Applications Division Project Proposal 2010-11PROJECT NAMEProcure and implement a Virtual Online Classroom ServiceProject SponsorBryan MacGregorProgrammeLearning And TeachingProgramme Owner Stephen VickersIS Programme ManagerMaurice FranceschiAuthors ( Business )Mark Wetton / Stephen Vickers / Bryan MacGregor / Simon MarsdenAuthors ( IS )Mark Wetton DateDate the proposal was completed.Section One – PROJECT DETAILS1.1 Executive SummaryThere are potentially 3 customer groups for this initiative:

1. Learning and teaching community (online classrooms)2. Corporate and Support Groups (online meetings)3. Research Collaboration community (tbc)

This project aims to develop an online classroom tool for Learning And Teaching, which primarily meets the needs of teaching staff and students in all Colleges. It is however highly desirable that the tool can also be run centrally to corporate and support staff for the purpose of online meetings, and as such meet the needs of the whole university.

Existing tools for online classroom teaching are already in use within the University, with Adobe Connect being used in MVM (BMG - any integration with emec/evec?) and WIMBA being offered centrally from IS. The WIMBA offering is not yet integrated with WebCT other than via manual data feeds and group set up. It is due to expire and is expected to be temporarily extended until June 2012. (BMG - Some work to quantify current and likely demand.)

Due to the potential to extend this service beyond teaching and learning, Project Sponsors are keen that the service is developed with a view to being run and owned from central IS Service Management. The expectation would be that the teaching and learning community would be the primary customer, and that the solution would be hosted, preferably in the cloud.

The first phase of the project will be to capture requirements for the service.June – end August 2011LAT requirements for their community will be informed by a year’s experience of delivering a pilot service using WIMBA Classroom. Review of the pilot is expected to confirm that there is clear demand. It will also enable draft requirements to be formulated for the procurement stage of this project. Key activities for the new service to academics will include (not exclusively)

Teaching & curriculum activities, especially for off campus students Virtual Postgraduate Open Week Provision of help services to users on and off campus Research team meetings for non co-located staff

The following requirements will likely feature in the final functional requirement spec: MUST - deliver a personal timetable to the learner. This may require diary integration

capability e.g. iCal standard based. MUST – Classroom/meeting setup and invitation MUST - Shared white board facility MUST - Audio conference call MUST - Ability to integrate presentations and documents MUST - Ability to see ID’s entering and leaving the conference MUST - IDM and authentication MUST - MyEd Integration MUST - Meeting extract, including all transcripts of comments/contributions and

archive

HIGHLY DESIRABLE - Group based authorisation HIGHLY DESIRABLE - Video conference call HIGHLY DESIRABLE - I. Messenger HIGHLY DESIRABLE - Voting Option

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Applications Division Project Proposal 2010-11For students, the online classroom will greatly enable the set of tools for facilitation of Distance Learning, but will also enable on-campus online group teaching. The main benefits of online meetings are that it enables users to meet virtually without the need to be co-located thereby avoiding unnecessary travel between campuses and allowing inclusion of participants from disparate locations across Scotland and beyond.The second phase of the project will be to evaluate the market and procure the service.September – February 2012

A number of known services already operate in this overlapping space:o WIMBA (open source, but due to be replaced by Blackboard Collaborate)o Elluminateo MSoft Lynco Adobe Connect (known to offer the classroom and meeting functionality)o GOTO Meeting (Citrix, but targeted at the meeting functionality)o Big Blue Button (targeting the meeting functionality)

A supplier comparison matrix is available here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software

The third phase will be to build any service integration and implement the service.March – launch in early May 2012

Integration will be targeted at the following: Data feeds Group from programmes of study and course/classes from central LDAP. Authentication (preferably Shibboleth) MyEd Channel

Drivers for this project include:

1) identified as an issue at ITC, see commentary to MVM paper on collaborative tools Where on-line meetings is identified as a gap. See paper C November 2010 meeting.

2) The impact of the snow, student unrest (occupations), and our strategic direction of mobility for the workforce.

