|
Week ending Friday 1 September 2006 |
Staff BriefingA joint initiative by MIS, Corporate |
Edition
272| |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Next editions and entries to the briefing
- Tuesday 5 September
- Monday 11 September
- Monday 19 September
Please keep entries concise with, if necessary, a link to further details on the web. Please check entries for accuracy and timeliness before sending. Deadline for entries is (generally) 12 noon each Friday.
Email: briefing@bradford.ac.uk
General University notices
Development of the University's E-Strategy 2007-2009
The E-Strategy Board is engaged in a 5-year programme of work. The documents describing this are set out on the E-Strategy web site at - http://www.bradford.ac.uk/corporateplan/e-strategy/ (UoB username and password required).
There are some 30 Projects currently in operation and you can see the current progress of these on the E-Strategy Project Tracker on the e-Strategy Board Project Tracker linked to from the E-Strategy home page above.
This Project Tracker links to the University's Balanced Scorecard, so the colour coding of a project in the Tracker relates directly to the current assessment of the project via the Scorecard.
The E-Strategy Board is currently reviewing how the University might optimally position itself for the period 2007-2009. Having completed 2 years' work to date, now is a good time to review our situation and the environment in which we are operating, and also review IT developments and the changes in the market place. We are aiming to position the University optimally so we can get the maximum benefit and value from IT in all areas of the institution.
The E-Strategy Board has therefore prepared a position paper. You can see this at - http://www.brad.ac.uk/corporateplan/e-strategy/e-strategy-state-of-the-art.pdf (pdf file, will open in a new window)
We welcome any comments you may have on this paper (or any aspect of the E-Strategy).
Please send to R.A.Earnshaw@bradford.ac.uk
Rae Earnshaw
PVC (Strategic Systems Development)
New Bulk SMS Texting Service from LSS
Learning Support Services have recently signed up with a bulk SMS texting provider and are in a position to roll out this service to individual Schools/Departments; each School/Department will receive its own “virtual” mobile number. It is a two way service, i.e. you can receive texts as well as send them, and has a web based user friendly interface. There is a recurring monthly site licence fee of £15 per department, and outgoing texts are charged at 4.5p per message; for those that require the incoming service, these are charged at 1.5p per message. For a further £5 per month Schools/Departments can add an 11 character identifying tag to the beginning of their messages, e.g. UoBSecurity, UoBLSS, etc etc.
Much like the corporate mobile contract this will be administered centrally within LSS by the ICT Servicedesk team. ICT Servicedesk will set up the individual Schools/Departments who wish to avail themselves of the service and add individual users to the system. They will also deal with the monthly invoices, with Schools/Departments being recharged for recurring fees and monthly usage; each School/Department will receive an itemised bill for information purposes only.
For expressions of interest in the service or for further details, please contact Christine Thacker, Deputy Telecoms & ICT Support Manager, on extension 5919 or email c.thacker@bradford.ac.uk
Roger M Goodair
Telecoms & ICT Support Manager
Open forum, E-Strategy project - postponed
The open forum to deliver the results of the Content Management System Project, scheduled for 30th August, has been postponed. Those of you who provided information about how you work (at discussion groups early in the year), can still find out how this affects you.
The findings of this report are wide ranging. The final report is available from the website - http://cmsproject.brad.ac.uk/files
The Content Management System (CMS) Project is important to everybody involved in providing, disseminating and receiving information, whether it's paper-based or digital. The E-strategy Board recognised this and has been funding the project since late 2005.
There are two versions - the full report includes transcripts of all the facilitated discussions and questionnaire results; the abridged version is somewhat slimmer and contains the summary, findings and recommendations.
The team made a number of recommendations, we’d like you to have the chance to see those recommendations.
Regards,
The CMS Team - Claire Gibbons, Rik Hepworth and Nick Smith
Email: cms-team@bradford.ac.uk
Nominations for Honorary Degrees
Members of staff are invited to consider nominating individuals for the
award of honorary degrees of the University. Further details with regard
to current policy and associated guidelines can be found at
http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/student-registry/Degreeceremonies2005/Honorary_Degrees.htm
Proposals, to include biographical details and a full supporting statement should be sent under confidential cover to Nick Buck, Student Registry by Friday 22 September 2006 for consideration by the Honorary Degrees Committee at its 10 October meeting. Nominations received after this date can be considered at a meeting of the Committee to be held later in the session.
