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iSolutions, the University鈥檚 new Web and ICT division came into operation at the beginning of September, replacing ISS and local School IT teams.
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The new name has been chosen to reflect the division鈥檚 role in providing solutions to ICT and Web requirements across the University.
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iSolutions director Ian Tebbett told Noticeboard: 鈥淲e wanted to reflect our work in supporting the whole University 鈥� across learning, teaching, research and enterprise 鈥� but to have included all those words would have made the name too cumbersome.鈥�
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For most people, the name change on 1 September will have been the only visible difference, and an interim management structure has been designed to enable 鈥榖usiness as usual鈥� to continue while transition plans are developed.
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鈥淚t is important for us to fully understand our new portfolio before we made any significant changes,鈥� continues Ian Tebbett. 鈥淎s part of the transition planning we will be working with Schools鈥� IT teams to better understand who does what, and how this might be affected by our technology plans and delivery models.
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鈥淚n the longer-term, whilst we anticipate that teams will remain local to where services are consumed, there will be more sharing, with fewer specific team/School names, allowing access to wider range of specialists in a more generic framework; and we won鈥檛 necessarily have the same arrangement for all Schools.鈥�
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Ian expects to put forward proposals for change in the New Year, with a series of small, frequent changes taking place over a two to three year period, rather than a major change happening all at once. Not all changes will require Council approval, which will be sought where applicable.
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鈥淚鈥檓 highly encouraged by the level of new cross-functional approaches already developing, with people offering to help in other areas,鈥� he continues. 鈥渋Solutions will operate much closer to the core day-to-day activities of the University, engaging with individual researchers, students, and lecturers. It will not be a wholly MSA organisation, with over 10 per cent of our staff being from other staffing groups.
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鈥淭he aim is for the new department to be the 鈥榮olutions partner of choice鈥� for researchers, educators and administrators across the University,鈥� continues Ian. 鈥淪ervice delivery models for basic IT services will change but not all Schools will necessarily change service model at the same time. 听There will be many benefits, not least that under the new system we will know what is happening earlier in the life-cycle of research bids. I believe we will have a closer understanding of what Schools are doing, what their IT needs are, and we will be better placed to recommend the best IT solutions for them.鈥�
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