Wednesday 24 November 2021
There is nothing so stable as change’: learning in and from the COVID pandemic
Dr Ben Calvert, Vice Chancellor, University of South Wales
Despite the pivot to digital/blended learning Universities have not become a place without places.
This talk explores what is new, what will remain and what will evolve as we learn from (and still within) the pandemic. The ‘messiness’ of change will be a core theme.
API First Integration Design. Delivering high profile products and services at speed
James Stagg and Adam Wiltshire, Cardiff University
Adam Wiltshire and James Stagg from Cardiff University’s Development and Integration Team will explain how an API first design approach has enabled the university to deliver high profile products and services at speed. The talk will focus on the delivery of the Cardiff University COVID-19 Testing Service, the redevelopment of the student app and the delivery of a cloud-based notification service.
Having your cake and eating it! - Learn how the University of Aberdeen plan to reduce cost, improve productivity, and improve student/staff UX through streamlined enterprise architecture
Ian Robotham, Assistant Director (Applications Management), University of Aberdeen and Peter Elger, Chief Architect, Infuse
Join Infuse and the University of Aberdeen (UoA) as we take you through how the University of Aberdeen is enhancing and upgrading their legacy IT application interfacing approach, transitioning from point-to-point & batch processing to an API & event streaming approach enabling the interconnectivity of a range of on-prem and cloud/SaaS solutions, supporting the transition to greater future cloud service adoption.
By streamlining their IT Architecture UoA is working towards improving the productivity of their integrations, enabling further cloud migration, creating a better experience for students and staff and managing the full costs of service delivery.
In this presentation you will learn:
- The case for change and wider context
- How UoA baselined their current architecture against their ideal end state for the system and built a staged roadmap to ensure a successful journey
- The planned design (including the cross-functional messaging system) and how this will add value to the organisation
- What the next steps in the journey are
Money’s too tight to mention? Prioritising the portfolio in challenging times
Ian Wild, Director of Programme and Project Delivery
With access to funding becoming harder and demand for new services growing faster than ever, how best to decide which initiatives to take forward? In this session, Ian will share the University of Oxford’s experience in developing a Portfolio Prioritisation model and what has been learnt along the way.
Transitioning to a Hybrid Workplace. No going back? Really?
Adrian Ellison, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor & Chief Information Officer, University of West London
Adrian Ellison, Associate PVC and CIO at the University of West London and Chair, UCISA, challenges the new norm. Is it really the best solution for students? Is technology really there to support a flexible delivery mode? What do we need to do to make it work?
Thursday 25 November 2021
“No Going Back” – What does this actually mean and what must we consider to achieve successful outcomes?
John Cartwright, Former Director of Computing Services, University of Liverpool
The outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020 had a significant impact on all aspects of our personal and professional lives. Notwithstanding the negative impact of this dreadful virus on our society, it also created a new environment highlighting the importance and benefit of technology systems for the majority of our daily activities, underlining the need for continued investment in this critical area. But how do we ensure that the benefits we have so far created are not lost and that the future investment that will be required continues to be made available? This session looks at the principles that we must define and agree for the future process of system development and challenges the dialogue that will be required to ensure technology development fully aligns with our strategic business needs, thereby removing the potential to revert back to old ineffective and inefficient ways of working!
Welcome to a new way of learning
Anthony Peacock, Head of Endpoint Management Platforms, UCL
Craig Bramley, Lead Education Technologist, Citrix
Over the last two years we have witnessed rapid changes within the education sector, from patchwork “keeping the lights on” responses, to accelerated digital transformation strategies. It really has been a rollercoaster, and all whilst battling new and increased security threats – IT deserve a huge pat on the back…and a holiday!
In this session Citrix & UCL will discuss the rapid changes witnessed to working models. We will review the positive and negative effects this change has had on Staff and Students in terms of their wellbeing and digital exclusion, as well as the wide-ranging security implications that need to be considered by institutions when adapting to a blended environment.
Migrating a legacy finance system to the cloud
Geoff Houlton, Head of Information Systems, University of Cumbria
The University of Cumbria were facing a familiar challenge - a legacy finance application that hadn't been upgraded for many years, increasingly unreliable and incompatible with modern operating systems, difficult to access off-campus and reliant upon a shrinking number of technical support staff with experience in how to support it.
The session will explore how the challenges were overcome - options rejected as too expensive or too risky, securing a business case and budget, identifying a trustworthy hosting provider and application consultancy, delivering the technical changes within a tight delivery timescale, what worked well and what we'd do different next time.
Making remote implementation a success: Lessons to take forward into the post-Covid-19 era
Dean Phillips, Assistant Director, University of Aberdeen, Lauriel Simpson, Project Manager, University of Aberdeen and Dominic Parkin, Head of Implementation, Worktribe
While many universities chose to delay implementing new systems as the coronavirus pandemic struck last year, the University of Aberdeen pushed forward to transform research management at the institution. In this fireside chat, we hear from the University of Aberdeen about the challenges and opportunities of remote implementation.
HESA update
Emily Carter, Data Futures Project Manager HESA
An update on the Data Futures programme, concentrating on the approach and outcomes from the Alpha Pilot. The Alpha pilot phase is a key phase of the programme, with 14 Providers supporting HESA in the testing the functionality within the new HESA Data Platform.
The Future of Work Reinvented
Alexia Cambon, Research Director, Gartner
COVID-19 shattered assumptions about work. Organizations reacted quickly, but now is the time to intentionally reinvent the future of work. Leaders have a unique opportunity to evolve from location-centric to human-centric work design to drive performance and attract and retain top talent.
The CISO Share Approach to CYBERSECURITY and TTX
Steve McIntosh, Regional Chief Information Security Officer and David Lowe-Robertson, Chief Information Security Officer, HEFESTIS
The first part of this talk will introduce and explain the overarching HEFESTIS CISO Share approach to organisational cyber-security and cyber-risk management. The second part will provide a brief overview of tabletop exercises and how they can benefit organisations to prepare for and improve resilience to incidents.
Friday 26 November 2021
Chalk and talk for two hundred years: Chip and flip in two hundred days
Diane Houston, Pro VC Education, Birkbeck, University of London
This session will describe a Pro Vice Chancellor’s perspective on leading a wholesale transformation from very traditional in person teaching to a year of entirely online teaching as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic The session will aim to provide a reasonably entertaining account of what we did, but more importantly the context, how we got there, what we learned, the immediate outcomes and the longer term future in relation to the institutional strategy.
Procurement made easy
Geoff Maddocks, ISDS Project Manager, Manchester Metropolitan University and Simon Read, Vice President, Education, EMEA, Flywire
With universities trying to do more with less as a result of the global pandemic, consolidated procurement practices and flexible solutions are key to providing a better global payment experience. Learn how innovative UK universities like Manchester Metropolitan University are going against the status quo by leveraging technology to cost-effectively optimise the procurement of payment gateways, merchant services, bank transfer services and international payment provision for tuition and accommodation payments.
Transformation - Design from the Outside to In
Ian Anderson, Enterprise Architect, Ellucian
Transformation is gripping the tertiary education sector like never before. As ever evolving business, environmental and financial needs drive change there is a recognition that higher education is being enveloped into the digital era; an era where customer experience is everything. In this presentation Ian Anderson will talk through his experience of global engagement with universities and colleges and highlight where, in his opinion, organisations have got this focus correct and where they have not. The presentation will summarise effective customer mapping and list key take aways to facilitate customer experience planning.
A year of exploration and experimentation
Jo Craiglee, Head of Knowledge Management and IS Planning, University of Edinburgh.
The pandemic changed our view of just about everything. Things managers were determined could only be done 'in the office' turned out to be perfectly fine when delivered from an individual's home. As we move gradually towards our new normal, we recognise that we have a clear opportunity to explore, not only how we deliver services, but how location dependent those services really are. This is an exciting prospect and here at Edinburgh.
Moving on up
Heidi Fraser-Krauss, CEO, Jisc
Former CISG chair and new Jisc CEO, Heidi Fraser-Krauss, will share her thoughts on her career to date and highlight what has and hasn't helped her to reach her current position.
The Art and Science of WOW
Alex Hunter
The platforms for our communications, our connections evaporated overnight. The products we sold, the services we provide, were no longer accessible in the same ways as before. But what does that mean for our day-to-day experiences both as providers and as consumers? In this session we explore the theory and the practice behind bringing WOW to every experience in 2021 and beyond.
