By John Helm, IT Support
Of the 147 new or upgraded pieces of software requested by faculties and directorates for this year’s start of teaching, all but four are completed or out for testing by academic colleagues. (See the table below for details of what we are doing to resolve the snags with those pieces of software that aren’t yet ready.)
This spreadsheet shows who is responsible for testing particular pieces of software and where it will be installed.
42 applications, which have been thoroughly tested by academic staff, are being deployed now. There are, however, still 105 packages which have yet to undergo academic testing and, to make sure we have a smooth start to teaching at the beginning of the academic year, we need that testing to be completed as soon as possible. This will allow us to resolve any issues in plenty of time.
How will it be installed?
We deploy most software so that it installs automatically and this process has already started. Ideally we would like all software to be tested and ready for deployment by 5 September at the latest.
In some circumstances we may need to deploy software before we have had notification that it has been signed off by the nominated tester. In such cases, we will seek permission from a senior member staff in the relevant faculty or directorate to do this.
When will it be ready to use in teaching rooms?
Everything will be installed and ready to use by 21 September. At that stage, it’s also important that anyone who uses the teaching labs tests the software in situ to make sure it behaves as expected. Please report any problems to IT help as soon as possible so we have time to resolve them before teaching starts.
For more details about the process for installing new software, please see our FAQs.
