Overview

Background

New workflows introduced around Active Directory o365 provisioning for applicants caused unexpected and unforeseen support demand at the start of the 13/14 academic year.  When compared to the previous years there was a tenfold increase in support calls where applicant had been informed of a new service, but the service had not yet been provisioned.  It should be pointed out although there may have been a large number of calls reported to is-helpline, at no point were these calls assigned to technology managementand Technology Management should be part of the process going forward. This was not acceptable and so this project will look to address the issues behind the support demand.

Note: The Office 365 Staff project (COM008) is developing an Exchange Provisioner process which we may look to utilise for the purposes of our project deliverables.

Scope

The scope of this project will cover o365 provisioning for applicants in terms of user experience and support.  It will also study the communication process for o365 provisioning in terms of content, timing, sender and support responsibility.

Objectives

• The reduction of support calls back to acceptable levels.
• To spec provisioner against communications to successful applicants
• To subsequently rework the communication flow going to applicants so that all teams understand their responsibilities and it makes sense.
• To build an o365 error detection/investigation system that can notify or be utilised by all support teams.
• To build an o365 Support UI for the Exchange Provisioner.

Deliverables

Priorities have been determined in accordance with MoSCoW method of prioritisation

Must Haves: A revised communication timeline to include:

1. A newly agreed set of texts established between Student Systems and Service Management for the amended email communications.  This text should establish a concise support flow for the applicant.
   • Agreed between Student Systems and Service Management
2. A new activation email sent by Student Systems to UF applicants which will remove the current o365 provisioning information with a new statement about contact and support.
   • Will be completed by  Student Systems Operations - requires co-ordination with item 3
3. An amended Exchange Provisioner workflow so that it will issue an email (to the personal email address) letting applicants know that computing access is now set up and the user should activate their email.
   • Will be completed by IS Software Development team (chargeable)

Shoulds: A newly developed Support UI for the Exchange Provisioner so that:

1. Support Teams can see which accounts have had errors so these can be proactively investigated.
2. Support staff from both USD and Student Systems can check where in the provisioning process an identity is (including whether the account is successfully set up).  
3. Have oversight of the overall status of the account provisioning process. 
4. Enable support staff to check status of existing Exchange email account 

•  Will be completed by IS Software Development team (chargeable)

Note: A formal request for Architecture to upgrade the ADFS servers so they can provide user-comprehensible error messages as documented here under custom error messages will be sent: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn280950.aspx

Benefits

• Students will no longer be directed to o365 (AD) sign in before it have been setup
• A revised communication process where teams are clear on their delegated responsibilities
• It’ll ease the pressure on support teams.

• Support UI for the email Provisioner will give visibility about how the provisioner is performing and details of the status of individual accounts to different support teams.

Success Criteria

• There should be a tenfold drop in o365 (AD) provisioning support calls
• The Support UI for the email provisioner will make any remaining support calls a more directed process for support teams.
• The applicant experience will be enhanced as they won’t experience systems failure.

Project plan at  https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/project/smi005/plans/smi005-plan-v01

3PT estimate at https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/project/smi005/estimation