Information Technology Strategy

IT High Level Themes

• Cyber Security

  Cyber-attacks on higher education are increasingly frequent and damaging. Maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of IT systems, services and data are at the core of digital connectivity and our strategy is to employ a wide and comprehensive range of measures to ensure cybersecurity, paired with a well-planned response if incidents occur, ensuring swift remediation and minimal impact. This theme will be supported by a detailed Cyber Security Strategy, and we will utilise our support organisations, such as the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to maximise our effectiveness. Where IT systems are devolved, we will collaborate with those departments to ensure a consistent approach to security and to standardise authentication to disparate systems wherever possible.

• Cloud Migration

  Intrinsically connected to Cyber Security, 24x7 digital connectivity is expected of modern IT services. Investing in Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) Cloud Solutions are cost-effective ways of improving the availability of critical services, particularly out of hours, where a systems failure can go unrectified until the next working day. Again, investment is required, but our new reliance on IT systems necessitates a robust response.

• High speed Wi-Fi

  Survey evidence suggests that students regard good Wi-Fi as one of the most important IT services. Over the next three years, moves to flipped campus provision will rely on a seamless, lightning-fast Wi-Fi service. Our Wi-Fi Strategy will concentrate on digital connectivity with in-room Wi-Fi solutions for student halls and the latest and fastest generation of Wi-Fi access points for common areas. There is significant investment involved, but the evidence shows this service sits at the heart of student satisfaction with IT.

• Campus network upgrades

  IT will build on the network architecture investment in Swansea SA1 and Dynevor, London, and Birmingham campuses during the previous strategy, working closely with the provosts and colleagues in Estates and Facilities. Carmarthen, Lampeter, Cardiff, and Swansea Alex Road core, distribution and edge networking will be the focus with simplicity, reliability, and performance as our key principles. The design will include superfast interconnections and extend our current ‘Clearpass’ network access control to include dynamic security policies to control user access in real-time and improve Cyber Security. Digital signage will be refreshed and targeted to support marketing and communication.

• Learning Technologies

  Classroom and laboratory spaces will be refreshed with learning technologies that provide pedagogically led easy to use collaborative and interactive solutions creating engaging learning experiences for staff and students. A particular emphasis will focus on developing hybrid learning solutions that will enable learning to be delivered locally, nationally, and internationally. Developing strong relationships with manufacturers and suppliers will enable a continuous evaluation of the latest developments such as immersive technologies to ensure that technologies are properly investigated, rigorously tested from a technical and pedagogical perspective, and implemented where appropriate.

• Data Governance

  We will build our efficiency in Agile Scrum workload planning and Prince2 Agile Project Management, as well as utilising our management data to create data driven systems of work, such as understanding our IT ticket profile to mitigate systematic issues. Utilising advanced reporting of IT Ticket data allows early detection and prevention of reoccurring and shared issues, as well as the opportunity for the automation of common requests. This improves staff and student response times and the overall efficiency of the IT Service Desk provision. We will also concentrate on IT workforce professional development, to enhance systems knowledge and improve our ability to resolve issues at the first point of contact.

• HESA student return and Data Futures

  We have made great strides in representing our position in the University market with better data and a focus on areas requiring improvement. Data Futures, a sector-wide transformation programme, led by HESA, will bring fresh challenges with multi in-year returns; defined data ownership and proactive data processes will be key to our success. We have supported continuous improvement with our National Measures and League Table Business Intelligence dashboards and will continue to build on our ability to analyse key measures, adding Staff Student Ratio, Retention and Qualifications on Entry dashboards.

• Student engagement and communications

  We will continue to work with Student Union, Professional Units, and Institutes to ensure that our services and developments are advertised as widely as possible and all avenues for the sharing of information are utilised. We will also support digital inclusion, assisting both students and Digital Services by providing every student with a platform for success. We will build on current student engagement by implementing Enterprise Service Management (ESM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). These new systems will allow us to understand the students’ needs and capture feedback throughout their student journey. We will measure our success by benchmarking our performance in NSS and national surveys against other Welsh HEI’s.

• Equipment Leasing

  The leasing of IT equipment was first introduced in 2017 and has been very successfully in the refresh of aging assets across the University fleet. The development of a unified leasing plan will align the renewals of staff and student IT equipment across the University. An effective renewal plan with a commitment to sustainable procurement practices, will ensure a regular cycle to update University IT assets to technology that is relevant and supports the needs of staff and students.

• Online meetings and video conferencing

  Being a geographically distributed University, our reliance on technology for meetings has always been in high demand, but it became a key communication and collaboration tool with much of the University working remotely. With the engagement of staff of students, there is a need to review our current video conferencing spaces and create a strategic plan for future developments. This will encompass our new ways of working and meet the growing and vastly changing requirements and demand, whilst facilitating simultaneous translation.

• IT Development and Integration

  The IT Development team have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent years. This has led to unprecedented demand for centralisation of data, electronic forms, automated processes, and systems integrations. A three-year development and Integration plan will support the IT Strategy, supporting activities such as Doctoral College, Wales Global Academy, and strategic partnerships. Centralising data, reducing bureaucracy, and digital innovation with automation and artificial intelligence, are all at the heart of the plan. Digital productivity, learning and inclusion are key requirements for this work to ensure that these systems are accessible, bilingual, responsive, and easy to use.

• Virtual Learning Environment

  For many years the virtual learning environment has been important to educators, but it came into sharp focus during the global pandemic. UWTSD currently utilises Moodle for resources, with online classes using Microsoft Teams. To further support digital learning, VLE developments will focus on modernising the Moodle experience, better navigation and functionality, and optimised speed and performance. Making the timetabling/Teams/Moodle online teaching experience more integrated and harmonious will be another key theme. We will develop a VLE Strategy and convene a focus group with staff and student representation to set priorities.

• Agile working methodology and Prince2 Agile Project management

  Agile working made the transition from in-office to at-home working seamless. Based on organising ‘what you do’, rather than ‘where you do it’, it is a productivity tool which is easily adaptable to any situation. Its implementation has optimised IT productivity, and the focus for the next phase will be to better integrate Agile working and the management of IT projects whilst embedding Agile into continuous professional development (CPD) activities. We will make better use of the Microsoft ‘DevOps’ tools at our disposal, and champion the adoption of Agile working to support wider UWTSD projects.

• IT Ticket Data Reporting

  Building on current reporting and data analysis, we will use the ESM and CRM implementations to develop further links with users to understand their needs and to capture feedback throughout their student journey. Further development of IT ticket data reporting and monitoring will allow for richer trend detection of common issues to help pro-actively resolve issues before they are identified by staff or students. The implementation of reports that can highlight common requests or issues across multiple professional units will also allow for the improvement of workflows to streamline processes.