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)*, Richard Stock (RS),
Sonia Virdee (SV)
Secretary
Clare Hornsby (CH)
In attendance
Kevin Thurlow (KT) (in place of Simon Neale)
1
Apologies
Noted
2
3
4
Marc Albano, Emma Hardy, Richard Murphy, Simon Neale and
Aletta Norval.
390/14
*The Registrar and Secretary, and Deputy Dean Education (Humanities),
joined the meeting after 3pm.
391/14
Starring of agenda items
Noted
Agenda item 4 was starred for discussion.
392/14
Minutes of the last meeting (PCG/14/91)
Approved
393/14
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’.
395/14
Action: CH
Noted
5
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
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
398/14
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.
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.
399/14
Action: BH
6
Revised process for the approval and monitoring of capital projects (PCG/14/94)
Noted
Agreed
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
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.
403/14
Action: BM
If approved for implementation by CPG:

404/14
the membership and remit of CPG, PCG, SAPB and CPB should be
reviewed to ensure alignment with the approach; and
Action: BM

the paper should be submitted to the January 2015 meeting of SAPB
for the Board’s information
Action: CH
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
Agreed
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
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.
409/14
Action: Rich Alderman (RA)
The full project proposal could be considered electronically by members
of SAPB and PCG.
8
410/14
Project proposals for consideration
a) International Academy pre-sessional course finder (PCG/14/96)
Noted
Agreed
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
The project was approved for implementation.
413/14
The January and February dates set out in the project timetable should
be revised to 2015.
414/14
Action: Rob Lister (RL)
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
Agreed
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
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
8 December 2014 should proceed as planned.
418/14
Action: CH/ Tessa Rogowski (TR)
The revised proposal should:

include a high level schedule for delivering additional functionality
and enhancements; and

provide clarity on links between this project and other University
initiatives, setting out how the project supports the delivery of
University objectives.
419/14
Consideration should be given to HSS students piloting the mobile app,
to ensure a sufficient level of feedback is collated.
Action: TR
PCG would consider the revised project proposal electronically.
9
420/14
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.
423/14
Action: BM
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
10
426/14
Project progress
a) An update on the Strategic Projects Portfolio (PCG/14/101)
Noted
CV builder
427/14
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.
Agreed
The CV builder project mandate was cancelled.
428/14
Noted
Direct admissions
429/14
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.
Agreed
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
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.
433/14
Action: JL
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.
434/14
Action: NE
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
435/14
reported as red.
Agreed
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
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.
439/14
Action: Gill Cairns (GC)
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.
440/14
Action: GC/ RS
11
HEFCE Postgraduate Support Scheme progress report (PCG/14/103 attached)
Noted
12
Potential and forthcoming projects for 2014-15 and future years (PCG/14/104 attached)
Agreed
13
441/14
Due to time limitations, this agenda item would be discussed at the
February 2015 meeting of PCG.
Any other business
Noted
14
442/14
443/14
Date of the next meeting
Noted
5 February 2015, 2pm to 4pm in the Vice-Chancellor’s Boardroom.
Clare Hornsby
Project Governance Officer
Strategic Planning and Change Section
December 2014
444/14