Technical Requirements

Does your organisation have a defined IT Architecture Strategy and, if so, does this impose any constraints on your project? For example you may be committed to a single hardware or database platform which means you need to identify software which can run on that platform.

It is advisable to involve those responsible for your IT infrastructure at an early stage. Even where there are no formal constraints on the technology, you need sound advice on whether the technology you are evaluating is sufficiently robust and scaleable for your purpose and whether you have the in-house skills to maintain and support the product or would need to buy-in skills.

For a system that is intended to be used by both students or staff remotely (such as a VLE), it is important to consider browser and remote access requirements. For example, will your institution's firewall allow off-site access? In some VLE implementations this has been overlooked causing an embarrassing issue after organisation-wide roll out of the software. Archiving capability may also be required to meet legal and organisation requirements. For example, a student may need to have access to all their learning material stored within a VLE whilst they are enrolled on a programme of study. This can drastically increase the storage requirements.