DICE development projects - alisond

Manager:

Unit:

Summary:

To run a lightweight Forum to replace the Forum software which will be deprecated by IS.

What:

Paul is looking into the IS-provided alternatives (Learn & Confluence). His impression at the moment is that Learn (for example) might technically meet the functional requirements, but it comes surrounded by a lot of Learn baggage, and is sufficiently clunky that it would be a significant drop in usability which would discourage the student use that he is attempting to encourage. Paul currently hosts his IJP course pages on our ease.homepages service.

His requirements for this would be:
- clean and simple to use
- authenticates to EASE and available to anyone with an EASE account
- simple api for adding/removing users from groups
- ability to register for email notifications

Still to gather requirements from Austin Tate.

Why:

Proposed by Paul Anderson but Austin Tate also has an interest. Should be of wider interest too.

When:

in production before July 2014 (for use with pre-arrival students)

How:

DIscuss requirements with Paul Anderson
Discuss requirements with Austin Tate
Produce interim report outlining possible solutions
Select most viable solution
Provide a test installation
- Install a DICE virtual machine
- Include authentication mechanism (EASE?). Some content will be restricted and some may be suitable for public view.
- Mirror the service - similar to computing.help
- Standard backup using TiBS
- Obtain SSL certificate

Effort estimate:

4 weeks

Other:

Dependencies:

Risks:

US Unit internal documentation review

alisond — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 09:52:59 +0000

Project ID:

285

Current stage:

0_Pending

Manager:

Unit:

Summary:

Review of User Support Unit internal documentation

Effort estimate:

3 weeks

Other:

Dependencies: project 280

Risks:

Windows 7 upgrade

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:21 +0000

Project ID:

229

Current stage:

5_Completed

Manager:

Unit:

compexec

What:

Description: All our Managed Desktops need to be upgraded to Windows 7.

Deliverables: Upgrade to all current MDP machines to Windows 7 along with training for CSOs and end-users.

Why:

Customer: All our MDP users

Case statement:

When:

Status:

Timescales: Dependant on IS, ISS and testing of kerberos and openAFS.

Priority: High

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources: This will require some Windows 7 and Office 2010 training.

Plan:

Meeting with IS in early January
Install test machine for kerberos and OpenAFS
Purchase software licenses
Liaise with ISS
Resolve Firefox version issue
Resolve printer installation
Arrange training for CSOs
Identify training for end users
Schedule upgrades with end users

Other:

Dependencies:

IS timetable for updates.
CSO training in installation of MDP (Windows 7) and software
Testing of kerberos and openAFS, including Toby's time.
Purchase of appropriate licenses (Windows 7, Office 2010 and Acrobat)

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description
2012-01-10	2012-01-15	IS Meeting	To meet with Myles Ewen to discuss implementation and setting up of test machine including advice on how to install kerberos and openAFS.
2012-01-11	2012-01-31	Test Machine	Install test machine to allow us to test kerberos and openAFS
2012-02-29	2012-02-15	software	Test kerberos and openAFS
	2012-03-31	CSO training	Training in MDP installation.
	2012-03-31	ISS Meeting	Meet with ISS to discuss scheduling of upgrades. Dependent on solution for AFS/kerberos.
	2012-03-31	Purchases	Purchase all necessary upgrade licenses.
	2012-03-31	User testing	Ask competent end-user to help test. Dependent on AFS/kerberos solution.
2012-01-20	2012-01-20	List of upgrade	Identify complete list of machine upgrades.
	2012-03-15	Timetable	Create timetable of user upgrades
	2012-04-16	Upgrades	Start upgrades
	2012-03-31	firefox	Work out best options for firefox versions for theon/e-financials. Possibly use Google Chrome ?
	2012-04-30	printers	review way printers are installed - could/should they be IS queues?

SL6 upgrade for US unit

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:19 +0000

Project ID:

218

Current stage:

Manager:

Unit:

https://wiki.inf.ed.ac.uk/DICE/FinalProjectReport218

Summary:

To upgrade all servers managed by US to sl6

What:

Description: Upgrading all US services and servers to SL6.

Deliverables: All US services based on SL6 platform

Why:

Customer:

Case statement:

When:

Status:

Timescales:

Priority:

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources: 6 weeks of effort split between porting/upgrading RT and upgrading servers. This includes CSO time.

Plan:

Final report URL:

Other:

Dependencies: DICE SL6 platform

Risks:

URL: https://wiki.inf.ed.ac.uk/DICE/UserSupportUnitServerUpgrade

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description

Account Reconciliation

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:12 +0000

Project ID:

182

Current stage:

Manager:

Unit:

compexec

What:

Description: Review and correct discrepancies in account details.

Deliverables: A reliable and accurate set of user account details.

Why:

Customer:

Case statement: It is important to ensure that our account information is accurate. Only people entitled to use our facilities should have an account. This project is a natural extension from the Prometheus implementation project.

When:

Status:

Timescales: Maximum 6 weeks. This is very dependant on issues that may arise during investigation.

Priority:

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources: Will require input from Infrastructure, RAT and US units.

Plan:

Correct accounts where UIDs returned by the IS UID service does not agree with what we hold locally. There are a number of these.
Identify the extra accounts created by Prometheus which should now be deleted.
Identify existing accounts whose roles from the database indicate that they should not exist.
Complete the deletion of accounts identified prior to Prometheus implementation.
Create support archive procedures

Other:

Dependencies: Project 75, 187 and 188

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description

Evaluate UniDesk as Incident Management Tool

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:11 +0000

Project ID:

177

Current stage:

5_Completed

Manager:

Unit:

What:

Description: The University have replaced their Call Management System with UniDesk and we should evaluate the possibility of using the same tool.

