The Software Deployment Annual Cycle is a draft proposal to normalise our working year.  Allowing us to engage with staff at set points during the year, so that we can ensure that software is kept up to date and is fit for purpose.
There are five distinct stages to the Annual Cycle, as follows:
Discussion and budgeting
This is where we meet with course leaders and heads of department to ensure that we are meeting your requirements. 
If additional software is required, budget needs to be identified and business cases prepared.
First stage tests
We encourage as many people as possible to engage in software testing.
Ideally we’d like students to test the latest software, to ensure that it’s free from obvious software bugs and meets their learning needs.
Software upgrades
This is the part of the year that we deploy software upgrades across the campus.
Wipe and re-install  
We wipe each computer on campus at least once per year, and completely re-install all software.
Our aim is to minimise errors and ensure that all computers on campus work from an identical software base.

 

Task January February March April May June July  August September October November December
Discussion and budgeting                        
First stage tests                        
Software Upgrades                        
Wipe and reinstall                        
Maintenance