Update on IT issues during Start of Year

06 Oct 2016

Since Wednesday 14 September a number of different issues have arisen with our IT services and systems, some of which are still on-going

A summary of what we know to date is below.

Cluster PCs and applications

The first issue we encountered related to the setup of PCs across campus and the specific software applications required for teaching. It became clear to us that the setup of PCs was behind schedule.

We worked closely with the core business stakeholders in Teaching and Learning to prioritise our efforts. This meant that we were able to complete the majority of teaching clusters for the first week of teaching and classes were able to commence as planned.

My Manchester

We have also been experiencing problems with My Manchester, the prime impact of which has been upon access to student timetables. We know this problem resulted in some students missing lectures and other appointments, as they were unable to get the information from a service they relied on to tell them where to go. While students were able to get the information from their school office, we know this caused inconvenience for students and staff.

We are still analysing some of these problems.

Next steps

We are currently undergoing a technical review to stabilise the situation, after which we will undertake a full lessons learned analysis. When this review has happened, we will be sending a full report to Schools, Faculties and Directorates.

I understand the significant impact these issues have on students, academics and support services. We take this very seriously and our team has been working both evenings and weekends to resolve the issues. I apologise for the disruption and will ensure that we take all steps to prevent a recurrence in the future.

Kind regards,

Malc Whitehouse

IT Director