1. Membership

Members of the group are shown on the Committee members page.

2. Meetings

The Group meets three times a year, in January (2-day planning meeting), May and October.

3. Plans 2012-14

3.1 UCISA-SSG/SDG Support Services Conference 2012 & 2014

The Group will continue to jointly host a biennial Conference in conjunction with the Support Services Group. This is usually scheduled for July and it is the aim of the Group to move the event around the UK to try to balance the travelling distances required for regular participants. The next conference will take place 10-12 July 2012 at Crewe Hall Hotel.  The theme is managing expectations.

3.2 Advisory and IT Support Staff Symposium 2013

The Distributed IT Support Staff Sub-group of UCISA-SDG will continue to jointly host a biennial Symposium in conjunction with the Service Desk Group. The event is normally held in July and the next symposium is scheduled for July 2013. It is the aim of the Group to move the event around the UK to try to balance the travelling distances required for regular participants.  The venue for the 2013 event will be determined during 2012.

3.3 Group activities

The Group will organise its work around the following activities.  As we have two new members, the roles of members will be reviewed at the next group meeting in May 2012.

3.4 Staff development activities

The group will:

• Work with, or identify, providers of appropriate training & staff development
• Provide information on appropriate staff development opportunities (e.g. by paying heed to the UCISA Top Concerns survey)
• Identify gaps in IT staff development and training
• Share good practice in IT staff development

We expect that UCISA-SDG will run some training courses as needs demand.

3.5 The UCISA-SDG Annual Award

UCISA-SDG will present an annual Best Practice Award based on a topical issue.  To ensure that the successful department is recognised and feels suitably rewarded for their success:

• UCISA will prepare a press release for use by the institution’s marketing/external relations department and will advise the Vice-Chancellor of the institution of the award
• UCISA will prepare a framed certificate for presentation to the successful institution at an appropriate event
• The successful institution will be offered the opportunity to present at a relevant UCISA conference or event

3.6 Liaison activities

The SDG has formal links to the Leadership Foundation, JANET & Netskills by having representatives of those organisations as members of the group.  The SDG will seek opportunities for liaison with other organisations involved in staff development as appropriate.

4. Finances

4.1 General policy

It is UCISA financial policy that its sub-groups will be, overall, self-financing for all their events in the planning period. UCISA-SDG will adhere to this policy, whilst recognising that losses and gains may arise on individual events.

Compliance is ensured by the procedure of projected income and expenditure accounts for each event being submitted to the UCISA Treasurer for approval. Budgets and draft accounts for each event are discussed at formal meetings of the UCISA-SDG committee. Final accounts after each event are reported to the committee for monitoring.

All events are organised in accordance with UCISA Financial Regulations and Workshop/Event Guidelines agreed by the UCISA Executive.

4.2 Income and expenditure

4.2.1. Support Services Conference 2012

The Conference is expected to have a total budget of approximately £50,000 balanced by a similar amount of income from delegate fees. It is expected that there will be a small surplus.

4.2.2. Advisory & IT Support Staff Symposium 2013

The Symposium is expected to have a total budget of approximately £35,000 balanced by a similar amount of income from delegate fees. It is expected that there will be a small surplus.

4.2.3. IT training courses

We expect to run a number of training courses.  It is normal for expenditure for these to be balanced by income from delegate fees.

4.2.4. Committee costs

Significant costs do not normally arise in respect of UCISA-SDG committee meetings, as hosting venues normally charge no or nominal fees, members provide their time voluntarily and normally travel and accommodation costs are covered by the members' employing institutions. In exceptional cases costs will be paid where the lack of such payment would seriously inhibit participation or where such payment is covered by general UCISA policy.  An exception is the annual business-planning meeting where committee members would be expected to stay overnight in a specified venue and costs of accommodation and dinner would be covered by UCISA.

4.2.5. Administration

General administrative support is provided by UCISA and is not costed explicitly in this plan. Administrative support for specific purposes such as conferences and workshops is included in the costing for each event through a per user levy.

4.2.6. Case studies

The SDG budget will include funding for a call for case studies which could be used at a UCISA event and published on the SDG web site.

5. Risk

The maximum financial risk incurred is limited to the up-front financing of an event that might not realise the projected income or cancellation charges for an event that does not run. The largest such event is the biennial conference that has a budget of approximately £50,000. Of this, approximately £45,000 is related to costs for rooms and catering at the venue and so could be potentially lost if the event was cancelled at very short notice.