Closure Report

Project Summary

At present the University is utilising an events management application known as the Talks Seminar site.  As this is a much older version of the open source software currently available, the Project Sponsor and Senior User wished to update this application that would allow the University to better fulfil a growing need to publish seminars and events to both current and prospective students. There was also a desire to have the new platform fully integrated within the UWP portfolio.

The project was limited to replacing the current Talks Seminar site only and its scope was:

• Review use of Oxford's open-source Talks platform and focus on integration with University website/ EdWeb to allow improved promotion for University wide events.
• Use he University's EdGEL design framework to define the design and look and feel to bring the Talks seminar site in line with other University platforms. 
• Event administration and the adding of new events to be secure and EASE protected. 

Analysis of Resource Usage:

Staff Usage Estimate:  128 days

Staff Usage Actual: 38.5 days

Outcome

As part of the analysis stage, technical evaluation of the Talks@Oxford software was carried out. The evaluation concluded that the software is not fit for purpose as is and will require a significant amount of unavoidable development, as well as the acceptance of a large amount of technical debt. This technical debt has consequences for the ongoing support of the application, and for all future development of the application. Recreating the application using our own Django foundations should be seriously considered as an option in order to create an application with a smaller support burden and better able to support future enhancements.

In light of the above findings, it was decided to stop the project at this stage because of likely increased effort and costs.  Any decision on the future of current seminars site will have to be taken in conjunction with the broader Events strategy being developed.

Explanation for variance

The project was halted and is now being withdrawn, hence the effort expended is less than the original estimate.

Key Learning Points

Requirements gathering and technical options/evaluation should be carried out before the  technical solution/software are decided, to ensure it satisfies business requirements and is technically fit for purpose.

Outstanding Issues

None