertise project progress Obtain feedback on design and content and publicise JISC BI project. Visualisation of often complex student data Update managers of project progress Use Benchmarking application May 2012 Demonstration QlikView HE User Group Progress to date on developing the Corporate Performance application Obtain feedback on design and content and publicise JISC BI project. April/May Demonstration University Completed Update managers

16 2012 Management Team May 2012 Workshops Deans of School, appropriate Directors of Service, designated managers in Schools and Services Corporate Performance Training June 2011 Institution newsletter University staff Corporate Performance complete and in use. TBC Cluster Meeting 2 Durham University & University of Sheffield TBC Cluster Meeting 3 Durham University & University of Sheffield TBC JISC BI Programme events JISC BI Projects Project updates, sharing of good practice and provision of constructive feedback Project updates, sharing of good practice and provision of constructive feedback Progress in completing the project of project progress Use Corporate Performance application Advertise project progress Projects are working collaboratively to address common issues Projects are working collaboratively to address common issues Lessons and experience gained from completing project objectives. 3.4 Exit and Embedding Plans Project Outputs/Outcomes Case studies on JISC InfoNet BI Resource Data categories Blog Final report with video Action for Take-up & Embedding Promote these as good practice models of BI development, aimed specifically at those in planning departments across the sector and for QlikView users via the HE user group. Promote as one approach to developing BI applications using a range of design elements to portray often complex data. Synthesize the good practice and lesson learned in the case studies and integrate into a summary report. Promote this as a good practice model of BI development, Action for Exit Each case study will be stored on the project website and archived on the JISC BI website. Blog will be stored on the project website, components of which, will inform the case studies. Final report and video will be stored on the project website and archived on the JISC BI website. Page 16 of 17

17 3.5 Sustainability Plans Project Outputs Why Sustainable Scenarios for Taking Forward Student Lifecycle Benchmarking Corporate Performance Knowledge and experience gained Replaces existing MIS in one application. New application that facilitates environmental scanning, becoming increasingly important given recent changes in funding. Managers are expected to use this application to assess progress in meeting performance against KPIs in delivery of the new corporate plan. Will be used to develop additional applications. Further development will continue, particularly in terms of automating the production and distribution of reports via . Future development will largely focus on obtaining new sources of reliable data. A range of new functions have already been identified that we wish to implement that are not part of the JISC project. Investigate the possibility of integrating the three applications into one overarching BI model. Issues to Address Staff resourcing and maintaining the growing user base. Staff resourcing, particularly in terms of updating data. Staff resourcing, particularly in terms of balancing the demands of users. Knowledge transfer to other colleagues. Appendices Appendix A. Project Budget Appendix B. Workpackages Page 17 of 17