CSD Staff and Research Postgraduate Survey
Summer 2005

All staff and research postgraduate students were emailed on Wednesday 13^th July and asked to complete an online web-based survey on CSD services by Friday 5^th August. Those who submitted their responses by Monday 25^th July were entered into a prize draw and from these 3 winners have been randomly selected, who will each receive a cheque for £25. 1093 responses were received, which is 14.4% of the total 7607 staff and research postgraduates emailed.

The survey questions focused on Helpdesk services, CSD training courses, TULIP, personal computer ownership, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) ownership, awareness of the Windows Terminal Service (WTS) and mynetfiles utility (accessing M: drives via a web browser) and how services should be developed in the future.

Overall, the staff and research postgraduate responses are very positive about CSD services. Key findings include:

• Asked for their overall impression, 93.7% were satisfied with the computing and information technology services provided by CSD.
• 89.3% had used CSD Helpdesk services.
• Contacting the Helpdesk by email was the most frequently used method, closely followed by telephone, then visiting the Brownlow Hill Building Helpdesk. Significantly fewer reported visiting either of the Harold Cohen and Sydney Jones Libraries CSD Helpdesks.
• 87.9% have access to more than one computer at home.
• XP is by far the most heavily used operating system for home use (559 users), followed by Windows 2000 (134 users) and then the older consumer Microsoft Operating Systems ME,98,95 (139 users). Much less used are Linux (27 users), Apple Macs (22 users) and Windows NT (16 users).
• 48.8% connect to the Internet from home via broadband and 26.8% connect via dialup.
• 49% own laptop computers.
• 13.4% own PDAs. The most popular models are IPAQs running Windows CE (HP, Dell and Sony) and Palms. There are still a number of Psion users. A small number of users are now using smart phones for PDA functionality. Only just under 50% of PDA owners connect them to the Internet; the most frequently used method is wireless, followed by Bluetooth. PDAs are most extensively used for diary functionality, followed by maintaining contact lists, task lists and accessing email.
• 39% had heard of WTS and, of those, 11.6% had used and 62.3% were satisfied with the service.
• 29.2% had heard of mynetfiles.liv.ac.uk and, of those, 31.1% had used and 44% were satisfied with the service.
  Although staff and research postgraduates seem to be more aware of WTS and mynetfiles than the undergraduates and taught postgraduates, these figures indicate that we need to do more to make users aware of these services and the benefits they offer.
• 61.9% of staff have used TULIP.
  Asked to rate the usefulness of a number of facilities in TULIP, the ranking (in descending order) is:
• Undergraduate Student Enquiries
• Telephone Directory Enquiries
• Staff Enquiries
• Personal Details
• Postgraduate Student Workflow
• Accessing University Reports
• Recording Personal Research Activities
• University Events

Other facilities in TULIP reported to be useful include:

• Head of Department activities
• Module catalog specification/VITAL module, course/module lists requests
• Salary details
• Locating staff with particular expertise
• Research grant information

Suggestions for new facilities to build into TULIP include:

• Programme, as well as module, specifications
• Research portal
• Recording supervisory meetings with PhD students
• Endnote integration to portfolio of activity
• Annual programme monitoring/new reports templates proposals
• Grant management
• Support for recording non academic CVs for appraisals
• Recording research activities rather than just publications
• CV production facility
• Staff post appraisal process
• Online timetabling
• Access to more personal information, e.g. contract details
• A staff noticeboard
• Asked if there is an item of software, not currently provided on the Managed Windows Service, which would be of use, Adobe Photoshop scored by far the most votes. Other items which recorded more than a couple of votes each include Firefox, Graphpad Prism, Quark Express and more Adobe products in general.
• Asked if there are any other services that CSD should provide, suggestions included:
• Student laptop rental scheme
• PCs for Research Postgraduates
• More site licenced software for Research Postgraduates to use and staff to use at home.
• More Linux support and dual boot Teaching Centre PCs
• More Mac support
• Crossfire client on the WTS
• New staff induction sessions in their offices, rather than having to visit the Helpdesk
• More visits by CSD support staff to staff PCs, rather than staff having to visit the Helpdesk
• Helpdesk to be opened longer hours and an out of hours telephone contact number
• More training to departments, specific to their particular needs
• Departmental support staff
• Reducing the level of spam and popups getting through and the ability to block individual email addresses
• Alumni email addresses
• Recommended mobile device
• More M: drive allocation
• Shared resource space
• CRM system
• LIMS system
• 78.8% are aware that CSD run a number of training courses. Of those 49.5% had attended one or more training sessions and 85.3% considered them to be useful. Asked if there were any training courses, currently not provided, which would be useful, training in the use of the bibliographic software Endnote and Reference Manager scored by far the most votes (the Library are in the process of developing course material to offer training in this area in Spring 2006). Other items which scored more than a couple of votes include Nvivo and more advanced training than currently offered on topics such as databases, graphics, image handling, Excel, SPSS and Business Objects.
• Asked which of a number of improvements to CSD services would be of most interest, the ranking (in descending order) is:

o Email Archiving facilities

o More Mail Folder Space

o More Managed Network Filestore

o PC/Laptop backup service

o Improved facilities for sharing documents and collaborative working

o Ability to pay for print quota online using credit or debit card

o Better support for laptops

o Ability to submit print requests from off campus

o More ROAMNET

o More Teaching Centre PCs for students to use

o Extended Helpdesk opening hours

o Better support for PDAs

o Extended Teaching Centre opening hours

Sue Byrne

Head of User Services

Computing Services Department

25^th August 2005