Case study
Remote teaching for a university's students, rolled out in a pandemic
When COVID-19 stopped face-to-face teaching, Interfuze project managed the Australian National University's rollout of virtual desktops to around 20,000 students, managing 900 hours of work remotely over six weeks with a team from seven companies.
Outcomes
- 20,000 students given virtual desktops for remote study
- 6 weeks to deliver 900 hours of project work, managed remotely from Perth
- 7 companies in one project team across Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Perth
The challenge
The Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra, is a world-leading university. When COVID-19 stopped it delivering face-to-face courses, ANU moved quickly to work with providers on a virtual solution.
It needed a technical capability, stood up fast, so courses could continue to reach students remotely. Interfuze was engaged through Diamond Cyber (CyberCX) to project manage the rollout of remote teaching: a new virtual desktop infrastructure as a service (AUCloud's VDIaaS) for around 20,000 ANU students.
The project team, more than 10 to 15 people from 7 companies, was spread across Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Perth, and Interfuze managed it remotely from Perth.
Our approach
We mobilised for remote delivery with Microsoft collaboration tools and daily run sheets with set outcomes and check-ins. The project ran as five delivery streams in parallel, with direct lines between the team and the project manager to find and clear implementation blockers quickly.
Requirements were gathered remotely with Office 365 Forms from over 70 stakeholders across faculties and locations. We worked closely and often with the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer and Information Technology for a smooth transition, and early adopters tested the service so it could roll out in increments, managing resource demand and concurrency.
We managed the university-wide rollout and communications plan, including every stakeholder and student communication: online, the intranet, email broadcasts, Facebook, on-campus message boards, faculty offices, student inductions and the Vice-Chancellor's COVID-19 updates.
Alongside the rollout, we ran requirements gathering, scoping and planning for an on-premise solution to further support remote learning and teaching, and managed the design and implementation of a bespoke Linux VDI for the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The outcome
With CyberCX and AUCloud, we managed the rollout of the AUCloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure, and a requirements and design stream for an on-premise solution.
The 900 hours of work, managed remotely over six weeks, helped tens of thousands of ANU students study effectively and productively in remote settings. It took careful orchestration of tight timeframes, clear outcomes and new virtual relationships across several organisations.
“Thanks for all the hard work. This is a game-changer for us, both for the current crisis but also for the future.”