A brief summary of our major initiatives

I notice that in 2016 I wrote 34 posts on this blog. This is only my fifth post in 2017 and we're already three-quarters of the way through the year. Either I've suddenly got lazier, or else I've had less time to spend writing here. As I'm not inclined to think of myself as especially lazy, I'm plumping for the latter explanation.

There really is a lot going on. The University has several major initiatives under way, many of which need input from the Enterprise Architecture section.

The Service Excellence programme is overhauling (the buzzword is "transforming") our administrative processes for HR, Finance, and Student Administration. Linked to this is a programme to procure an integrated ERP system to replace the adminstrative IT systems.

Enabling Digital Transformation is a programme to put the middleware and architecture in place so that we can make our processes "digital first". We're implementing an API framework, a notifications backbone, and a user-centred portal. We're also building a data warehouse and revising our reporting & analytics tools and services.

We're also looking to improve our student recruitment service, and one aspect of this is to procure a new enquiry management system.

Meanwhile, the Estates department are procuring a system to manage the increasingly large portfolio of building projects.

In addition to the above, I have put a lot of effort into improving the data governance structures of the University, defining a "Data Steward" role and setting up a forum for the people who are taking on that role. With the GDPR coming soon, their contributions will be particularly important; fortunately for me the University has appointed a new and very capable Data Protection Officer to lead that work.

If that weren't enough, the recently announced City Deal for Edinburgh and the surrounding region will be a huge initiative. I have yet to see to what extent that will involve EA.

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