IT-DA/15/12
Dual Assurance: Information Technology
Minutes of the meeting held at 14:30 on Wednesday 22nd July 2015 in Room 165, Northcote House.
Attendees:
Dayantha Joshua (DJ); Lynne Tucker (LT); Sally Wilcox (SW); Rebecca Thomson (RT).
15.25 Minutes
a) The Minutes of the meeting held on 16th June 2015 were agreed as an accurate record.
b) LT keen for OneExeterIT Business Case to be commented on by Council following
approval from Exeter Transformation Board. LT very keen for it to be on the Council
Agenda for next meeting. SW confident it will be discussed and feedback given for next
ITDA meeting.
c) Need to keep OneExeterIT focused as a leading project but resources have changed
within Exeter IT with VSS – waiting for the HR Framework to assess.
15.26 Incident Management
a) Nothing standing out – DJ picking up LT’s DIM
b) SW recapped on major incident procedures and asked for clarification of the process –
wanted certainty that everyone on call and in the chain aware of process [ACTION: DJ]
c) LT reminded RT that a resource pack detailing processes was available for Josh [ACTION:
RT]
15.27 Digital Transformation
a) VCEG understand the importance of this project as a unique operating system for the
University and to showcase this to leaders nationally and internationally.
b) Recruitment to the CIDO role discussed. To reflect the importance of IT within the
University it was considered this role should sit on the Board.
c) SW suggested DJ meet with Andrew Connolly to discuss Future Finance and understand
the impact on IT.
d) Discussion took place about how to embed the Digital Transformation into the bigger
picture for the University.
15.28 OneExeterIT
a) OneExeterIT June update to be sent to all staff. Business Case approved.
b) Print & Copy team absorbed early and a skills survey undertaken. Positive feedback
from team who showed a good can-do attitude to make changes and work together;
altogether, a positive morale.
c) SW asked if skills had been identified and highlighted both for future and in current roles
(particularly skilled roles) and for revised job descriptions to reflect this – eg Enterprise
Applications – SW wants to be more upfront in reporting skills to Council.
d) DJ mentioned research computing very important for the project going forwards.
e) SW would like to see more people who are able to facilitate “step-change” – people who
are flexible, adaptive and culture changing – particularly for the Digital Transformation is Change Team the best place for these people?
f)
DJ in his iCIO role needs to think about where his people/skills are placed within the
transformation framework – CIDO needs to be an Agenda item for next meeting
g) The concept of a virtual transformation team to include a business analyst was discussed
and how they could educate the business and Change Team.
h) With regard to recruiting to the CIDO role, Cathy Howells met with SW and Jacqui
Marshall (& DJ) to discuss the process. SW confirmed that timescales for shortlisting
and interview have been agreed.
i)
LT remained concerned over HR Business Partner consistency and support for NB with
particular regard to obtaining the HR Frameworks to enable restructuring - SW noted
concerns and agreed to email James Hutchinson asking for assurance that HR processes
have started and resources in place [ACTION: SW].
j)
LT reported that the Professional Homing email merge was successful in both exercises
having received no negative feedback.
k) SW pleased that IT SMT remuneration concerns addressed. DJ reported that he has
settled into post and found staff comfortable with his challenging questions and that
they were well focused but must not get drawn into undertakings outside their remit i.e.
HR & Project management
15.29 Risk
a) November is the next update but it may be that information is required prior to this
[ACTION: RT to check].
b) Underpining risk should remain unchanged for Exeter IT.
c) [ACTION: DJ] – October Dual Assurance will review risks – SW happy for any paperwork,
queries etc to be presented to her prior to these meetings.
15.30 Laver Data Centre
a) 3 x tenders back and a significant increase in costs on estimates given.
b) University needs to consider what course of action to take by discussing options e.g. a
new LDC or reducing requirements by £500k.
c) The LDC has an impact on HPC in the short and long term and this needs to be
considered promptly.
d) SW wanted to know who produced the estimates and the process for making these
decisions. SW admitted this will need to be presented to Council and decisions/timings
explained.
e) It was discussed how LDC needs to accommodate the Living Systems Institute – DJ to
investigate and understand the impact of LDC on the support of LSI.
15.31 High Performance Computing
a) Although expensive, the project is progressing well.
b) Living Systems Institute & HPC Briefing Paper to be prepared for VCEG by midSeptember.
c) SW gave a brief overview of the HPC project to Josh and explained it was a University
wide research facility rather than just departmental. SW explained how every successful
research bid would financially contribute to HPC and DJ commented on the challenge of
ensuring the facilitation of collecting the money. SW agreed and said the Governance
Group recognised this challenge of creating a facility to ensure the money comes into
the project.
15.32 AOB
Future Finance, HPC/LDC and Digital Transformation to be agenda items for next meeting.
15.33 Date of next meeting
The next meeting would be held on Tuesday, 18th August 2015 at 13:00 in Room 165
Northcote House.
Table of Actions:
Minute
15.26 (b)
15.26 (c)
15.28 (i)
15.29 (a)
15.29 (c)
Action
Clarification of processes in major incident procedures
LT reminded RT that a resource pack detailing
processes was available for Josh
LT remained concerned over HR Business Partner
consistency and support for NB – escalation to JH
November is the next risk update but it may be that
information is required prior to this – to be checked
October Dual Assurance will review risks – queries to
SW
By whom
DJ
RT
SW
RT
DJ