Hello readers! It’s the end of the month so time for another blog post, all about…

BI Team (Enterprise Architecture)!

We are a small but international team with members with roots in The Netherlands, Iran, India and Scotland. We have BI (Business Intelligence) Team Lead, Data Architect and ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) developers in our team. Unlike other teams in Apps, we are a DEV/OPS team (meaning we do all the development, and provided support and maintenance of the LIVE systems). We also operate as a ‘virtual’ team with members of Governance and Strategic Planning (GaSP) and Business Intelligence.

What does Information Services Group Portfolio do?

The BI Team develop and support Management/Strategic Information reporting solutions to the University via the EDW (Enterprise Data-Warehouse). It is considered a hub of accurate and consistent data taken from across the University, providing valuable insights for decision-making and strategic planning.

We have Org Hierarchy, Estates and HR running every night in LIVE, and are currently developing Student Applications. We mainly use a tool called Talend to ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) the data from the source systems (such as P&M and Archibus), into the Foundation Layer database which holds a complete change history of each data-set. This is then extracted into the various data-marts and reporting layers for users to run reports on using Power BI, SAP BI and advance analytics in Python.

How does this work connect with other Application sections?

Being a DEV/OPS team we implement all of our TEST/LIVE changes working very closely with Dev Tech on any infrastructure changes -Data-Base/Server/Table DDL/Files. Talend jobs are run on the TMC (Talend Management Console) and Dev-Tech manage the users and environments on the TMC. This means we have day-to-day contact with Dev Tech and have very good working relationship. We also work with Service Management team to manage BI tools and their use.

Are there any upcoming projects the team is excited about?

Absolutely. We are currently developing the Student Applications Tracker. This will deliver ten years of Application Data, allowing analysts to track:

• Decisions/responses over an application cycle
• The numbers of applications/acceptances/rejections to Colleges/Schools/Programmes per academic year
• Widening participation applications

We are working closely with analysts in various UoE departments to deliver a solution that meet their needs. We are currently exploring opportunities in Research Management data and extensions to HR and switching the source of Estates data.

Are there any favourite topics of discussion among the team?

Food, food and more food! Sometimes films, music and what to do around Edinburgh. As we are a multinational team, information about culture and countries is one of the ongoing subjects.

Are there any special/hidden talents within the team?

• Sailing
• Marathon running
• Table Tennis
• Painting
• Poetry

If you could take a guess, how many cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate does the team get through on an average day?

12!

In a sentence what makes Information Services Group Portfolio great?

We’re quite a sociable lot, enjoying team lunches etc., and we are a hard-working, collaborative and supportive team.

If you wish to get in touch…

To get in touch you can send us an email at apps-architecture@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk. To see the complete list of the datasets, and how to access them, please visit the Core Data Hub.

Hello readers and welcome to the next blog post in a long line of ones to come! This month, it is all about…

Information Services Group Portfolio (Project Services)!

What does Information Services Group Portfolio do?

Our team deliver IT and business change projects which are mainly aligned with the directorates in ISG and the services which they run. Some examples include the student and staff portal MyEd for LTW, DiscoverEd and Alma for Library & University Collections, as well as the recent information security type projects like the roll out of Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) for Microsoft 365 apps. Our team is a mix of Programme Managers, Project Managers and Business Analysts.

How does this work connect with other Application sections?

The majority of our projects involve the other sections from Applications. We work closely with Development Services for any infrastructure or software development tasks. Production Management help us to make sure all the changes implemented can be supported once they are live. Service Management often assist us with any reporting needs for the projects. Many of our projects integrate with the People and Money (P&M) system, so we work closely with the P&M Team.

Are there any upcoming projects the team is excited about?

Yes! The Managing User Access programme (MUA) has a lot of high profile projects in progress affecting all students and staff across the UoE, such as the replacement of our current single sign on service (EASE) and the replacement of our identity and access management system (IDM). We’ll also be involved with new Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives and technologies taking place across the University. We’re currently working with EDINA and User Service Directorate on the ELM and Ask EdHelp AI services. Technical integrations for the new Short Course Platform (for LTW); IT Readiness for Start of Semester New University Card Management and Production system

Are there any favourite topics of discussion among the team?

• Favourite TV series and recommendations
• Pets
• Football
• Gardening
• Live music
• Conversation stopper: politics!

Dogs: Tatu and Ofu, Willow, Ronnie and Jock! Cats: Tianjin, Alfie, Zion, Ben and Skye!

Are there any special/hidden talents within the team?

Karen’s knitting talents…

The little Maisie and Bethann Dazzler bears!

If you could take a guess, how many cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate does the team get through on an average day?

15!

In a sentence what makes Information Services Group Portfolio great?

Our team members are a hard working and friendly bunch – we regularly catch up as a team outside of work and go out for team lunches and nights out.

If you wish to get in touch…

Please contact Adam Wadee, Team Manager (adam.wadee@ed.ac.uk).

Hello readers and welcome to this new series! At the end of every month a blog post about teams from different sections of Applications will be released to get to know more about the variety across departments, so expect the next post at the end of April all about a team in Project Management. Running in a sort of FAQ-style dialogue, the blog post is essentially written by members of the team to get the best information across! There is a mix of work-related and more fun and social questions to get a flavour of each team. It is great to get to know more about the personalities and work of each team and I hope that you will enjoy reading these posts.

What does the Enterprise Data Services team do?

The team takes its name from the key role it plays in delivering and supporting a range of services that provide users with access to enterprise data sets. There is certainly a lot of variety in what we do! As well as running the Business Reporting and Analytics service – which is the umbrella service for well known tools such as BusinessObjects and Power BI – our remit also includes Visitor Registration, Identity Management, Event Booking, and other University-wide systems such as Onetrust (a data protection system). On top of all that, we are also involved in developing exciting new services around APIs (the HR Data feed for Schools) and the Enterprise Data Warehouse. We list Business Objects, Power BI, and Qliksense.

How does this work connect with other Application sections?

We are tightly integrated with other teams within Apps. We all work together to ensure the smooth daily delivery of our services, and we collaborate on projects too. A key area of our joint working is Incident Management. As a team, we work closely with Production Management to resolve incidents to do with technical aspects of our services.

Are there any upcoming projects the team is excited about?

Yes! The Replacement Visitor Registration System will be launching soon, giving opportunities to use new technologies in a different way.

Are there any favourite topics of discussion among the team?

Especially in the regular catch up meetings, food, family, and travel, among others, are favourite topics!

Are there any special/hidden talents within the team?

If you could take a guess, how many cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate does the team get through on an average day?

10!

In a word what makes Enterprise Data Services great?

Diversity!

Our team brings together individuals with a range of skills, backgrounds and perspectives which fosters a very creative team environment. 😁

If you wish to get in touch…

The ‘Incidents and Service’ requests go to The Helpline. But if you just want to get to know them more after reading this, then general chats with team manager Susan Cooke and service managers Andrew McFarlane, Rob O’Brien and Irfan Khan are always welcome!