Institution Name: Edinburgh Napier University UCISA Award for Excellence Support for Bring Your Own Device Originating Department: Information Services Technical Services Contact Name (and email address): Stephen Bruce (s.bruce@napier.ac.uk) Belinda Merchant (b.merchant@napier.ac.uk) Objective of the Project/Service To provide, across multiple campuses, a blanket-coverage wireless service to support staff, students and visitors using their own mobile devices to securely access a range of dedicated mobile services, and to reduce the reliance on face-to-face and printed help documentation by using a captive portal to ease the connection process. Description of the Project/Service In recognition of the increasing demand for a pervasive wifi service, Information Services made a significant investment into a resilient, secure and scalable network infrastructure throughout the University s three campuses. This coincided with major redevelopment work at two campuses and ensured that all teaching and social spaces had reliable and fast wifi connectivity. Map shows wifi coverage at Sighthill Campus, 1st floor The diverse range of devices brought onto campus presents a challenge for the support staff to keep the wide variety of support materials up to date, and to assist users with the volume of queries. During the start of term, a member of our network infrastructure team noticed a long
queue of students waiting for support to connect their devices to the University s eduroam wifi service. Observing the harassed support technician, he saw a need for an automated wireless help service. A range of tools and information were identified that could be made available from a dedicated open wifi network called Wireless-Help. This captive portal allows the user to download automatic configuration files in order to connect their device to the University s eduroam wifi service. It also provided access to the University password manager and anti-virus toolkit. In the weeks following matriculation and student induction, Information Services provided a range of Device Doctor drop-in sessions. These sessions were designed to complement the automated help by providing face to face assistance for staff and student to enable wifi on their laptops, netbooks, tablets and phones. Once their device was connected, the support technician would then demonstrate the convenience of accessing a wide range of University services. Popular requests included access to email on mobile phones, and the newly launched virtual desktop environment (VDI) that delivers a standard Windows environment from devices running the Android, Apple OS and ios, and Linux operating systems. To access the VDI service, users install a VMware View client application on their device, which ensures that the equivalent computing power of a PC is available from the user s mobile device. The benefits of the VDI include access to applications only available on the University network, access to personal and shared network drives, and a full printing capability. Staff benefit from access to their Outlook email client, and students find the service invaluable at peak academic times such as hand in times when PC labs are full, or if they prefer to work in social areas or from home. Since a fresh desktop is presented each time the user logs in, the VDI can maintain initial performance and reduces the likelihood of potential corruption, viruses and incompatibilities. A mobile app was also promoted and this provides a range of online resources including access to general information such as campus directions and bus times, access to University information such as the Library catalogue and databases, computer availability at all campuses, and authenticated information such as news and announcements, printer credits. The mobile site was developed in-house by the Edinburgh Napier Information Services team using ASP.net and Mobile JQuery. Return on Investment Information Services places great importance on customer feedback and uses this to inform service developments, and as a central driver for the recently revised IS strategy. Staff feedback describes the importance of supporting technology to enhance social spaces and link the campuses, to improve collaborative working. At the ground level IS needs to support the use of technology. Social areas of campuses looking like its welcoming to technology or making technology available Need for social campuses. Easy access to technology. Technology linked campuses Need better Unified Comms for sharing and working collaboratively Relevant student feedback indicates their ownership of multiple devices, the availability of technology in social spaces and the importance of support. social media and collaborative tech would be welcome
I already have a Tablet, a Laptop and smartphone. I use the wireless email on mobile must be available there should be interactive support for if you are working on campus Since October 2013 the wireless-help service has seen nearly 20,000 individual hits. Usage statistics for the period between September 2013 and January 2014 show the popularity of the eduroam wifi, the mobile app and the virtual desktop interface. Connections to the eduroam wifi Graph shows total number of connections per day 300 Mobile app users 250 200 150 100 50 0 September, 1, 2013 September, 5, 2013 September, 9, 2013 September, 13, 2013 September, 17, 2013 September, 21, 2013 September, 25, 2013 September, 29, 2013 October, 3, 2013 October, 7, 2013 October, 11, 2013 October, 15, 2013 October, 19, 2013 October, 23, 2013 October, 27, 2013 October, 31, 2013 November, 4, 2013 November, 8, 2013 November, 12, 2013 November, 16, 2013 November, 20, 2013 November, 24, 2013 November, 28, 2013 December, 2, 2013 December, 6, 2013 December, 10, 2013 December, 14, 2013 December, 18, 2013 December, 22, 2013 December, 26, 2013 December, 30, 2013 January, 3, 2014 January, 7, 2014 January, 11, 2014 January, 15, 2014 Graph shows total number of individual users accessing the site per day
160 140 Virtual Desktop Interface users 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 13/11/2013 15/11/2013 17/11/2013 19/11/2013 21/11/2013 23/11/2013 25/11/2013 27/11/2013 29/11/2013 01/12/2013 03/12/2013 05/12/2013 07/12/2013 09/12/2013 11/12/2013 13/12/2013 15/12/2013 17/12/2013 19/12/2013 21/12/2013 23/12/2013 25/12/2013 27/12/2013 29/12/2013 31/12/2013 02/01/2014 04/01/2014 06/01/2014 08/01/2014 10/01/2014 12/01/2014 14/01/2014 16/01/2014 Graph shows total number of individual users accessing the VDI per day Running over a period of nearly two years, the project was resourced entirely through internal staff resources from feasibility through to planning and installation. The estimated costs for the physical infrastructure purchased were just over 150k and, taking into consideration the full project lifecycle, a staffing resource of just over 2000 hours was used. This takes into consideration the entire range of activities required in order to deliver the project, from project board meetings through to the physical installation of wireless access points. Contribution to the Institution and Excellence Information Services has demonstrated their commitment to meeting the needs of its customers through investment in a service that supports the BYOD culture of a modern university. Information Services receives consistently excellent scores in staff and student surveys, both internal and external to the University and has achieved the government standard Customer Service Excellence award. This project further demonstrates Edinburgh Napier s Information Services commitment to its staff and students through the provision of high quality Information Technology. Edinburgh Napier University has three main campuses, one for each of the three Faculties, and this presents a challenge to deliver an equitable experience for staff and students. Simple and reliable access to technology plays an increasingly important part in the delivery of key services to support this multi-campus environment. The wifi service is now an integral part of the University s network infrastructure and is supported and developed by the dedicated team who also cover network security. The means that ongoing service development considers the impact on both networks types, and keeping them up to date
with the latest technology is a core remit of the team. This initiative has embedded the ease of access to services into the day to day business of the University for both staff and students. The capacity and ease of use of the Edinburgh Napier wireless network service contributes to facilitating the University in achieving its objectives by simply allowing staff and students to access what they need, when they need it with the minimum of fuss. Transference of Best Practice The network and security team proactively monitor trends and emerging technologies to ensure that the wireless infrastructure provided is always ahead of the game. Being an international University the range and type of devices our students bring to connect to the network changes frequently so it is important for the team to share experiences with other institutions to understand and pre-empt their needs. The introduction of online videos to assist staff and students with the settings on their own devices is planned. Other planned developments to the service include improving the service available for visitors from other academic institutions and supporting the use of Social Learning Spaces for collaboration/peer-to-peer networking. Technical Services are always keen to showcase new initiatives within the sector in order to share lessons learned and best practice, for example a recent presentation to the HEIDS (Higher Education Information Directors Scotland) group.