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UNIT-e Technology Day - The Edinburgh Review

Delegates from across Scotland and Northern England gathered at the Microsoft Scottish head quarters at Waverly Gate, Edinburgh in October for Capita Further and Higher Education’s (FHE) annual UNIT-e technical briefing day. The event showcased how UNIT-e is embracing recent advances in Microsoft technology as well as plans for research and future development. The event offered a varied agenda comprising product demonstrations, customer experiences and service presentations. 
audience
The day commenced with a joint presentation on Reporting Services from Microsoft evangelist Andrew Fryer and Rupert Ireland, Capita FHE’s UNIT-e Applications consultant. Andrew Fryer promoted the Microsoft vision and strategy for business intelligence and how Report Services fits within that vision. Rupert presented  working examples of how gauges and other graphical representations can be embedded into SharePoint or Columbus. He also discussed how, when using UNIT-e tooling, these graphics can link with UNIT-e reports and offer drill-through reporting. 
screen shot 1  Another of the day’s highlights was from Walsall College. Julia Goldsmith, Head of Information Strategy, and Jayne Holt, Director of Learning, provided an excellent presentation that focussed on Walsall College’s development, showcasing its recent modernisation alongside Capita FHE’s software.  
Walsall College has recently opened a new, state-of-the-art campus and undertaken extensive refurbishment throughout their estate. In light of this, the college was keen to ensure that its Information Systems met the same high standards. Walsall had implemented UNIT-e on a SQL Server 2008 platform, so with attractive campus agreements , Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007 was the clear choice for unifying systems throughout the institution.

In early summer 2009, the college rolled out a new intranet-based feature on SharePoint which included learner pages presenting personalised UNIT-e information including attendance, punctuality and timetables. The system also offers access to learning resources, the virtual learning environment and personal development plans. Senior Management also has access to a number of drill-through Key Performance Indicator reports that monitor retention, attendance, average class size and other key information.
   
As Information Systems begin to pervade every aspect of the operation of an organisation, an IT infrastructure that is reliable, stable and highly available is critical. Alan Knight from Capita FHE’s Managed Services team provided an overview of available services, including a UNIT-e migration package from an Oracle to SQL Server, as featured in the recent St Mary’s Case Study . Other services include the installation and configuration of SharePoint, Reporting Services and a new service for advice, guidance and implementation of high-availability concepts, such as network load balancing and database clustering.
  The day concluded with talk of research currently being undertaken and plans for 2010. This presentation looked at the rapid advance in technologies and the ways UNIT-e could possibly exploit the opportunities on offer. Steve Cain looked at how a browser-based user experience continues to improve and why emphasis on hosted solutions encourages research into moving Information Interface technology into a  browser.
Mobile technology’s significant shift was also identified, with 3G and Wi-Fi permitting blackberry and iphone to become everyday practical devices.
Andrew Fryer introduced new features that will be available in Excel 2010 and Reporting Services 3, including some very sophisticated dashboard techniques and powerful mapping features.   

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Comments

  • St Mary’s Blackburn

    “An excellently run event. I especially liked the Walsall college presentation and variation of speakers”

  • Glasgow Metropolitan College

    “I enjoyed the Walsall College presentation. It’s good to see what can be done.”