How a pilot works 

A pilot involves an investment of time and effort from faculty teams and innovation team members. ICT Digital Education Innovation team will support the use of pilot software and any related configurations.  

What this policy relates to 

  • Software that is currently being piloted and that is not an ICT production service.  
  • Testing conducting and feedback provided by Faculty teams on pilot.  

What this policy does not relate to 

Currently supported products or services that do not use a pilot software. E.g. products listed on the Digital Education Platforms webpages.  

When this policy takes affect 

A request is made to the Digital Education Innovation team by a digital tools sub-group to find a solution for a specific use-case that current production services do not solve.

ICT will endeavour to 

  • Liaise with vendor concerning licencing for pilot. 
  • Organise software deployment or hosting where appropriate. 
  • Engage with vendor to provide support (where possible). 
  • Provide support within agreed parameters for the pilot.  

What ICT do not provide 

  • Guarantee that pilot software will work as advertised or expected. 
  • Setup or configuration where the product has the functionality to allow self-service. 
  • Facilitation of live teaching and learning events, such as exam invigilation.  

Consideration should be made: 

  • Timeline and resource notification required. 
  • Where appropriate, an existing contingency plan must be in place from faculty, in the event of an unsatisfactory results from the pilot. 
  • There are no production services currently in place to serve the use case facilitated by the pilot. 
  • Products used are undertaking a pilot review and should not be considered 100% reliable.  
  • There is an expectation of feedback and evaluation from departmental colleagues as part of the pilot process. 

Considerations for specific pilots