A message from PJ Hemmaway, Director of IT
As you are undoubtedly aware, a number of IT issues, especially during October, have resulted in you experiencing problems using services such as Wi-Fi, My Manchester, Blackboard, Library resources, printers and many others.
We know that this has caused disruption to your lectures, your learning, and for our postgraduate researchers, your research. As Director of IT, I would firstly like to apologise for this ongoing disruption and acknowledge the impact this is having on your studies.
I also want to explain these recent issues and to let you know how we communicate about IT incidents, to help you to stay informed.
Recent IT incidents – what has happened?
We have been seeing errors with equipment in our data centres and have been working with our vendor to resolve them. During this time, we have had to make several changes to work towards fixing these issues and, because these changes affect key equipment in our data centres, most of our IT services have been temporarily disrupted as a result. Normally we would communicate disruptive changes with as much notice as possible, however the nature of the work has meant that we have had to carry it out quickly to reduce the risk of the problems getting worse.
I’m sorry to say that the over-riding issues are not yet fully resolved, and there will need to be some planned network downtime once we have identified a lasting fix with our vendor. Until then our systems remain stable and as ever we are monitoring them very closely.
Keeping you informed
When any disruptive work is known and scheduled, we aim to communicate this two weeks in advance, unless the situation is more urgent. Announcements about major University-wide work are posted on Student News and included in the weekly student newsletter, posted on the IT Services website, and on the IT Services Twitter account.
Depending on the level of impact, there may also be local communications sent to contacts in specific University buildings for cascade, emails direct to residents in Halls, or updates shared on local (faculty or school based) news channels.
We’d recommend you follow us on Twitter or keep an eye on Student News for the latest updates.
When there’s an unexpected major IT incident, we communicate this as quickly as we can through the IT Services Twitter account, IT Services website, and Student News. If you notice an IT issue, we advise you to check Twitter or the IT Services website, and if there is no announcement, then contact the IT Support Centre directly; preferably via the 24/7 phone line on 0161 306 5544, to report it.
I’m truly sorry for the disruption and frustration that I know the recent issues have caused. Both I, and my wider IT Services colleagues will continue to work hard on addressing these problems until they are completely resolved.
Finally, I’m always happy to hear from you, so if you have any comments or feedback, please do contact me at: pj.hemmaway@manchester.ac.uk.
Thank you for your patience, and best wishes.
PJ Hemmaway
Director of IT
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