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IT Services

Change 'Freeze' Timetable

The table below outlines the various event driven IT change freeze periods throughout the year. A freeze on changes to the IT environment is imposed during critical events to minimise the risk of system failures and downtime impacting critical and high profile events.

Period of Year Freeze Period Name Freeze Type Services Frozen
January
4th - 19th  2024
Examination Period Targeted Freeze QMPlus, Authentication services (IDCheck, Shibboleth), Managed Student Desktop Service.
January
12th - 19th 2024
Winter Enrolment Targeted Freeze SITS, MySIS, Agresso, ID Card Systems, Kinetics, Web delivery systems, underlying infrastructure.
May
29th April - 31st May 2024
Examination Period Targeted Freeze QMPlus, Authentication services, Managed Student Desktop Service.
August
2023 Dates:
1st - 12th
Late Summer Resit (LSR) exams Targeted Freeze QMPlus, Authentication services (IDCheck, Shibboleth), Managed Student Desktop Service.
August
2023 Dates:
7th - 25th
Clearing Soft (Targeted) Freeze:
7 - 10th August

Hard Freeze:
11 - 22nd August

Soft Freeze:
23 - 25th August

Targeted Freeze: Systems critical to the clearing process i.e SITS, MySIS, telephony, network shares, underlying infrastructure.
Hard Freeze:
All IT Systems
September
2023 Dates:
11th  - 29th
Main Enrolment Targeted Freeze SITS, MySIS, Agresso, ID Card Systems, Kinetics, Web delivery systems, underlying infrastructure.

Note: The timetable will be aligned to the calendar published on the ARCS website regarding QMUL specific annual events and periods.

Exclusions: Pre-approved, standard, low risk changes are excluded from change freezes.

Glossary

Targeted or Soft freeze: Some services are more critical during certain periods such as clearing or enrolment, where the impact of a service interruption due to a change would be greater. A targeted freeze period will apply to such critical services.

Hard freeze: During a Hard freeze, no non-standard changes will be implemented to ANY IT service. 

Change Freeze Exception Process: If it is essential for a change to be made during a freeze, it will need to follow the Change Freeze Exception Process which requires assessment of the risk of delaying the implementation and Assistant Director approval.

Change Schedule: To check dates specific to a particular year please refer to the shared calendar in MS Outlook/Office 365 (from your Outlook calendar > click on Open Calendar (under the Home tab) >  click on From Address Book... > search for ‘[Shared] ITS Change Schedule’).

 

 

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