Round up of the latest ISG projects

The ‘Wiki’ platform used for knowledge sharing, administrative collaboration and teaching and learning, will undergo an upgrade this year.  

The remote workspace where teams from across the University collaborate and share content is hosted by Confluence, who have released several new features to their service since 2020. Upgrading to version 7.19.x this year will decrease security risks and disruption to users is kept to a minimum.  

In addition to this upgrade, the ISG will also create and deliver of a License Management System because Atlassian – the company who own the Confluence software have announced the Confluence Server will reach end-of-life status in February 2024. Switching to the new License Management System will better manage Wiki licenses and can potentially be used to manage other Atlassian services licensing.  

To find out more about using the Wiki visit the guidance here.  

Cloud-based risk management system 4Risk upgrades to new version.  

Used across the University in colleges and professional support departments, the risk management system 4Risk allows staff to record objectives, identify risks, implement controls, track progress and produce reports in line with the Scottish Code of Good HE Governance.  

The 4Risk vendor have announced that support for the current version will cease in December this year. The project team are aiming to roll out this new update to the University by July 2023, noting that the latest version will provide significantly enhanced features such as:   

• The ability to link risk causes and impacts to specific controls to track effectiveness  

• Expanding the number of organizational/hierarchical tiers from two (i.e. Colleges, and their Schools) to three (Strategic University risks, College/PSG and School/Department)   

• Improving both the content and visual appeal of the reporting features and dashboard.   

The annual upgrade of Moodle will move the online learning to a newer version. 

To fit with teaching patterns, the version of Moodle VLE currently being used by the University will be upgraded in Semester 2, July 2023.   

Moodle is the University’s centrally supported virtual learning environment (VLE) for online distance learning programmes, staff running a distance learning programme can choose to use Moodle to deliver their content. The VLE includes integrations with other centrally provided services, such as Turnitin and Collaborate, as well as third party plugins to extend the functionality of Moodle itself. 

The project team aim to upgrade the Moodle VLE annually, but exact version the University upgrades to each year will be dependent on our plugins and how quickly they can be tested by non-Moodle HQ developers. It will also deliver the new functionality available in the latest version of Moodle, which aims to enhance the user experience for both learners and teachers. 

Dedicated to streamlining time-consuming processes and ensuring high quality data management across the University, this project will develop a new web application designed to identify and present data in a clear and readable format. This will reduce the amount of work required by individuals, resolving business critical issues with data speedily and accurately. Another benefit from the development is the tool has been built in a way where it can be easily extended to encompass other new data streams, as and when they come into scope.