Service catalogue

Our Service Catalogue is a list of services provided by IT Services to members of the University of Sussex and certain categories of visitors.

Each service within the catalogue typically includes a brief description of the service and how to access it, who is entitled to use/request the service, details of availability and service maintenance, and links to further information. This is intended to help improve knowledge within the University of the range of services we currently provide and to help users get more out of them. The range of services offered is reviewed annually with the University IT Consultative Group.

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Management Information

Service ID

22

Summary

Supports the provision of management information derived from the business support applications.

Permitted users

Any member of University staff authorised by the owners of the data contained in the requested reports.

Gaining access

Managers notify IT Services through the normal support procedure.

New staff are given access based upon the level requested at the time of this notification.

Hours of operation

This service is accessible 24 hours a day.

Supported period

Normal working days.

Scheduled maintenance

IBM Cognos give no notice or schedule in advance of releasing upgrades. Necessary upgrades will be applied when most appropriate, in order to minimise disruption.

Change control

Changes to reports are handled through the CIS Management Information change request system (Request Tracker).

ITS Responsibilities

  1. To ensure system availability.
  2. To build and maintain the Data Warehouse.
  3. To create/maintain Users, User Groups and Access.
  4. To maintain the security of both the Web reports and Cognos 10 reports and the data within them.
  5. To author reports for specified topic areas; to quality check reports submitted by report authors within topic areas provided with a report author.
  6. To carry out customisation of the web interface.
  7. To maintain good performance of the reports.
  8. To  offer advice/training on the use of the system, and process help calls
  9. To publish reports to Web Reports and Cognos 10.
  10. To maintain Impromptu Catalogs (reporting metadata structure) and Cognos Framework Manager models for all topic areas.
  11. Help Impromptu/Query Studio users with enquiries.
  12. To ensure that Impromptu/Cognos 10 installations match licensing agreement with IBM.

Service user responsibilities

  1. To use service responsibly in accordance with the security of the system and data provided.
  2. To handle data responsibly in accordance with the University’s stated codes of practice for data handling and data protection.

Service dependencies

Data Network (#1); Managed Filestore (#2).

Detailed service description

The service provides management information through the use of IBM Cognos BI tools. Operational reporting and some statistical reporting on the Business Systems data are provided where this is not available through the specific application. Access to these reports is provided through the web interfaces which are an integral part of the IBM Cognos BI tools.

The ability to author ad-hoc reports is provided to specified users through the use of the client tool, Impromptu. The number of copies of Impromptu available is governed by the licensing agreement between the University and IBM.There is license agreement between IBM Cognos and the University via IT Services Procurement .

Links to ITS documentation

Definitions

Normal working days
These are defined for all ITS services as Monday – Friday inclusive, but excluding Bank Holidays and University Minimum Service Days.
Scheduled Maintenance
IT username and password
These are the login credentials, issued by IT Services to registered students and current staff of the University of Sussex, enabling access to email, workstations and other services requiring authentication.

New and changed services

Information about changes to services including any scheduled maintenance, are posted on the IT Services website and distributed by the IT Services Facebook, Twitter and RSS feed. Current service status traffic light information is also displayed on the IT Services website.

If the service you are enquiring about is not described below, please get in touch.

User responsibilities

All service users are expected to abide by the rules and regulations described in Regulations for the use of Information and Communication Technology and to report faults, as they arise, to IT Services.

Updated on 17 October 2013