If you are interested in putting a name forward and would find it helpful to discuss the case further before doing so please contact Nick Buck on 3038 or email at n.j.buck@bradford.ac.uk.
As you will no doubt appreciate it is most important that any persons nominated for an honorary degree should not be made aware that there was any possibility of such an award being conferred upon them.
Fire Evacuation Drills 2006-7
It is proposed to hold a series of fire evacuation drills during the four weeks commencing the 26th September 2006. If there are any date which must be avoided during this time please contact John Davies the University Fire Safety Adviser on 5764 (j.h.davies1@bradford.ac.uk) and if possible every effort will be made to accommodate those requests.
Thank you
John Davies
Arrival and Orientation Information for International Students
If you have enquiries from international students about arrival at the University - how to get to the university from airports, where to go, what to do etc in the first few days, there is lots of useful information on webpages:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/international/orientation.php
This includes details of our new freephone number 0800 073 1581 which will operate 24 hours a day during the main intake period in September. This can be used by students who need to contact the University actually during their journey to us.
There will be an International Student Information Point open from 14th to 25th September in the D Floor Foyer, Richmond Building. We will be open from 8.30am to 6.00pm each day, inclusive of weekends. We will be able to help with many practical issues so please direct your students to us at the Information Point and we will be happy to help!
There is a full programme of orientation type activities and presentations throughout Welcome Week, details also on the above weblink. Please could you make your students aware and encourage them to join in, particularly with the ‘Briefings’ and ‘Lunchtime Talks’ - these will answer a lot of the FAQ’s and will provide essential and useful practical information.
Any queries, please contact Sue Baker, s.m.baker@bradford.ac.uk, ext 3080
Languages for All - reminder
Are you thinking of learning a language?
Our Languages for All programme offers tuition at various levels in French, German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, plus free use of our language resources centre. In addition to previous provision, we are hoping to offer a higher level of French this year (F7 and F8), and possibly a second level of German.
Classes start in week commencing 25 September.
For further details contact Anne Croasdell in the Department of Languages and European Studies, tel. 4619, email a.e.croasdell@bradford.ac.uk
Training and Development Opportunities for Staff
People Development courses
The University’s new Staff Training Prospectus is now available, and contains details of events for the coming academic year in the following categories: Health & Safety, Information Technology (IT), Professional and Personal Development, Research Support, Short Courses for Research, and Teaching & Learning.
Each training provider has a web page listing their events, and these may be found by following the appropriate links on the left hand side of the following web page: http://www.bradford.ac.uk/dev-prog/
Works on Campus
Horton A
Installation of new gearbox, drive unit and suspension ropes to Horton 'A' No. 3 Lift. The work will commence on Wednesday 23rd August 2006 and be completed in eight days.
I would be obliged if people would use Chesham No. 5 or No. 6 Lifts to access Horton 'A' via the Chesham B corridors.
Queries to Mr Geoff Simpson on extension 3431.
News from Bradford Council
Tour of Britain comes to Bradford
The third stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race will start at 10am on Thursday 31 August from Bradford's Centenary Square before immediately launching into a King of the Mountains stretch on the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales. The Tour is Britain’s leading professional cycle race and our nation’s biggest live sporting event.
Full details are at the Tour of Britain website at: http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/ with the stage 3 information being at: http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/therace_stage_pages/therace_stage_3_index.asp (both links will open in a new window).
Previous partipants have included Yorkshireman Jimmy Saville in his pre-DJ days! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Britain)
Lectures, seminars and newsletters
Job Vacancies at the University
Current vacancies at the University can be found at the Personnel website:
http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/personnel/jobvacancies/
The weekly bulletin can also be found as a pdf from the same page.
All queries should be directed to Personnel: ext: 5347, email: personnel@bradford.ac.uk
Staff Briefing home | Specialised Mailing | Corporate Communications home | University of Bradford home
Disclaimer: This page may include links to information provided by external services that are not in any way under the control of the University of Bradford. The University cannot, therefore, be held responsible for its content or accuracy.