Upgrade Process and Schedule for Coursework Student Computer Suite

What is ITS' role in Student Computer Suite maintenance?

How often do ITS update Student Computer Suites?

Which Student Computer Suites do ITS maintain and what software is installed?

What happens if I need an update outside of these maintenance windows?

What is the process that ITS uses to update Student Computer Suites?

What happens if I do not verify my application after it is installed/updated?

How can I stay informed or receive reminders?

I am a student and would like to request a new software application.

What are the Student Computer Suite maintenance windows?

How do I request additions/changes to my Student Computer Suite? 

What is ITS' role in Student Suite maintenance?

The student computer facilities within the University campuses are owned and subsidised by each Faculty or School.  Technology Services maintain the hardware and software component as per each Faculty or School's requirements.

What Technology Services support:

·          Maintain hardware health

·          Provide advice on computer hardware replacement and assist areas with planning of cyclic computer replacement

·          Install academic applications onto the student suites and ensure that they do not conflict with core services such as authentication, printing, email and MyUni

What Technology Services do not support:

·          Do not own the computer equipment or fund replacement of hardware or software

·          Are not experts in academic software applications – the functionality and use of applications should be supported by each school

·          Are not able to approve the installation and configuration of the software as suitable for teaching and research operations

To this end Technology Services will always request that the installation is tested and signed-off by the requesting staff member or delegate.

How often do Technology Services update Student Computer Suites?

Technology Services provides scheduled routine upgrades to the Student Computer Suite image twice per annum. These are scheduled during the mid-year and end of year breaks.

Technology Services currently provides this service to over 80 individual student suites.  Due to the large number of student facilities and the highly integrated and controlled nature of the Student Computer Suite software, it is necessary for Technology Services to have defined maintenance windows for student suite upgrades and why they are not performed on an ad hoc basis.  Refer below for maintenance windows.

What happens if I need an update outside of these maintenance windows?

Even the most minor change to a Student Computer Suite image is at least half a days work excluding the effort to deploy and quality check, which can add another half a day.  As such during the maintenance windows Technology Services allocates dedicated staff to update the 80+ Student Computer Suite images.  If software is requested to be delivered outside of these predefined maintenance windows, Technology Services will still be able to perform this work.  However, as the work will be required to be performed out of hours, cost recovery will be sought from that faculty/school.  This will be contingent upon staff availability and may still need to be scheduled.  This approach has been adopted so as to minimally impact work previously arranged with Technology Services.

What is the process that Technology Services uses to update Student Computer Suites?

Technology Services has a defined process with regards to updating software in Student Computer Suites.  This process is in place to ensure that the requests are tracked, work is sufficiently resourced to allow adequate quality assurance steps to be incorporated, and customers are communicated with.  This reduces the instances of additional work to address issues post deployment and in turn increases staff and student satisfaction of their IT experience within the Student Computer Suite environment.

Once the request has been raised using the Online Form, Teaching Technologies are sent the request via email.  The request is then acknowledged on the online system and scheduled.  Upon closure of the request window, Teaching Technologies will contact each requestor regarding the working being completed and licence/media information.  When the image has been completed, the requestor will be contacted to conduct testing to ensure all applications behave as expected.  When testing has passed, the computer suite will be re-imaged with the updated image.

What happens if I do not verify my application after it has been installed/updated?

Technology Services is not able to verify that the installation and configuration of the software is suitable for academic teaching requirements.  If the software is not verified by the staff that will use it for teaching then the business risk is it may not meet the minimum requirements to successfully hold classes and classes may be cancelled.  In this case any issues identified will be treated as a new install and these options will apply.  It is therefore in your best interests to test your software with Technology Services.

I am a student and would like to request a new software application

As the faculty own the facilities and computer suites you should first discuss any software requirements with you lecturer/tutor. They will then make the decision as to whether this is required to support their teaching requirements. As such Technology Services is unable to accept requests for new software from students. Advice of faults from students are still welcome via the Technology Services Helpdesk. You can email them here.  

What are the Student Computer Suite maintenance windows?

  2009

End of year (to be finalised by September)
Areas commence requesting software additions/modifications	Tue 6 October
Final day for software additions/modifications to be advised to Teaching Technologies team	Mon 30 November
Teaching Technologies team commences modifying Student Computer Suite images	Tue 1 December
Teaching Technologies team completes modifying Student Computer Suite images	Fri 8 January
Academic staff testing/sign-off begins	Mon 13 January
Final day for academic staff testing/sign-off	Fri 24 January
Contingency week for any revisions required from staff testing	Tue 28 January
Teaching Technologies team commence software roll-out to Student Computer Suites	Mon 3 February
Teaching Technologies team concludes software roll-out to Student Computer Suites	Wed 19 February
Final quality assurance undertaken by Teaching Technologies team	Thu 20 February

How do I request additions/changes to my Student Computer Suites?

Requests for additions/changes to Student Computer Suites from academics only, can be lodged by clicking on the button below.  It is important that all details are complete.  Please be aware that if all details are not complete this could mean that your software request may not be actioned in time for the next teaching period.