Update: Integrated Video Project Schedule
There’s been a slight delay in the procurement phase of this project. Despite this, I’m pleased to announce that the Invitation-to-Tender has been issued on Public Contracts Scotland, where we’re awaiting responses from vendors. Importantly, this delay does not affect our target launch of June 2024. We’ll still be running an early adopter programme throughout Semester 2 (23/24). To keep everyone informed, I thought it appropriate to share an updated schedule.
The Integrated Video Project aims to:
1. Reassess our institutional requirements for a video service in response to the significant changes in practice and facilities following the Covid Pandemic.
2. Initiate a new procurement process to secure the best possible video platform. This platform will support our varied needs, including the production of rich video content for learning, lecture capture, and the centralised management and publication of this content.
3. Design and implement a user-friendly, well-supported, and sustainable video service that offers clear workflows.
Procurement
The original project announcement estimated the procurement completion by the end of August. Due to a temporary staff shortage in the Procurement team, we fell behind this target. However, We now have the fabulous Holly Thompson, who has worked tirelessly since joining the university recently to help us get the procurement documentation out of the door. Our revised estimated completion date for the procurement process is now set for 16/10/2024.
Here’s the full schedule for anyone interested:
| Milestone | Anticipated Date |
| Issue of Invitation to Tender Document | Friday 21 July 2023 |
| Deadline for submission of tenders | 12 Noon on Wednesday 23 August 2023 |
| Evaluation of Submissions – Stage 1 (Selection Criteria) | Wednesday 23 August – Monday 28 August 2023 |
| Evaluation of Submissions – Stage 2 (Award Criteria) | Monday 28 August 2023 – 20 September 2023 |
| Evaluation of Tenders Completed | Wednesday 27 September 2023 |
| Notify Tenderers of decision and intention to award | Friday 06 October 2023 |
| Conclusion of Contract and Award Process | W/C 16 October 2023 |
Project Schedule
As i said the new procurement schedule does not alter the overall project timetable, and we will still be spending the time between now and June 2024 designing and implementing the overall video service, including an early-adopter scheme and comprehensive user onboarding programme.
Here’s a revised schedule for the overall project:
| Activity | Dates |
| Service Design 1 Requirements gathering (interviews, market research, review existing practice and lessons learned) | 06/03/2023 – 21/07/2023 |
| Procurement Process Open process published through Public Contracts Scotland | 21/07/2023 – 16/10/2023 |
| Service Design 2 Initial design of user workflows and early drafts of documentation & guides. This process will be reaching out to those who signed up to the stakeholder engagement list and specific schools, departments and user groups as required. | 01/08/2023 – 22/12/2023 |
| Implementation 1 System that wins procurement process will be implemented and tested in the background, ready for early adopter use in Sem 2 (23/24) | 16/10/2023 – 22/12/2023 |
| Early Adopters Programme Launch Advertising, sign-up and training of volunteers to use the new service in Sem 2 (23/24). (this will help us test the system, improve workflows, and design onboarding) | 13/11/2023 – 22/12/2023 |
| Sem 2 (23/24): Early Adopters & Implementation 2 Feedback from early adopters will be used to gain experience, test the systems and prepare the final service launch. This period will also be used to start transferring existing content to new platform if required. | 08/01/2024 – 31/05/2024 |
| Onboarding Programme Begins Training and user guides will begin to be available in advance of the full launch of the service. | 01/04/2024 |
| Full Launch of Service New service will be fully released and any old services will be retired. We have planned a June launch to minimise the impact of the change on learning & teaching, while maximising the period available for onboarding. Note that ongoing teaching in the summer will be prioritised for training. | 03/06/2024 |
Please note, we are specifically designing the new service to minimise the impact of change on the learning and teaching community. For example, we do not intend to change the lecture capture workflow radically. The goal is to build upon and improve existing workflows for users to ensure ease-of-use, efficiency, and stability.
What’s Next
The project team, including myself, are squeezing-in annual leave at various times throughout the summer. However, planning work continues in the background as the procurement process follows its course. I’ll post an update once we have awarded a contract and have identified the platform that will underpin our video service in the future.
Please feel free to direct any questions to me via email or through Teams. I’ll be on leave until the 14th August, as I try to keep my children entertained during their school holidays. For now, I hope you’re all managing to find time for your own breaks and are otherwise enjoying a pleasant summer.