3) Part of the consultation with colleges and Support Groups all confirmed that they thought it was important.1.2 Business Objectives NumberObjective Description1Enable an online meeting space for both teaching, research and administrative activities2To procure a tool to enable the service1.3 Project Deliverables (including any scope limits) NumberDeliverable (and description of any limits to the scope) 1Business and technical requirements for the service2To conduct a tender and procure a package3Deliver a configured and implemented virtual meeting tool4Deliver a support framework and documentation 1.4 Project Timescales - Milestones and Multi Year ProjectsMulti YearYesMilestoneDateMilestone description (including reason if Milestone Date is hard)May 2012Hard – in order to be sure that we can remove any WIMBA reliance/costs and confirm readiness for start of academic session 2012/13Financial YearBreakdown of Project Stages/Deliverables by Year2010-11Initiate project by June 20112011-12PPAR by mid September 2011: Confirm requirements and audienceProcurement phase:

Produce and publish ITT and PQQ July – end Sept 2011 +30 days stand still for tender bids + 2 months for evaluation and selection (reference sites, financials, tech, integration)

Selection announced: January 2012Integration: January to March 2012

Deployment to Live April (to small pre-launch test group) and early May 2012 (to University)1.5 Project Stakeholder(s)StakeholderDescription of stakeholder and role in projectInformed Y/NIS Apps Project ServicesGovernance - Project manager and Programme

manager (Maurice Franceschi)YIS Apps Service ManagementGovernance and Project Team –

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Applications Division Project Proposal 2010-11to ensure that the service offers optimum value and quality to the institution, ensuring

appropriate standards and integration. (Alex Carter & Mark Wetton)YIS USD - LATGovernance and End user service awareness

Primary customer representation from LAT (tbc)YInfrastructure SpecialistsProject Team (Technical Lead required)

Project team input also from Infrastructure development and integration support experts to assure optimum configuration and adequate service capacity and performance on the hosted service.

ITI - tbcNCollegesGovernance - Representation from each College (tbc)NEUSAGovernance - VPAA invitation to project teamNDistance EducationGovernance input to identify proposals under this initiative which may benefit from (Jeff Haywood)NITPF/ELPPProject Team for

awareness of progress and representation, but also to contribute e-learning knowledge and communicate to the group.NProcurement OfficeProject team - Consultancy and involvement in procurement phaseNSupplierAs supplierNOther HE reference sites or advisorsTBCN1.6 Project

Risks NumberDescription (including any required risk management actions)1Inadequate priority or resource to sustain project completion2Funding has not been secured to pay any

licence fee or support costs for this system. There is currently only £30K reserved in ISC funds.3Once installed, people do not use system as often as expected4The supplier proves

unreliable. 5A separate proposal to procure a virtual meeting system for IS leads to confusion for users and unnecessary duplication of costs 1.7 Other Relevant Information about

the Project (including disability/accessibility or other references to illustrate the capabilities to be delivered.)Procurement will need to be involved with costs expected to be <£50k over 5

years.

Adobe Connect benefits (generic to most online meeting tools)http://www.avoka.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=216:adobe-connect-web-conferencing-benefits&catid=7

Link for BBB: http://129.215.184.99/

To avoid overlap with the web casting service:

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Applications Division Project Proposal 2010-11(100+). These tend to be arranged well in advance and if they needed to be available for online attendance, then the existing web casting service would be the right mechanism here.

Section Two – PROJECT CATEGORY and JUSTIFICATION2.1 Project CategoryProject Category ( EE/EI/VI/F )Reason for selecting categoryVIThis is a service for the University, which is not essential, yet would be highly useful for reducing duplication of online classroom services to students, and to staff working from home, or when the weather precludes travel to work.2.2 Project Justification Strategic Goal, Enabler or ThemeDescription of how project meets the Strategic Goal, Enabler or ThemeQuality ServicesStrategic enabler: provide a 21st century solution to the need for meeting across geographical locations both within and outside of the universityQuality InfrastructureStrategic enabler: the hosted system software added to the portfolio of application supported by the university integrated environmentEnhancing Student ExperienceProvide new, flexible mechanisms to facilitate collaboration between students, thereby enhancing the University reputation and student survey ratings.Building strategic partnerships and collaborationsEnabling scalability yet with economies through delivering these core services through the cloud with a market leader.

