National University of Ireland, Galway
Review Programme 2010/2011
Action Plan
Information Solutions and Services (ISS)
Follow-up meeting held on Thurs., 5th May at 11.30 a.m. in the ISS Boardroom 129, Arts Science Building.
Present
Representing ISS: Mr Sean O’Farrell, Mr Pat Dempsey, Mr Conor McMahon, Ms Sinead Ni Fhaolain, Mr
Andrew Butler, Mr Brian Ensor, Mr Liam McDwyer, Mr Thomas McArdle
From Review Group: Dr Michael Lang (Coordinator)
From NUI Galway: Dr David O’Sullivan (Chair), Dr Kieran Loftus (Executive Director of Operations), Ms
Maureen Linnane (Quality Office)
Actions for ISS
1. Develop a university-level ICT Strategy aligned with a well-defined governance process to be in place
[Due: September 2011]
2. Conduct a thorough analysis of ICT systems risk and take appropriate steps to mitigate high-risk
situations by actively managing the risk registrar; in particular, the concentration of certain skills
within individual members of ISS staff.
3. Develop appropriate well-defined ICT architecture e.g. to support institutional datawarehouse
4. Develop and submit a ‘foresight’ plan for funding beyond the annual budgeting timeframe for
infrastructural refresh in cooperation with Bursar.
5. Assess and develop ways to release ISS staff to engage in high-value work that leverages their
distinct abilities and privileged knowledge.
6. Implement an ICT security education programme for all staff in cooperation with HR Training
function
7. Define workflow boundaries and communicate these to end users so that roles and responsibilities
are unambiguous.
8. Examine opportunities to reduce the service request workload by enhancing the ways by which endusers can resolve their own issues quickly.
9. Continue to directly engage with representative user groups as a means of capturing feedback,
listening to the “voice of the customer”, and exploring problems/opportunities.
10. Develop and enhance business systems analysis capabilities.
11. Prioritize service requests that are critical and urgent for immediate action by developing and
escalation procedure.
12. Review ideas for further improvement and adoption from users of the ticketing system.
13. Develop and communicate appropriate ‘Service Level Agreements’
14. Consider the implications of demand for ‘24/7/365’ up-time/support for key systems.
15. Define appropriate policies for end-user desktop types (i.e. “locked” or “unlocked”).
16. Continue and extend progress on identity management to simplify single identity and elimination of
multiple usernames/passwords.
The Unit agrees to all recommendations and will take a planned and prioritized approach, to implement
actions over the next 3-5 years. Due dates for each action will be considered in combination with other
actions to be included in the overall Operational Plan.
Actions for University
1. Senior posts within the ISS will be filled on a permanent basis (i.e. Director of ISS, Head of Solutions
Group, and Head of Service Delivery Group)
Approved by:
Executive Director of Operations, Dr Kieran Loftus
Head of ISS, Mr Sean O’Farrell
Director of Quality, Dr David O’Sullivan
Finalised: 17th May 2011