email: sales@opusflow.co.uk
Opusflow helps University of Wolverhampton Deliver New Print Fleet Implementation to reduce print costs and improve services
Summary
The University of Wolverhampton were working to carry out a £1.8 million redeployment of their entire print fleet for staff and students and needed to deliver this within a short timescale. Collaboration and co-ordination between a number of departments and suppliers was required in order to deliver a successful outcome. A critical review of the original project specification resulted in the introduction of phases which allowed the team to meet the critical timescales.
Benefits
Following the successful implementation of the first phase the University were able to
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Achieve 20% reduction in print copy costs and improved quality of outputs.
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Introduce new scanning services for students and staff
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Make use of significantly Improved management reporting
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Introduced new processes to top up print credits.
Background
The University’s print fleet had reached end of life and was no longer providing value for money. As these machines provided critical services to both staff and students and were consistently under heavy loads the installation needed to take place during a period of relative quiet in the Academic year. The team had initially struggled to meet deadlines and co-ordinate the application of resources across the departments which had an interest in the work.
As the project was campus wide, the number of stakeholders that needed to engage with the work was extremely varied, this led to difficulties in sharing information, and resulted in activity being very reactive rather than planned. Teams were being called on to provide resource at short notice and were unable to commit thus increasing the timescales for the work.
Primary Challenges
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The planned introduction of a new print ticketing system significantly increased the scope of the testing required for the project and had the potential to result in project failure.
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Introducing a new print credit top up process required the introduction of a card payment pathway and deeper integration with the University financial system.
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The original IT architecture was ageing and on a separate timeline for renewal, this significantly expanded the scope of the risk management and testing regimens.
Project Delivery
Following a pause in the original project timescales, Opusflow were asked to support the re-start of the project and take the work to the implementation stage. Working together the team were able to rapidly outline the critical tasks, resource requirements, priorities and dependencies and from this develop a robust plan.
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The introduction of collaborative project management tools and an openly shared plan meant that those involved were clear about their responsibilities and the timeframes for delivery. Regular short focused project update discussions helped to keep activity on track and the regular publication of up and coming activity reports meant that team members were more able to plan their schedule for the week ahead.
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As a result stakeholders were able to understand the impact of the streams of work within the project and re-prioritise to ensure they met the most critical needs of the organisation. An evaluation of the risks involved with introducing some new tools allowed the project board to agree a phased approach which ensured delivery of the business critical elements to the originally agreed timescales.
How we can help
If your organisation is stuggling with or just beginning the commissioning process for the implementation of a new IT system, we can provide the practical project management you need. Each of our team members has at least 15 years experience in delivering information and IT projects. This means that not only can we deliver on time but we can support you in developing innovative solutions to the problems you may encounter during the delivery process.