Deliverables: The UniDesk package introduces a more comprehensive tool for Incident Management with scope for providing Problem Management, Change management, Release Management etc. in the near future. It is based on ITIL guidelines.

Delivered documentation:

Why:

Customer: The C(S)Os would use this tool instead of Request Tracker. End-users, in the first instance, should see little difference, but a self-service portal is to be implemented which they will be able to use to report/check incidents.

Case statement: Introducing UniDesk should help us:

provide a more streamlined support service
allow us to communicate with central IT support more easily
allow us to build a comprehensive knowledge base

We will also be able to downgrade our existing Request tracker to read only in the short term and remove it completely in the longer term.

When:

Status:

Timescales: The University hopes to 'go-live' with UniDesk in October 2010.

Priority:

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources:

Plan: The first action will be to consider whether we should use the IS helpdesk as the first port of call for our support calls.

Other:

Dependencies: C(S)O staff will need to be familiar with ITIL terminology to make best use of this facility.

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description

Provide Service Status Display

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:08 +0000

Project ID:

166

Current stage:

0_Pending

Manager:

Unit:

compexec

What:

Description: Along with the project to enhance user documentation, we should provide readily accessible Service Status page(s) for our end-users to alert them of any deviation from normal service provision. This should cover both planned and un-planned service disruption.

Deliverables:

Why:

Customer: All users of the Services that we provide.

Case statement: Enhances communication with users.

When:

Status:

Timescales:

Priority:

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources:

Plan:

Other:

Dependencies: dependent on project 144

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description

Devproj enhancements

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:03 +0000

Project ID:

145

Current stage:

0_Pending

Manager:

Unit:

What:

Description: Enhance the current system for recording and monitoring development projects.

Deliverables:

Why:

Customer: All staff involved with development projects.

Case statement:

When:

Status:

Timescales:

Priority:

Time:

How:

Proposal:

Resources:

Plan:

Other:

Dependencies:

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description

Redevelop User Documentation

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:46:02 +0000

Project ID:

144

Current stage:

Manager:

Unit:

https://wiki.inf.ed.ac.uk/DICE/FinalProjectReport144

What:

Description: Provide more streamlined user documentation using the most appropriate technology as outlined in project 36 - Review of User Documentation.

Deliverables: Accurate and up-to-date user documentation with good search facilities.

Delivered documentation:

Why:

Customer: All users of Informatics services.

Case statement: Current user documentation is out of date and inaccurate. It's not all centrally located nor does it have adequate search facilities. User feedback shows that certain pages aren't being found and it needs a complete re-vamp.

When:

Status:

Timescales:

Priority:

Time: 20 days (up to 6th August 2010)

How:

Proposal: see plan

Resources:

2 C(S)Os + possible student assistance with re-write/porting to new platform.

Knowledge of Zope/Plone.

Plan:

Undertake a review of good practice in other sites.
Establish a small focus group which adequately represents our user community.
Prepare and circulate report from user meeting.
Prepare site map for discussion.
Appoint author.
Familiarisation with zope/plone - assess training requirements.
Build database and port current documentation (where appropriate).
Identify missing documentation and chase potential authors to provide such.
Include the provision of a service alert mechanism.
Produce documentation on resources available for research projects
Produce more "howto" documents - student survey could help identify what is missing
Investigate producing videos rather than producing talks
Add documentation promoting desktop virtualisation
Need a way to hold "secured access" files within @ed

Final report URL:

Other:

Dependencies: project 106 - Final stages of commodity CMS work

Risks:

Milestones

Proposed date	Achieved date	Name	Description
2010-03-11	2010-03-31	User meeting	Hold the first user meeting to establish what users feel are the important features of user documentation.
2010-03-01	2010-03-01	Websites	Prepare a list of suitable websites that can be taken to the initial user meeting as an initial discussion point to help identify our requirements.
2010-07-01	2010-07-31	test site	Create partial test site for user documentation.
2011-01-31	2010-08-31	training	Familiarisation with Drupal. Basic familiarisation completed but on-going as we discover more.
2011-03-30	2011-03-30	port	port selection of existing relevant documentation to new platform for circulation for feedback.
	2011-03-31	new docs	Identify new documentation and authors.
2010-04-30	2010-04-30	site map	Produce and circulate proposed site map.
2010-03-31	2010-03-31	summary doc	Prepare summary document from discussions with user group.
	2010-05-31	Author	Appoint an author who will oversee document porting/writing.
	2010-12-31	Service alerts	A means of alerting users to planned/unplanned service disruptions needs to be in place. Has now been added as a separate project.
2010-06-01	2010-06-14	mock up	Produce mock up for user meeting
2010-10-27	2010-08-31	design	Final decision on design/visual appearance of site.
	2011-04-22	User Feedback	COs have been asked for feedback but little response. CSTR e-mailed and asked for feedback by 22nd April.
	2011-05-31	taxonomy	Create vocabulary and terms lists. Tag existing documents and make tagging mandatory for new pages.
	2011-05-05	Collate feedbac	Collate user feedback and discuss relevant points.
2011-05-31	2011-04-11	surfing	Supervised surfing sessions with 4 or 5 users. (1 completed)
2012-04-30	2012-04-02	Maintenance Pla	Maintained service requires plan for timely software upgrades, regular backups and checks on currency of documentation.

Transition from NFS to AFS

boss — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:45:56 +0000

Project ID:

124

Current stage:

5_Completed

Manager:

Unit: