Approved

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

PROJECT COORDINATION GROUP
4 December 2014
(2pm – 4pm)
MINUTES
Chair / Nicola East (NE)
Present / Jo Andrews (JA), Bernarde Hyde (BH), James Lewis (JL), Peter Luther (PL)*,
Zoe Manning (ZM), Bettina Mills (BM), Bryn Morris (OBM)*, RichardStock(RS), Sonia Virdee (SV)
Secretary / Clare Hornsby (CH)
In attendance / Kevin Thurlow (KT) (in place of Simon Neale)
1  Apologies
Noted / Marc Albano, Emma Hardy, RichardMurphy, Simon Neale and AlettaNorval. / 390/14
*The Registrar and Secretary, and Deputy Dean Education (Humanities), joined the meeting after 3pm. / 391/14
2  Starring of agenda items
Noted / Agenda item 4 was starred for discussion. / 392/14
3  Minutes of the last meeting (PCG/14/91)
Approved / 393/14
4  Matters arising from the minutes (PCG/14/92)
Noted / A systems map would be developed and submitted to the March 2015 meeting of PCG for the Group’s information. / 394/14
Agreed / The timescale of action 366/14 should be updated, and the action title should be amended from ‘Personal Tutoring System’.
Action: CH / 395/14
Noted / A progress report on the University’s Curriculum Review programme had been submitted to the October meeting of Senate. The spring progress report would be submitted to the May meeting of PCG for information, in line with action 229/14. / 396/14
5  SUMS review of management information (PCG/14/93)
Noted / Following the submission of paper PCG/13/63, which was considered at the December 2013 meeting of PCG, the scope of the review had been revised to include University-wide business intelligence. The anticipated impact of the CEDRS project would also be considered as part of this review. / 397/14
Under the proposed terms of the review, SUMS would look at existing University systems, alongside insight gathered as part of an external benchmarking exercise, in order to establish high level principles and determine the University’s position in relation to competitor institutions. In light of the revised scope of the review, ten days of SUMS consultancy would need to be drawn from the University’s 2014-15 allocation. / 398/14
Agreed / The scope of the review was endorsed. A definitive Terms of Reference which reflects PCG’s feedback should be developed and submitted to a future meeting for information.
Action: BH / 399/14
6  Revised process for the approval and monitoring of capital projects (PCG/14/94)
Noted / The paper set out an approach which sought to simplify the project governance structures and the project approval process, through the introduction of a single set of templates and a single project management framework. / 400/14
If approved for implementation, the Capital Planning Group (CPG) would delegate responsibility for the coordination and oversight of capital projects to PCG, whilst retaining responsibility for the Capital Investment Plan, to ensure that it aligned with the University’s strategic priorities. PCG would therefore be responsible for closely monitoring capital project budgets, something that was not currently within the Group’s remit. / 401/14
The membership, remit and operation of the existing Estates Capital Projects Board (CPB) had been revised to closely align with the Systems and Academic Projects Board (SAPB), to enable the Board to undertake detailed scrutiny and monitoring of infrastructure projects on behalf of PCG. / 402/14
Agreed / The revised approach was endorsed for referral to CPG, with a recommendation that the implementation and operation of the new project governance arrangements be reviewed in December 2015.
Action: BM / 403/14
If approved for implementation by CPG:
n  the membership and remit of CPG, PCG, SAPB and CPB should be reviewed to ensure alignment with the approach; and
Action: BM
n  the paper should be submitted to the January 2015 meeting of SAPB for the Board’s information
Action: CH / 404/14
7  Student assessment of modules and teaching project mandate (PCG/14/95)
Noted / In July 2014, Senate endorsed the procurement of a centralised system that would support the collation and analysis of student feedback relating to modules and teaching. / 405/14
The £7,500 identified for licencing costs from year two onwards, noted in section 5a of the paper, was an error. These fees would be built into, and drawn from, the MIS revenue budget. / 406/14
Preparatory procurement work had already been undertaken in anticipation of the project being mandated. A request to allow the project team to undertake some additional procurement activity in advance of the project being approved for implementation had also been incorporated into the project mandate for PCG’s consideration. / 407/14
Agreed / The project was mandated with a 3-3 priority ranking for time criticality and strategic importance. / 408/14
Information regarding the level of anticipated pre-approval procurement activity should be provided.
Action: Rich Alderman (RA) / 409/14
The full project proposal could be considered electronically by members of SAPB and PCG. / 410/14
8  Project proposals for consideration
a)  International Academy pre-sessional course finder (PCG/14/96)
Noted / The project would enable prospective students to identify an appropriate pre-sessional English Language course based on a mapping of their current English ability to the requirements for their degree course. It was suggested that if the project was successful, there could be value in introducing an associated online application gateway for pre-sessional study. / 411/14
The project was scheduled for completion in February 2015 and therefore the utilisation of web development resource would not impact on the delivery of the web presence project. / 412/14
Agreed / The project was approved for implementation. / 413/14
The January and February dates set out in the project timetable should be revised to 2015.
Action: Rob Lister (RL) / 414/14
b)  My Mobile Essex (PCG/14/97)
Noted / The scope of the project had been reduced following PCG’s consideration of the project mandate in October 2014. It was now planned that the first iteration of the app would enable students to access teaching timetables and course deadlines via their mobile or tablet device, with a view to introducing additional functionality, possibly on a phased basis, following the redevelopment of MyEssex. / 415/14
It would be necessary for the app to provide information that was specific to students studying at each of the three campuses, to ensure parity of experience. Consideration would also need to be given to the inclusion of teaching timetables, as these were created manually for students studying at the Southend and Loughton campuses. / 416/14
