The previous update on the website transition was published last week on SUSSED. It acknowledged that colleagues are experiencing and reporting issues as a result of this complex project, and that these concerns are being addressed across five priority areas. UEB discussed a number of options on 26 July and agreed the transition work should continue as planned, with regular communication and updates through a new Web Oversight Board, chaired by the Vice-President (Operations) and drawn from across the University, reporting to UEB.
This week’s update centres on some developments that are planned with the system and important information about the clearing embargo period.
Embargo – in order to minimise the risk to the website during the critical Clearing and Adjustment period (1 – 26 August), there is an embargo on making any changes that require the underlying software code to be altered. Work on code will continue in the pre-production environment and releases will be made as soon as possible after the embargo lifts. This will not effect changes to text on webpages, that will continue as normal.
September releases – there are a number of new content releases scheduled for September including: fixes for known data import bugs; migration of more staff profiles from Pure including those of Emeritus Professors, visitors and postgraduate researchers; further research project content that will include those that are non-UKRI funded.
Research entities – not all research groups, centres and institutes were on Pure and therefore could not be migrated. Their content is still available on the original platform and urls, and to provide a more comprehensive view of these research areas an index has now been added to each school page. A longer-term solution is being piloted with each faculty in September to establish a robust data-driven approach that will enable these research entities to be more accessible and searchable than previously.
Factual accuracy – approximately half of the issues that have been reported relate to factual accuracy, and these are being dealt with at pace, of these about 5% were unanticipated errors due to the data not importing correctly from Pure. The solution for this is being tested this week.
In terms of the number of tickets raised with us, our running tally is now 278 in the period 11 July – 3 August of which 128 have been resolved (46%). If you wish to report an issue, please do so here: Report a problem or request a change.
Feedback from the community is being actively listened to and new features that will enhance the user experience are also being investigated.
The new Web Oversight Board will be receiving weekly updates and will provide support and governance to ensure this work progresses as a University priority, and that any concerns are being heard and addressed. The Board will agree communications so that we keep everyone informed along the way.
