Why?

Our current IT setup isn't working

We currently have a messy mixed model -

You unpack your LUU-bought laptop from your bag then login to your university @leeds.ac.uk account.
Then perhaps share a file via Google - logging in with your @luu.org.uk account or are you one of the 15% of staff in our 2023 survey who use the @leeds.ac.uk OneDrive?
You check your email and schedule a meeting on @leeds.ac.uk Outlook.
However, you need to ring a colleague and use LUU-provided 3CX, but the signal drops out so you message them on teams.
Or did they prefer Google Chat?

This creates problems for everyone

You need multiple logins and as accounts have to be setup on both Microsoft and Google, this delays colleagues starting or resolving issues and duplicates effort across both organisations. LUU Digital Services spends time chasing down requests and historically, to avoid duplication, student staff didn't have an LUU digital identity creating challenges communicating with them and supporting their working relationship with LUU.
How University of Leeds IT need to manage IT for the 40,000 students and 10,000 staff is very different as to how LUU needs to manage IT for its 150 permanent staff and 250 student staff. As part of their cybersecurity improvements, student identities (Microsoft accounts) are connected to the student record system, staff are connected to SAP, their HR system - having LUU as an 'auxillary' organisation is incompatible with their future approach.
As per the 'story version' used in the investment proposal to get the funding for the migration and Littlefish support (below), LUU IT being a small part of a giant machine means that developments that could improve how we work often aren't done as our 'bigger neighbour' has more urgent priorities.

We want to make it better

Delivering this change to your workspace will inevitably cause some disruption and require adaptation from everyone but we will gain in the long run from a simplified workspace that will make working at LUU easier and simpler. There are many tools that the university cannot use at its size but we will be able to experiment to see if they improve how we work - from project management tools to CoPilot artificial integllience (AI) helpers.

Why change?

LUU's main organisational strategy is delivered through the help of the Digital and Data supporting strategy. Within that there is an IT resilience programme that considers how LUU operations across the whole organisation are supported for their core IT needs.

As per the introduction above, the current 'messy mixed model' cannot sustainably provide resilient IT operations and so we need to change.

Why this approach?

This approach was developed with the University of Leeds Chief Information Officer (CIO) working closely with LUU's Director of Digital and Data, Jasper Hegarty-Ditton.

It meets the university's identity management needs, allows LUU's IT to be run more effectively in the future, and importantly provides a platform for further transformation.

Why not 100% Google?

We began scoping the transformation with a completely open mind. We know staff find many of the Google tools very easy to use so explored whether it would be possible to change to 100% Google. This is not feasible for the following reasons:

We would have to switch to using Chromebooks about which we have received consistently negative feedback when it is a staff member's primary device (instead of Windows PCs)
Many responses to our surveys rated Word and Excel above Docs and Sheets, and some teams would struggle to do their work in only Sheets.
Whilst we have switched many software platforms to web-based solutions, there are some teams who require Windows-based software.
We intend to remove 3CX and use Teams Voice alongside Teams chat for an integrated solution. Whilst Google does have a product (Google Voice) this is not as well established or supported in the UK as Teams Voice and many features are US focussed.

Before the pandemic, there were aspects of Google tools that were ahead of Microsoft - Google Meet was a better product than Teams in 2020, and sharing Microsoft documents required emailing them. Microsoft have now equalled or surpassed the Google tools in many areas - for example, now users can work on an Excel document on their laptop whilst another colleague edits it online.

Or 100% University Microsoft?

The university has invested a lot of time and resources into its IT and cybersecurity strategy centred around the needs of students and staff. As an 'auxiliary' organisation, LUU are supported with temporary services, however, it is not within their strategy to develop a support model around LUU, so this is not a feasible option to improve how we work.

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