Enabling cross institutional collaboration by staff and visitors.Other JustificationDescriptionSection Three – PROJECT BENEFITS, COSTS AND PROCUREMENTProvide the estimated project benefits and costs over a 5-year period on the basis of the information currently available. Section 3.2 is the overall project costs and benefit summary and should be taken from the Detailed Benefits and Costs Worksheet completed to accompany this proposal.3.1 Benefits (over 5 years)Tangible Benefits – please provide information on the reasoning and method used to arrive at the benefit figures e.g. where a time saving has been identified please identify how the £ amount was calculated, providing details of any assumptions made regarding nos. of staff impacted etc.Intangible Benefits – benefits where there is no associated financial saving are considered to be intangible, e.g. increased access to the user community. Please provide details of any intangible benefits and associated assumptions.

Benefits Realisation – please give details of any monitoring that will be put in place to ensure benefits are realised.Tangible - Description and ValueAssumptionsStaff better able to collaborate from geographic disperse locations £220,000 p.a.Making communication nearer to a face to face experience, and therefore more efficient.

Assume that it saves 20% of staff 3.5 hour a year

1600 X 3.5 = 5,600 hours (800 days) = £220,000

50% Colleges25% Support Groups

25% ITAbility to support programmes of study with reduced or no on-campus commitments.tbcBetter able to liaise with suppliersThis can be quite costly for projects and services, and can easily contribute to over runs of budgets. This element could modestly save the University 20 days per year, and £27,500 over 5 years.Intangible – DescriptionAs well as efficiency benefits above, the use of such a service provides some protection against unforeseen circumstances e.g. adverse weather.Simple access to a service that’s free at the point of use would allow for much less disruption to business, even when staff are unable to get to work.Description of monitoring required to ensure benefits are realisedStats would need to be captured from the system itself to show usage.

Costs would need to be monitored annually.3 Service availability would be recorded monthly.Use current budget metrics on travel once

new system in placeAsk feedback from projects, etc. making use of the systemMeasure net income from off-campus programmes using the system to overcome distance

barriers3.2 Benefits and Costs Summary (over 5 years) 5 Year SummaryIT ServicesSupport GroupsColleges inc

StudentsTotalBenefits£82,500£55,000£110,000£247,500Costs£265,113£7,838 £272,950Benefit/Cost Ratio = 0.91 RDS increase of 40 daysFunding/Resource

Requirements

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Applications Division Project Proposal 2010-11The project may be dependant on funding which has still to be secured e.g. money for new software package purchase or maintenance and/or funding to provide additional staff resources to execute the project or provide longer term support for the services delivered by the project. Please provide details

below of funding or resource requirements and confirm whether or not the sponsoring business area has secured the additional funding and/or staff resources required.Funding/Resource

Requirement£ValueFunding Arrangements and Provider(s)This would be a new service run centrally from IS Applications Division.

The service would require per year an estimate of:40 days Apps time40 days USD time£110,000 over 5 years

£22,000 p.a.Assume funding for the resource time would need to be found from central budgets, (alternatively funding would need to be found through a charging model based on

usage.)Ballpark cost of a system(costs exclude local head sets etc which are not funded by IS)£25k p.a.NO FUNDING

SECUREDNPASS bid in progressHave you considered outsourcing as a potential source for some or all of the services to be delivered by this project? Please provide details.

Guidance on OutsourcingYes:4 We need to be careful that our needs for a scalable licensing model are clear, with

preference for price protection for x years (5?)Procurement Requirements (including Outsourcing)

Where no external procurement is anticipated this should stated as “Not Applicable”. It is the Project Sponsor’s responsibility to inform Procurement Office so that they can plan any assistance that may be required for project procurement activities.Total Cost of Goods & Services

(over 4 yrs)Description of Goods and Services to be Procured ( All procurement activity must be in line with the rules laid out Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook.

Guidance on Procurement )Procurement Office Informed? Yes/No< £50 k

> £50 kIndications are that procurement will need to be involved, with a cost over 5 years are expected to be around £125k

https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/insite/Draft+Requirements+ListQuote from Adobe Connect reseller (Jigsaw) for a hosted service:Initial setup cost - for opening an account - £311 + VAT

Concurrent licensingEach and every user attending a meeting, either as a host or as an attendee must have a license. You buy a set number of licenses, anyone can arrange a meeting. When meetings are running, once the full number of licenses are in use, no one else can join a meeting until someone leaves.

Up to 25 concurrent users: £4040 + VAT per annum Each user over 25 costs £149 + VAT per annum

Assuming up to 100 concurrent users:£4848 + 13410 = 18258 * 5 years = 91,290

Assuming 200 concurrent users£4848 + 31290 = 36138 * 5 years = £180,690

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