Concerns were raised regarding the proposed project timetable and the limited opportunity this provided to collate, analyse and respond to user feedback. PCG were also concerned that project stakeholders had not been sufficiently engaged during the development of the project proposal, as it emerged that the Project Sponsor had not received a copy of the paper in advance of it being submitted to PCG. / 417/14
Agreed / There was unanimous support for the principle of an Essex mobile app however it was agreed that the proposal should be referred back to the Project Manager for further development and endorsement by the Project Sponsor. The staff training scheduled for the week commencing 8December 2014 should proceed as planned.
Action: CH/ Tessa Rogowski (TR) / 418/14
The revised proposal should:
n  include a high level schedule for delivering additional functionality and enhancements; and
n  provide clarity on links between this project and other University initiatives, setting out how the project supports the delivery of University objectives.
Consideration should be given to HSS students piloting the mobile app, to ensure a sufficient level of feedback is collated.
Action: TR / 419/14
PCG would consider the revised project proposal electronically. / 420/14
9  Project closure reports for consideration
a)  Corporate SharePoint Upgrade (PCG/14/98)
Noted / The closure report gave an honest account of the project and was well received by both SAPB and PCG. The report included clear recommendations which could be taken forward as best practice and applied across the organisation, particularly in relation to systems risk management. User training was required to ensure that staff and the University could benefit from the additional functionality offered by SharePoint 2013. / 421/14
Agreed / The closure of the project was approved. / 422/14
Lessons learned from this and other projects should be collated and disseminated via the projects website/ SharePoint site, and the Change Network.
Action: BM / 423/14
The lessons learned section of the project closure template should be revised to include an action log, and a benefits realisation report template should be developed. The Project Management Framework should be updated to reflect these changes.
Action: BM / 424/14
b)  Employability audit (PCG/14/99)
Approved / 425/14
c)  Opportunity and client management (PCG/14/100)
Approved / 426/14
10  Project progress
a)  An update on the Strategic Projects Portfolio (PCG/14/101)
Noted / CV builder
There had been insufficient resource available within the Employability and Careers Centre to shape the revised project proposal requested by PCG in July. In light of other initiatives being implemented at the University, a revised project mandate was expected to be submitted to PCG in the spring term of the current academic year. / 427/14
Agreed / The CV builder project mandate was cancelled. / 428/14
Noted / Direct admissions
Following PCG’s decision to approve the project for implementation in October 2014, without all required resources in place, it had not been possible to identify and secure the required staff resource. / 429/14
The project team did not expect the direct admissions project to reduce the number of referrals made by local agents abroad, and therefore they did not expect commission payments to reduce. PCG was therefore asked to take a view on whether it would still be appropriate to draw the required £100,000 budget from the Agents budget. / 430/14
Agreed / In order to benefit from an early-adopter advantage, it would be necessary for direct admissions to be implemented in advance of the planned UCAS system, although a timescale for this was unknown. Although a priority, enhancements to the admissions systems should not be delivered in place of the Direct Admissions project. / 431/14
PCG recommended that the required financial resource be drawn from the Agents budget, but recognised that the decision resided with the Director of CER. / 432/14
Consideration should be given to brining in external or temporary staff resources to enable to the delivery of the project, and an update on project progress should be provided at the next meeting of PCG.
Action: JL / 433/14
Due to time limitations, the revised reporting and project milestones proposed for the MARS and Occupational Health IT system projects would be considered by the Chair of PCG following the meeting.
Action: NE / 434/14
b)  Attendance recording and monitoring project progress report (PCG/14/102)
Noted / In order to give PCG an accurate overview of progress, the project had been divided into two distinct stands; attendance recording which was broadly on track, and attendance monitoring for which progress was reported as red. / 435/14
The resources required to deliver the project had been significantly underestimated, as had the complexity of introducing a new policy and a new attendance recording and monitoring system concurrently. The delays experienced were in a part a consequence of work being approved without the necessary resources having been secured. The hard work and dedication of staff had enabled the project to progress much further than could have reasonably been expected. / 436/14
A new project manager had been appointed with responsibility for the delivery of the attendance monitoring strand of the project, and to facilitate the resolution of immediate and short term issues. The Academic Registrar would also take on the role of Project Sponsor. / 437/14
Progress would be reported to each meeting of SAPB and PCG until the completion of the project. / 438/14
Agreed / A revised project timetable should be developed and submitted to the February meeting of PCG. The expected completion date should be determined by project requirements and resource availability, rather than a desire to implement the system in advance of the 2015-16 academic year.
Action: Gill Cairns (GC) / 439/14
The project team should consider reintroducing paper registers to enable the accurate recording and monitoring of student attendance, as an interim measure. Students could continue to ‘tap in’ to avoid confusion and embed the required behaviours.
Action: GC/ RS / 440/14
11  HEFCE Postgraduate Support Scheme progress report (PCG/14/103 attached)
Noted / 441/14
12  Potential and forthcoming projects for 2014-15 and future years (PCG/14/104 attached)
Agreed / Due to time limitations, this agenda item would be discussed at the February 2015 meeting of PCG. / 442/14
13  Any other business
Noted / 443/14
14  Date of the next meeting
Noted / 5 February 2015, 2pm to 4pm in the Vice-Chancellor’s Boardroom. / 444/14


Clare Hornsby

Project Governance Officer

Strategic Planning and Change Section

December 2014