Report for November 2018

Report Date

November 2018

Achievements this period

Technical issues with Funnelback search engine have not been overcome and the use of Funnelback has been reviewed and removed from the solution.

Whilst this is a significant change to the overall technical solution, alternative products  have been substituted to achieve the desired search functionality.

With the data challenges with Pure profiles and the inconsistencies across Schools EdWeb profiles,  the search results currently returned are profiles showing academic areas of expertise rather than Pd.D specifics.  Search results are an overestimated guess of academics that may or may not be willing to supervise.  These results are not be suitable for a prospective student journey.  Until there is a fit for purpose staff database there is no appetite to deploy the search tool in production at this time.

A revised design and proof on concept (POC) using the alternative products has been built.  This PoC is to be used purely as a demonstrator by the sponsor to influence and support driving data quality and consistency in Pure data profiles.

To deploy the demonstrator a new front end design and build are required.  Dev Services have been consulted and a revised set of requirements will be submitted in due course.

SEP are in the process of building a project to that will consider some aspects of these challenges and this is expected to feed into the overall goals of Student Recruitment.   In terms of search capability SEP will potentially take the POC to the next level in terms of developing the solution further. This would require a project to complete the necessary tasks.

A PICCL has been raised to reflect the scope and milestone changes.

Issues

• None

Next steps

• Provide requirements to support revised front end design
• Request necessary resources to complete the design and deployment of the POC

Milestones

Target Date	Previous Date	Title	Stage	Complete
31-Aug-2017	30-Jun-2017	End of Planning	Plan	Yes
05-Feb-2018	No date available	Unsuspend project and Kick off the development work	Execute	No
11-May-2018	23-Mar-2018	End of Planning (re-plan following suspension)	Plan	Yes
25-May-2018	No date available	System Design - Research PURE API	Design	Yes
19-Jun-2018	No date available	Build Complete	Build	Yes
31-Oct-2018	No date available	Deployment	Deliver	Yes
25-Jan-2019	No date available	Design	Design	No
08-Feb-2019	No date available	Build	Build	No
28-Feb-2019	No date available	Project Closure	Close	No
External Milestones
21-Dec-2018	21-Dec-2017	Guidance policy for use of "Willingness to take Ph.D. students" and "Ph.D. research projects available"
21-Dec-2018	11-May-2017	Guidance policy for use and tagging of keywords to support PGR search